Hey!
I really got on with our contributor, an audio producer this week. She made some great points about career development and collegiate working, and even when she spoke about the hard times, she did so with humour and warmth.
The most egregious thing to come out of this interview was the fact that she used to feel bad about her salary. Not because it was too little, but because it was too much. The salary? £33k a year. And trust me it sounds like she earned absolutely every penny of it. Feeling bad for drawing a fairly standard income for your labour is possibly the greatest scam of all time. I banished those feelings a long time ago, when I realised how much you earn isn’t entirely about how hard you work. If that were true then it’d be the teachers and nurses we’d all be envying for their million-pound salaries. I was relieved when she said that she didn’t feel bad anymore and is now focussing on working on even bigger and better projects (flame emoji).
We also touched on the lengthy journey she took to get in the audio industry. Ten months of unpaid internships, networking and taking a big plunge by doing an MA. Just to get noticed by the industry. Really makes you think.
If you want to get better acquainted with this newsletter, read the first ever post here. And if you want to contribute to this newsletter please get in touch at oparaandwade@gmail.com.
_
Where do you work?
I’m currently a staff producer at an indie. Before then I worked for the BBC and also did some freelancing. I started off doing some work for someone making a programme and I realised being an audio producer was being many things – a researcher, script-writer, sound designer – I absolutely loved it all.
How much do you earn a year?
£33.5k
How did you get into the industry?
Once I realised working in audio was what I wanted to do, I did about 10 months’ worth of work experience/internships in the hopes that I’d be offered a job by one of the companies I worked at.
It was so so difficult. None of these companies paid me, I barely got travel expenses covered so I was broke all the time. I worked evenings at pubs and restaurants to earn some money, so often did 14-hour days, which, in retrospect, was insane but my parents aren’t from London and I had rent to pay. I nearly gave up a year and a half into my journey, but instead took a break from doing all these unpaid jobs and focused on my mental health. After I had regrouped, I decided to give it one last throw of the dice and do an MA.
Ah yes, MAs…
It was absolutely worth it. I had completely run out of options and didn’t know what more I could do! I saved up all the money I could and lived on bread and beans for the year.
The MA didn’t push me creatively as an audio maker but it was transformative in terms of getting me recognised by potential bosses. I also had a great group of peers with varied interests, so it was great to meet them and discuss the craft every week. We did get some media law training which was really helpful as well.
Why do you think it took you so long to start getting paid?
The main problem was that I didn’t know how to convert all this experience – and I had a lot – into an actual job. I asked senior people in the industry for advice as to what I should do next and I only got the standard vague responses, “email this person”, “do some networking” – you know the stuff. No one seemed able to give me clear answers or practical bespoke advice as to what I should do next. I asked so many people and was so confused by the myriad responses I got.
I also lacked confidence, and it showed. During one of my many internships, feedback would be that I should speak up more as I had great ideas but I didn’t feel confident enough at the time. Nor did I feel confident enough to follow up on conversations I’d had or exaggerate my abilities (which we all do) on my CV.
What did you do after your MA?
I got hired by the BBC to do some freelance work as a broadcast assistant. It was fine – I was working in an area of audio I wasn’t interested in at all, but it was a paid job after all these years, so I was grateful!
The working culture in my department was actually pretty toxic, and it wasn’t made any better by this one really awful editor who thankfully isn’t there anymore. That said, there was another editor who became my mentor – he was so so lovely and gave me loads of confidence and encouragement. After some time working there I was able to pick up some more work and eventually got this staff job at an indie.
How do you feel about the money you earn?
Honestly, my mind was blown when I was offered £33.5k. That’s because I was being paid around £17k p.a. in the years before as a freelancer which was just about minimum wage, but definitely not London Living Wage. So to be offered double that amount, I was gobsmacked. The industry is always having conversations about how little money there is in audio so when I was first paid this salary, I felt quite guilty.
That was then though. Now I’ve taken on more projects and changed my relationship with money I know how much I should ask for and am much more confident doing so. I’ve also worked hard to unlearn a lot of bad habits when it comes to working. The line between life and work definitely got blurred over the years, but now I’m much better at separating the two.
Can you talk about your time working for some of these indies?
Some were great! At one place I had an amazing mentor who gave me paid work and really supported me.
Others, not so much. One place offered me a month-long unpaid internship. Fine – I was used to it by now. At the start, they told me I could only have my travel and lunch reimbursed so I kept all my lunch receipts and travel receipts, and at the end of the month sidled on down to the accounts department to get the money back. They turned around and said actually the limit was £5 a day, which after all the work I’d done, felt like a slap in the face. It wasn’t like I was having caviar for lunch every day either! They reimbursed some of my travel and lunch costs in the end.
I've also been offered work by an indie, who I now know don't have a great reputation. I decided to have a chat with the director of the company to see what they wanted to offer me and how I could develop with them. I was really ready to have a productive chat but I've never felt less listened to. They offered me a full-time role that hadn't accounted for anything I'd said about my availability, they were really pushy, and offered me less than my current salary. When they asked me what I'd be happy with I said £40k, and then didn't get back to me until three months later to try and restart the conversation as if we'd never spoken in the first place. Can definitely say it didn't fill me with much enthusiasm to work for them.
What change would you like to see in the audio industry?
I think we need to look out for our colleagues a lot more. We have a duty of care when it comes to contributors and I think that needs to extend to our colleagues too. I feel really supported by my colleagues at my current job, but I know that’s not the case everywhere.
I also think the indie sector needs to find a business model that doesn’t rely on commissions from Audible, the BBC or Spotify. We’re starting to see that, with independent companies publishing their own podcasts straight to iTunes or Acast or whatever, but it would be great to see more of that.
I also think more time for training and skill-sharing would be a great thing. As producers, we have so much to learn from each other and the best projects I’ve worked on have been when I’ve collaborated with other producers. This could also be part of someone’s professional development, which I think is key. If you want to make for a well-rounded producer, who can script-write, edit, sound design, you need to give them time to learn and develop these skills.
Finally, more diversity in exec-level roles. This is so so important. I don't feel like enough effort is being made to create internal/structural change throughout all levels of the audio industry, and it is crucial to have diversity at the level of editorial decision-makers and mentors. Without that the industry power structures remain the same.
-
Big love and thanks to our contributor this week.