In 2007 I hit a lull in my career that was hard to break free from.
No, scratch that. It wasn’t a lull. I was straight unemployed.
I was out-of-work and on month 3 of my 3 month emergency fund. An interview with HBO didn’t win me an in-person interview (they wanted someone more senior). And a phone interview with King Magazine didn’t work out either (they wanted someone more junior).
I started working with a headhunter and landed a gig with TBS. But before my first day the project crumbled internally for reasons I still don’t understand.
I had no more savings, no more job leads, and rent was due in my Manhattan apartment, which now seemed way too large and way too expensive.
I realized that as a creative professional I knew how to rock my jobs, but I was clueless on how to manage my career. Imagine being a professional driver who can’t change a tire. No amount of driving talent will help you when you have a flat. You’ll be stranded.
I had to learn how to fix my proverbial car.
I went to books, and blogs, and people to learn about career planning. I wrote off my past success as a fluke and searched for the secret of creating a long, successful career in the entertainment industry.
What I found was three distinct camps of career advice. I’ll skip ahead and tell you that two of those camps spout weak, outdated advice. And one camp gives advice that will help your career in the long term.
One thing that each camp has in common is that their advice is shaped by their worldviews.
Think of it like this – if you’re a New Yorker, January means Wintertime. If you’re Australian, January means Summertime. Different worldviews, get it?
Here are the three career worldviews I identified from all the advice I sought out:
- Career as a Calling
- Career as a Business
- Career as a Journey
Let’s unpack each one.
Bad Advice: Career as a Calling
People who see their career in entertainment as a “calling” believe that working in music, television, and film is a part of their destiny. They tell stories about how at age 10 they picked up a camcorder and filmed a movie about the family dog. Or how they dressed up their kid brother every weekend, a foreshadowing of a career as a costume designer.
Advice from people with this worldview is all about building on your talent, being congruent, and staying cool to everyone for fear of karma. They tell you to sacrifice pay to maintain creative integrity. And to put that over sleep, having children, and anything else that will come in the way of your calling.
I do appreciate how the “Career as a Calling” crowd urges people to do great work and not focus on the politics of the business. However, when I followed their advice wholesale, I found myself tying my identity to my career. As if the only thing that makes me worthwhile as a person is being Hashim the writer or Hashim the producer. Having a great job meant that I was somebody special. Being unemployed or even working in an non-creative filed meant that I was a loser. Can you relate?
Bad Advice: Career as a Business
If the “calling” worldview is for right brained people in entertainment, the “Career as a Business” mindset is for the left brainers amongst us. These are the people who would rather be cartoonists, but storyboarding for movies is the job that pays.
Advice from the “Business” camp focuses on hard work, professionalism, and specific tactics. They tell you how to dress at a networking event, what type of font works best on a resume, and that you should never share anything personal on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
I do appreciate how the “Career as a Business” club encourages people be professional and not get taken advantage of in the industry. However, at best this focus breeds cynicism. It makes the business seem like a huge machine that won’t let you succeed without knowing the secret codes. At the worst, I’ve seen people do unethical things in the name of “It’s just business”.
Know any people like that?
Good Advice: Career as a Journey
The best way to see your career in the entertainment industry is as a journey, a cross country trip filled with adventure.
Spend some time with the most successful showbiz veterans you know. They will talk about their career story in the same way you might have heard Luis and Clark talk about exploring the West.
They will tell you that their relationship with their spouse, or their God, or their community is more important to them than any success at work. Because a long journey is lonely if you walk it by yourself.
They will tell you that weirdly enough, helping others live their dreams opened up the best opportunities for themselves.
And they’ll tell you that they can’t control when a success or set back will come. So, they strive to be ready for both.
Give Yourself Advice
Recently, two influential books came out that will help you live your career like a journey.
Pick up “Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul” by Stuart Brown. If you can inject joy and creativity into managing your career you’ll go far.
Also, check out “StrengthsFinder 2.0” by Tom Rath. Even if you hate doing what it takes to advance your career, this book will help you identify the strengths you can use that will give you energy and focus.
This blog post is a part of a series on career development in the entertainment business. If anything you read here helps you, please share it with a colleague today.
