After the job is over
You landed the job, you did the job, and now the job is over. Seems pretty simple. Jobs can vary in length. Some can be a few days (commercials), some a few weeks (short or short feature), some a few months (average feature, limited series) and some can be a few years (several years of a tv show or a mega million dollar heavy effects laden feature). The longest gig I’ve had is 3 years (ER) as I tend to wander around but I know people who have been on shows for 15 years plus. So the way a show ends varies.
On a very specific level, obviously grab any gear you may have on the show. You’d be surprised how much stuff accumulates over time and as a result I start doing this about a week ahead of time and I still miss stuff. (Side note: label everything with your name like your mom did when you went to school.)
Next up, go back over the gig and mentally see what you learned, what you wish you did better, what you are proud of. See what you can learn from this and mentally note it for down the road. At 30 years in, I am surprised at the things I learn on every show. If you have a good relationship with the DP, ask them to lunch and let them know you’d like to hear from them an honest assessment of what you can do better in the future. It’s literally the best way to learn and a question I usually ask of them after the full first week of shooting. (What’s working, what isn’t, what can we/I do better for you?)
On a mental note, the end of the longer gigs are the toughest because you end up becoming part of a family and that family is, basically, breaking up. If you were ever lucky enough to go to summer camp, the last day on a job is sort of like the last day of summer camp. Sure, you can keep in touch, but you know it is never going to be the same again and the reality is that a lot of you will likely fade from each other’s circles of interaction. Add to that that you spend more time with most of these people than you do with your actual families, and that you are often under a great amount of stress and there is a kinship that is not unlike soldiers in battle, and there is likely going to be a little bit of depression after a long job ends.
It's a strange state because, on the one hand, you need the break, and the downtime is certainly something you’re looking forward to, but at the same time, due to the carnie like life we lead going from one camp to the next, we are constantly looking for that next gig, for both financial and emotional reasons. It's a little bit of a drug, and when you stop it, you want more.
A couple pieces of advice from someone who has been there. First off, if you are finishing a long run, say six months or more, and you are like me, plan nothing for the first few days after you wrap. Why? Because you are going to get sick. Never fails. Your body seems to know that you are coming to the end of a run, that you need all the energy you have to finish strong, and when it’s over, your mind hands your body the check to be paid for that, and you will get sick. I can’t count the times this has happened to me and, honestly, I’m more surprised when it doesn't than when it does.
Next up, enjoy your downtime. We work really hard, 12-14 hours a day 5 days a week, trying to slam a life into the 40 or so hours we have every weekend. Take that downtime and do something you love. Have a hobby, travel, spend time with your family, hike, go to the beach. When I was in my 20s I was the A camera operator on a huge show called ER. I was making more money than I knew what to do with, had about 3 months off every season with the knowledge that I had work back on the show after our hiatus, and what did I do? I looked for work. And what work did I do? I honestly cannot tell you for the life of me. So what should I have done (after I got over being sick that first weekend which happened every season)? I should have traveled the world. I had money, I had time, I had job security, I had little to no expenses or anything to hold me back, and yet, all I wanted to do was build my career.
Take it from someone who was there, grab those opportunities, because there will always be work, always be other jobs. I cannot remember any single job I ever turned down that would have changed my career, but I can remember missed opportunities and the times that I made the choice to do something with my down time. I remember those well. Every free day is a gift. You can’t control the fact that you aren’t working or earning money, if that is what you need, but you can control what you make of that day. Do something with it and you’ll never regret that decision.
In 2008 there was a writers’ strike looming. It's a part of the biz that there always seems to be the threat in the air of some sort of strike because the different contracts are all up at different time (DGA, SAG, PGA, WGA, IATSE and on and on). When one actually happens, you have no idea if it will be a day (some are) or a year (its happened, believe it or not) and when that happens, you are not going to have much work for a long, long time. But, when the strike is over, work will return with a vengeance.
But I digress.
In 2008 there was a writers strike and, sure enough, a strike happened. I decided beforehand that I didn’t care what I did, but that I was going to accomplish something during that time - paint the house, learn spanish, learn to play the bagpipes - something, because, as I knew very well, it’s very easy to simply relax and, before you know it, 6 months have passed and you have nothing to show for it. Simply put, you can’t control how long your down time is going to be but you can control what you do with that down time.
Have you ever wondered what happens to that candy wrapper when you throw it away? I had been thinking for a while how odd the term “throw it away” was (I’m odd like that) and how it really was irresponsible. I was throwing something “away”, literally putting it in a can for it to disappear and become someone else's responsibility. I started to think how that would change if ‘away’ was the back yard and, before long, I came up with the poorly planned out idea (most of mine are) of keeping all of my recycling and trash in the basement for a year and seeing what would happen. As a result, I ended up learning a crazy amount, appearing on national TV, podcasts, radio programs and in newspapers and magazines (including the digital front page of the NEW York Times and Good Morning America) and becoming a Disney character in the kids cartoon Handy Manny. I created a school seminar called Chasing Sustainability that I taught all over California and across the US, and reached over a million people (that I know of) with the website I created.
Not all of the endeavors I have undertaken have had that kind of impact. or even being successful, but my point is: when you have the time, use it. Trust me when I tell you that when you get on that next gig, you’ll rarely regret that you did something with your free time.
