I’ve been a creative for a long time. Relatives would give me blank notebooks as birthday presents; I was encouraged to write stories in school, and cast in the annual plays. I journal daily, write fiction, podcast, create social media content – and yet for a long time, my day job has been to provide different services to other creatives. Casting, producing, negotiating, scheduling, planning, connecting. But not creating. So, what does it mean to be a creative when you are a service provider? How do we protect and nurture our creative selves when it’s not our day job?
It’s in the solution of how we can muffle the incredibly loud stomach gurglings of an actor to get through the session
More specifically for voiceover, it’s also in the problem solving: it’s the casting associate meeting a very specific character brief by reaching out to speciality community theatres to find actors not in the mainstream. It’s the voice director embracing a bit of unexpected improv in an audition to see just where this actor could take the role. It’s in the solution of how we can muffle the incredibly loud stomach gurglings of an actor to get through the session (true story – the solution was a piece of toast and pressing my folded-up raincoat against their abdomen). Or figuring out the best lighting set up in studio for someone who can’t stand fluorescent lights.
It’s also about finding the fun in day-to-day activities. In my early days at the production company Side, we were always coming up with theme days: Hat Friday (our receptionist looked fantastic in a top hat), fav musician t-shirt day, feather boa day…. With hybrid working, we still found ways to brighten up a stand-up with themed backgrounds (favourite cakes and aliens were a couple of highlights). Sounds frivolous but each time we learned a little bit more about our colleagues and had a laugh – and who doesn’t want to start their day off laughing?
I understand the time, skill, and effort required to come up with it all; the vulnerability of sharing with a larger group
Exercising my creative muscles has only ever enhanced how I have worked. It’s kept me more positive, flexible, and solution-oriented. I’ve also enjoyed working with other people’s creative inventions. Their scripts, their characters, the worlds they’ve created. I understand the time, skill, and effort required to come up with it all; the vulnerability of sharing with a larger group, the joy of hearing it come to life in the studio, the buzz from seeing other people’s enthusiasm for what you’ve created. And I want to support that in the best way I can.
That support is in a lot of practical ways, in the guidance of a casting team coming up with interesting options, proposing several performance directors to ensure a good match to the project, or managing the timeline in a way that’ll give the lead performers a few more minutes to play in the studio and find the best way to bring their characters to life.
And it can be in fun ways as well, a choice of prop in the control room that nods to the location of the game, or poster boards to show the actors what their characters will be wearing, the lands they’ll be living in, and the beasts they’ll be fighting, so everyone can get a better idea of what the game world is like. It might also be a themed drink at the end of the day (such as the cider and mead we had at the wrap of a pirate-themed game record).
A creative not working day-to-day in their craft can easily feel jaded or repressed. It takes a bit of effort and, let’s say it, creativity, to find ways to flex that creative muscle, feed the artist’s soul, while still being very good at their role. Do it right and you’ll feel part of the creative practice, no matter where you are in the process.
A few ideas of how to bring creativity into your daily work:
Putting tools in your creative toolkit:
Evening courses at local colleges/universities
Weekend workshops at museums, galleries, art centres
Creativity retreat as holiday
Finding fun & whimsy in the workday:
Suggest a theme for stand-up or other regular meeting
Find a quirky theme day to celebrate
(e.g. Squirrel Appreciation day, Talk Like Yoda day)
Start a casual chat club at lunch for common interests (e.g. horror films, escape rooms)
Get thinking outside of that box:
This is how it’s always been done → How else could this be done?
Basic studio set up → Add visuals from the game design
Same old go-to outfit → A nod to the space opera game you’re working on
How do you feed your creative soul while working the day job?
