A combination of financial necessity, multiple interests and changing arts ecologies is driving an increasing number of artsworkers to multiple simultaneous careers. If you describe yourself as a performer/producer, a curator/artist or an arts manager/writer you are part of Generation Slashie, a generation defined by a punctuation mark that demands a constant juggle.
The risks and rewards of such portmanteau careers were discussed in detail at a recent panel at the recent Equity Summit at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre.
‘The slashie – not to be confused with the slasher genre – refers to working in many different capacities,’ said panel moderator and performer Queenie van de Zandt.
Referencing figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in a study called People with More Than One Job, van de Zandt noted that ‘There are more than half a million people juggling multiple professional roles in Australia, and of those … some 54% are women, and a large number of these people are business owners and individuals who work in the arts.’
Why we slash
There are both push and pull factors driving this new style of career.
Having noticed himself becoming ‘a bit bitter about the industry,’ actor/writer/director Damon Gameau set himself the exercise of imagining what his career might looked like many years in the future.
‘I sat up one night and wrote a letter to myself as though I was 85 … “Have you done all the things you really want to do in the world, are you proud of the things that you’ve put out there?” I had all these passions and interests but I had never acted on them, and that for me was the catalyst – don’t get to 85 and say “I didn’t do it”,’ he said.
Subsequently, Gameau decided to focus 100% on his passion project, the feature length documentary That Sugar Film (now the highest grossing Australian documentary of all time) and an accompanying book.
‘I had to find a way to make this happen and learn things and read things and actually have the courage to put myself out there, because that’s actually what holds a lot of people back,’ he said.
On the other hand, actor/writer/comedian/producer/activist Candy Bowers noted that some people don’t choose to have portfolio careers – they’re forced to, in order to overcome systemic inequalities in the industry.
‘In the 20 years of my life outside of NIDA I’ve had about 12 castings or auditions – and I’ve got 10 of them, but I’ve only had 12. So for me the industry was absolutely saying no,’ Bowers said.
‘The barriers that are up are real – they’re not made of glass – and so moving in through the fringes, writing my own work; all of these things had to happen. It was imperative … I’m not up for tokenism. I have to define myself for myself.’
Writer/actor/presenter Shaun Micallef spoke of the need to take on multiple roles in order to protect your ideas as they developed from first draft to end product. ‘Becoming a slashie or becoming a multi-function person is probably the only way of shepherding your idea and protecting it as best you can all the way through to the audience,’ he said.
Wearing multiple hats also increased the chances of a work getting up in the first place.
‘Only you really have the passion for your idea, so if you do get the chance to pitch it yourself, you’re the best person to do it,’ Micallef explained.
Juggling roles suits his temperament, he continued. ‘I like moving on from one project to another – I’ve found that your enthusiasm for a particular idea has a limited life, so that at some point, the movie that you really wanted to make when you were 25 you no longer want to make when you were 30. It becomes something different and it becomes a chore … so the quicker you can get a project made the better.’
Making it work
Finding the right collaborators is a key part of succeeding as a slashie, said van de Zandt.
‘Know what you’re not very good at … and then get someone else in to do that, so you can concentrate [on your strengths],’ she said.
Actor/writer/director/producer Robyn Butler agreed, adding: ‘It’s about crewing and getting people around you, and knowing what you’re good at … You get a shit-hot line producer who runs the production and that’s how we manage to be able to act in something or direct something while we’re producing as well, because you’ve got someone incredible who knows exactly which crew member is taking a sick day when, all those kinds of things.’
Together with her husband Wayne Hope, Butler runs the Australian production company Gristmill, making and starring in television programs such as Upper Middle Bogan and The Librarians. She recommends compartmentalising as a means of juggling the demands of working in multiple roles.
‘If I write something I generally try and write something for six weeks and then I’ll move on to something else. I try and cancel out the noise – I can’t do Twitter and Instagram, but if I do that I have to make a conscious effort to turn my attention to that. In the midst of everything I try and focus on one thing at a time – the thing that’s ahead of me,’ she said.
By dividing her time into weeks spent writing, followed by exclusively focusing on pre-production, production etc, Butler said she was able to work more efficiently.
‘So when we get to production I’m acting and that’s all I’m doing. I’m giving myself over to that, my director is behind that and I’m trusting him, I’m trusting my other actors and that’s all I’m doing. Occasionally there may be a producing fire that I have to attend to at lunchtimes – something’s happened, something’s fallen through – but otherwise I just try and compartmentalise.’
When you wear multiple hats and are juggling a range of roles, maintaining any semblance of a work-life balance can be challenging.
‘It’s about being conscious of [the risk of burnout] and understanding that you need to value yourself. You will be servicing your passions better if you’re in a healthier state of mind,’ said Gameau.
Juggling too many balls at once means ‘you’re not doing justice to any one of them,’ he added. ‘Refine your search to just two or three things and really honour those projects and give them the right time.’
