The Creative Freelancer’s Experience – Talk at RSA – Wednesday 19th November 2025

I attended this brilliant talk about the challenges facing ‘creative freelancers’ a few months ago, so I’ll just post the notes I made at the time:

‘Precariousness and insecurity of employment plague the life of a creative freelancer. On average, they earn less than 25k per year, which is less than the minimum wage!

Consequently, there’s an inability to plan or save for the future: not being able to afford to have a family, not being able to save for a pension, not even being able to afford to date (especially as a man, where you're expected to foot the bill)! Unable to get loans, car insurance, mortgages, etc.

Not to mention malpractice and exploitation! The industry has a reputation of being difficult to enter, so employees get exploited, as they don't want to lose their place, or the opportunity to enter; ‘if you don't do it, then someone else will!’

From a 'quality of life' perspective, it is absolutely NOT worth being a creative freelancer!
Low paid, intermittent work is absolutely no recipe for a good quality of life. It's no wonder poor mental health is so prevalent amongst freelancers, especially in Film and TV.

You pretty much need to have a partner with a 'stable' job/income, or you need to come from money.
60% of creative freelancers have no savings for retirement! That’s a ticking time bomb.

The industry keeps going on about 'diversity', yet non-white creative freelancers suffer worse outcomes compared to their white counterparts in all aspects.

The creative sector is worth £125 billion to the UK economy, yet if other sectors worth as much (such as finance or defence, etc) had a workforce plagued by even a fraction of these problems, you can bet the Government would do something about it!

Is the industry so valuable, because exploitation and low pay are so rife? An audience member suggested.
The good news is, organizations are starting to think about these issues, and what can be done to solve them.

Also, universities are pumping out creative graduates year after year, and there's not enough jobs, so it's a buyers market. Employers can demand more for less, as they do.
Universities should be honest about the reality of finding work as a creative, yet still encourage students to pursue their passions.

80% of the challenges facing creative freelancers relate to money.’

As a creative who has never had a penny to his name, none of this was new to me, when it came to my own life, yet I was surprised that the issues I’m facing, are faced by the majority of people within the creative industry! Especially given that it’s such a lucrative industry!

One could argue that a career in the creative sector isn’t worth pursuing, but in pretty much all sectors of the economy, the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few.

We pay our taxes so governments can look after our interests and regulate industries to make them fair; clearly the massive inequalities in the world today are a result of weak/corrupt government. The question is, what are we going to do about it?