Anyone else a telly freelancer? Career has disappeared

[GooseGoldenEgg]

Or can anyone else relate?

I am (was) a pretty successful TV producer. Worked continuously most of the time the last 15 years. Things got tricky around the pandemic and haven't really recovered for me. I was working on successful shows, had a fulfilling and fun career and was paid pretty well, most years earning between £50k and £75k.

Pre pandemic I bought a one bed flat within M25. Life was good.

Now I have been unemployed for over a year. Working bar shifts when I can get them. I'm 40 and a single woman. I don't think I can afford to keep my flat for much longer but if I sell and use the money to rent that will only buy me so much time and I'll be left with nowhere to live. Lots of my friends and other colleagues from the industry are in the same position. They're all just temping.

I've tried thinking about transferable skills but can't seem to get anywhere certainly I'm not going to be able to earn what I once took for granted. Along with the financial aspect my self worth, social circle and a large part of my identity has gone.

If I could warn young people I'd say don't go into a freelance industry. Don't know where to turn next, don't have the money to retrain. Is this it now? This industry seems shafted by budgets, streaming giants and I can't see it ever going back to what it was. So now I'm going to work minimum wage jobs if I'm lucky enough to get one until I retire?

What aspect of freelancing were you doing? If it was the tech side then there’s lots of work available doing AV (Audio Visual) for corporate events, which is also mostly freelance/self employed and flexible. Not quite as exciting as TV, but at least it’s a more stable industry. I know a few TV freelancers folks that often have to do corporate events to make ends meet.

Software company? Have you not heard what’s happening in that industry too?

AI simulations and Co pilots are going to take over marketing.