Freelancing: How to Live the Dream and Avoid the Nightmare��Greg Buchanan (@gregbuchanan)�Writer, Independent

First: Who am I?

• Writer of 20+ games from 2015-2019, including Paper Brexit, the 30 hour No Man’s Sky: Atlas Rises story campaign & additional writing support for Metro: Exodus.
• Before that, I completed a PhD in Identification and Ethics in Novels and Video Games.
• I am also listed in Forbes 30 under 30 2019 / GamesIndustry.Biz Top 100 2018.
• Author (my debut novel SIXTEEN HORSES was recently bought in a six figure deal and is due to be published by Macmillan imprints in the UK and US in 2021, in addition to 10+ foreign language territories).
• Tweeter of advice articles, including a relatively popular guide to breaking in to game writing.

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

What I will be talking about:

• Strategies to get work (I successfully freelanced on 20+ games!)
• Why I chose to freelance (I am awkward and like freedom)
• The dream of a freelance lifestyle (It sounds great!)
• The weird inverted nightmare realities of it (It’s not great!)
• Emotional wellbeing strategies (Bad dreams = manageable)
• Entering/exiting survival mode (With a little help from your friends, we can get through it all!)

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

Two key principles for obtaining gigs:

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

• An ability to (somehow) promote yourself. What does this mean?
• Website! Business card! Networking events! Active social media!
• Know how to hunt gigs and when to chase emails / opportunities.�
• Build portfolios that can be appreciated by non-specialists.
• Reduce ambiguity that you will be able to do what you are being hired to do.
• A range of samples for a variety of gig-types and studio sizes.
• Suggest you will be a pleasure to work with and a team-player (testimonials)

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Why I chose to freelance:

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

• Disposition: to control my work/time as much as I can.
• Security: multiple bosses / income streams, rather than one.
• Ambitions: To learn fast/efficiently and make my own projects.

Motivations many freelancers may have:

• Necessity: no available in-house roles; lay-offs; career gaps.
• Early-career: building the fabled 5+ years experience

The alleged “dreams” of freelancing:

ORGANISATIONAL:

• Be your own boss
• Organise your own time
• Insurance against mass lay-offs at particular companies
• Greater freedom from internal politics and crunch
• Greater ability to promote yourself and your own work
• Ability to remote-work

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

CREATIVE:

• Work on projects you choose to work on
• Freedom to create your own solo work and IP in multiple mediums
• Learn and develop skills much faster due to working on a range of projects in different types of studios and genres.

Oh no! A distorted nightmare reality:

ORGANISATIONAL:

• Be your own boss
• Organise your own time
• Insurance against mass lay-offs at particular companies
• Greater freedom from internal politics and crunch
• Greater ability to promote yourself and your own work
• Ability to remote-work

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

All the anxieties and worries and lack of security that comes with that!

Sure, but it’s way easier to terminate a contract than employment in many cases.

Way more difficult than it should be!

Mostly! But sometimes bizarrely not! And when you do remote-work, there can be a whole host of other potential issues

Sometimes, you are more vulnerable to this and may be seen as an outsider.

You are at the mercy of the NDA gods.

Oh no! A distorted nightmare reality:

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

CREATIVE:

• Work on projects you choose to work on
• Freedom to create your own solo work and IP in multiple mediums
• Learn and develop skills much faster due to working on a range of projects in different types of studios and genres.

Actually, yes! No weird double-edge here.

If you get selected after 6 month long hellish writing tests and if you have the financial luxury to wait for perfect projects.

Time and energy is a huge issue here, BUT, you are free to do so and not constrained by draconian anti-creative employment contracts.

There is no “dream” – you always wake up. But likewise, there doesn’t have to be a nightmare.��Be mindful of your emotions and energy levels. Mitigate inevitable psychological threats. Prepare for challenges.

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

Two such major psychological threats:

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• Imposter syndrome
• Having to constantly pitch your own work and abilities to gain new gigs and maintain current relationships, often isolated from teams and colleagues.
• Not being able to fully discuss your own work, even after release.�
• Burnout
• Unpaid labour of self-promotion, writing tests, applying for work, economic fear
• Pushing to meet aggressive schedules and managing multiple projects

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Strategies: Imposter Syndrome

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

• Client dealings will add to it. Consider ‘interviewing’ them.
• Set expectations about schedule, your role, your working habits, feedback.
• Gain contractual protections regarding crediting and post-release discussion.
• Schedule further ‘worrying about’ in-progress applications, deferring thought/contact until the next scheduled point in time.
• Curate your site for self-care: highlight testimonials and publicity for projects.

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• Also: find, join, or establish communities in and outside of your discipline. Support others and apply the logic of that support to yourself.

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Strategies: Burnout

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

• Time-management
• Schedule & quarantine a block of ‘career’ time daily/weekly, even if contracted.
• Try to reduce the cognitive load of too many tasks by finishing short ones first.
• Schedule ‘soft’ and ‘absolute’ rest time.
• ‘soft’ rest time = in ideal conditions, relax / no work.
• ‘absolute’ rest time = unbreakable relaxation time, work banned unless crisis.
• i.e. soft = Monday-Fri evenings, Saturday. Absolute = Sunday.
• Communicate with someone you trust to hold you accountable and who will encourage you to seek help / discuss if you breach the above too many times.

Survival mode: dealing with career gaps

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

• Follow previous advice on self-promotion / networking.
• Expand scheduled ‘career’ time to larger blocks. I.e. instead of one hour per day, more hours devoted to more tasks, even those with diminishing returns.
• Reach out to your professional network directly for support.
• Work on a solo-project of your own devising, for creative and career purposes.
• Consider a side-hustle if necessary that you can ramp up when needed.

Exiting survival mode:

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• My own rule: hit ‘survival mode’ when I have less than 2 months of contracted earnings lined up (defined by money I need per month x 2, paid to me within the next 2 months). YMMV based on savings / support from elsewhere.
• Exiting survival mode is psychologically difficult; write a commitment in advance as to when you will feel safe again.
• Get an accountability partner to help pull you out of this burnout-inducing style of thought when you’ve reached the above ‘safe point’ (i.e. 2 months + of contracted earnings).
• Develop a plan for continuing and finishing whatever solo project you worked on during this unemployed period, in a manner that is kind to yourself.�

Be kind to others in your position.��Be just as kind to yourself.��You will create your best work when you are inspired.�Not when tired / miserable / resenting creation.

Twitter: @gregbuchanan

The End!��Twitter: @gregbuchanan�www.gregbuchanan.co.uk/newsletter��

Twitter: @gregbuchanan