Finding creativity in the ‘creative industries’

Some alumni of Dodge College of Film and Media Arts find themselves struggling to keep their creative spark alive when entering the film industry. Photo collage by DANIEL PEARSON, Photo Editor

Peyton Walecka graduated from Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in 2020 with a dream to tell stories. However, when she entered the corporate world, the creativity she hoped to put into practice at work faded as she was met with demands of quantity over quality. 

“I felt less comfortable working through my own creative blocks when I knew that someone could come around the corner any minute,” said Walecka, who received a degree in Film Production.

Walecka is just one of the many film students who left their artistic bubble at college and faced initial disappointment by their post-grad experience in the so called “creative industries.”

Arthur Fishel, a Dodge College alumni who graduated in 2009 with a degree in Film Production, told The Panther that it is hard to find an entry level creative position when first entering the film industry. 

“If you go in expecting to be creative to start, you're probably going to be a little disappointed,” Fishel said. “For the most part, if you're entering the set as a (production assistant) PA, they don't want creative opinions at that point. They want you to set the director's chairs and empty the trash when it's full.”

Fishel is now a freelance content consultant who gives advice to smaller projects as to how they can get the most “bang for their buck” if they are on a tight budget and he trains PA’for a nonprofit called Streetlights. 

Fishel said he spends most of his time doing something creative, even if it is not in the traditional sense. Most of his job consists of coming up with creative solutions for problems that occur during production. 

“You have to understand creativity sometimes doesn't mean what you think there's a creative solution to,” Fishel said. ”We can't use a rain machine. So how are we going to add the gravitas of this scene? Without rain, are there other ways to do it? … Not all creativity is going to be so cut and dried.”

Even when Fishel doesn’t feel creatively satisfied from his work, he said he tries to find ways to be expressive outside of his main job. 

“I do a lot of different social media work for different people just for fun,” Fishel said. “A lot of charities just don't have the time and effort. I'm like, ‘I can just put together a quick little video or TikTok or something and share it.’ And they're like, ‘This is amazing.’ Sometimes it's just little things that you can do to keep yourself creative.”

While Walecka was at her corporate job in marketing where she worked 80 hours a week trying to pump out as many social media posts as she could, she was looking for a way to be more creative as well. She left her corporate job and started her own colorist business, which Walecka said she enjoys significantly more.

Being her own boss means Walecka has more time to allocate her creative energy toward personal projects  and the ability to take breaks as needed. Walecka said these rest periods often can restore motivation and help spark the creativity needed to finish a project. 

“I am able to just sit with (my project) for a moment or go take a break for 15 minutes and come back and look at it again,” Walecka said. “(When I return), I’ll be like, ‘Okay, how can I fix this puzzle that I have here?’ Honestly, I think I've been more creative. It's been easier for me to solve problems on my own than it has been when I was working under a business.”

While many aspiring creators may find themselves bouncing from gig to gig before finding the right fit, some people — like Brandon Guernsey, a Dodge College alumni who graduated in 2020 — find their dream job quickly after college. Guernsey is the personal assistant of Nick Uhas, a YouTuber and host of Netflix’s “Blown Away”. 

Guernsey credited his major in broadcast journalism and documentary, his minor in public relations and advertising and his experience as a talent coordinator at “The Late Late Show with James Corden” as being instrumental in propelling his career forward right out of college.

"Being a personal assistant on someone's team, you always want to have that vision of, ‘Okay, how's it going to look to the public? How is my my person gonna look?’” Guernsey said. “And then “The Late Late Show” experience was also really good —  just being on TV. A lot of talent coordination is there. (My current job) really is a perfect marriage of literally everything I've ever done.” 

Guernsey said he is very lucky to be able to have creative freedom at work, which he attributes mostly to the flexibility of his boss, Uhas.

“(Uhas is) always very down for literally anything I say, to the point where I generally don't feel like I’m going into work at all, because I just feel like I'm going over to hang out with my friend and help them with their project,” Guernsey said. “I just happen to be a part of that project. In that scenario, anything from coming up with a random creative idea being like, 'Oh my god, I loved X and Y and Z creator growing up; we should do a collab with him.’ He's literally like, ‘Down, let me DM them right now.’”

Although Guernsey loves his job, he does keep himself very busy and needs a break occasionally to recuperate his creative energy. 

“I was just calling my mom, and she said, ‘Brandon, you're just doing way too much; you overexert yourself.’” Guernsey said. “I didn't really even realize that. I don't even have time to play video games. I'm like, ‘Why haven't I played Pokemon in like two weeks? That's an issue; that's a red flag to me.’”

A much needed break can be just what a creative needs to refuel their imagination in order to continue their careers in the ever exciting and mentally stimulating entertainment industry.