Working as a freelance journalist in the field of broadcasting can be a great career. If you have enough clients, you can pick and choose

assignments you want to take, determine when and where you want to work, and set your own days off. You’re basically your own boss. Those are the pluses.

 

On the minus side, it can be tough to make a living when you’re starting out. It takes time to build up a good client base. So when you’re beginning a career as a freelancer, you may have to accept every job you’re offered, just to make enough money to pay the bills. You’ll work long hours and then, when you get home, you work some more, doing paperwork, preparing invoices, and trying to line up your next job. You may not be able to take much time off. When freelancers don’t work, they don’t get paid. Oh, and did I mention benefits? As your own boss, you are now responsible for buying your own health insurance. There’s no paid vacation, no paid sick days, or paid holidays.

 

So you’re probably asking yourself why anyone would even consider this as a career choice. In my case, it was a natural progression after working for 13 years in television news. I learned and polished my skills at three commercial stations, then made the move to public television where I could produce longer, in-depth reports.

 

My job as a producer-reporter at North Carolina Public Television gave me the chance to cover everything from education issues and politics, to performing arts and science. I got to meet famous people and traveled to New York City, San Francisco, and London, England. It sounds like a dream job, right? Well, it was wonderful. But the PBS network in North Carolina was broadcast across the entire state, so that meant a lot of time traveling all over the state. For example, I started one week covering a story way out west, near the Georgia border. By the end of that same week, I was doing another story at the North Carolina coast, about 10 hours away by car. And we drove everywhere. That’s a lot of time bouncing down the road, away from home.

 

As my children got older, I didn’t want to travel away from home so much. So after eight years at public television, I left to become a freelancer. I figured I could choose how far I was willing to travel and pick the days that I wanted to work. What I didn’t realize is how tough it is to get clients to hire you as a writer or producer.

 

When it comes to freelancing in television, there’s much more demand for production people than for freelance reporters. Most stations, including the major networks, have their own pool of reporters to cover stories. So if ABC needs to cover a story about a hurricane approaching the South Carolina coast, it’s not unusual to send a reporter to the scene. Then the network may hire a local videographer, who owns equipment, to shoot and edit the story. That way, the local “shooter” can start getting video footage before the reporter even arrives. It’s also cheaper than flying in a network videographer with all of his or her equipment.

 

I have many friends who have been very successful as freelancers. A lot of them make the majority of their income from televised sports, operating a camera or running audio at college football and basketball games. One guy I know works almost exclusively for the Carolina Hurricanes ice hockey team, running camera or operating the Jumbotron in the arena. Another former colleague was hired by the golf channel to do audio for all of the tournaments that are broadcast. Some of my friends have even worked at various Olympic Games, as editors or audio specialists. And all of their expenses were paid, in addition to a high salary. So if you have really strong technical skills, it’s much easier to make a good living as a freelancer. TV networks and sports production companies are always on the lookout for people who can operate a video camera or run audio. If you own your own equipment, that’s even better. And you can charge more because you’re providing equipment to the client.

 

I have other friends who supplement their income by doing corporate videos on occasion or shooting political commercials during campaign seasons. But these jobs aren’t as plentiful as those in sports and they don’t come along as frequently.

 

Now, back to my experience as a freelance reporter and producer. Once I realized that people were not going to beat down my door to have me write or produce stories for them, I started contacting everyone I knew who might be a good job contact. Fortunately for me, the producers at public television wanted me to continue producing reports for them. They knew the quality of my work, my work ethic and the fact that I always met my deadlines. The big difference was the fact that I could decide if I was willing to travel a long distance or do a story on a particular topic. It was nice to be able to turn down an assignment, if I needed to.

 

To be totally honest, I don’t think I turned down any jobs during my first year as a fulltime freelancer. I was afraid that if I did, I might not get another job for several months. That’s the scary part about freelancing. You have no guarantees about when you’ll work or how much you’ll make. So in the beginning you take everything.

 

During the five years that I worked full time as a freelance reporter and producer, I built up a good client base. Public television remained my biggest client, and I still produce some reports for them to this day. I worked for some corporate clients and for the North Carolina State University athletic department, producing features for the coaches’ shows. There was a lot of variety and it was fun working in different settings. I never got to the point where I felt like I could sit back and relax. It was hard work. But it’s an experience that I value. And it gave me the opportunity to have my own business for five years.

 

For people who wish to work in broadcasting, but want an alternative to television or radio stations, freelancing is a good option. It’s not for everyone. But if you’re a hard worker and you’re willing to take risks, it can be very exciting and rewarding.