Disclaimer: The views expressed by our interviewees are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of GradSimple. We only edit these responses for clarity. All opinions remain those of the interviewee.
- Year Of Graduation: 2024
- College/University: Chapman University
- Major: Broadcast Journalism and Documentary Filmmaking
What do you do for a living? Can you share what a typical day at work looks like? Do you enjoy what you do?
I work as a contracted freelancer for a production company. The founder also runs a publishing company and creates paintings. I manage their social media accounts and do any graphic design work that might be needed or social media analysis.
In terms of enjoying it, I would say I like it to a certain extent. There’s a kind of a lack of a challenge and a schedule that I would really appreciate for my day-to-day. But that kind of comes with being a contract worker in freelance. It’s definitely not for everybody and it might not even be for me, but that’s where I’m at right now. Overall, I do enjoy what I do.
Why did you choose your undergraduate major? Do you feel your time spent in college was valuable? Why or why not?
My major was Documentary Filmmaking and Broadcast Journalism, and to be honest, I think I wanted to go into that field more out of passion. I love storytelling and I knew it was something that I was better at than most things. I decided that pursuing that as a career was probably something more feasible for me than sitting behind a desk and working through spreadsheets.
Realistically, I knew it was kind of a volatile field and one that wasn’t really guaranteed to make much money. That being said, I’m happy I decided to do what I chose to do, even if it doesn’t come with financial stability right off the bat.
Can you tell me about your experience finding a job after graduation? Are you happy with where your journey has led you thus far?
For context, I’ve been freelancing for about seven years. When I was in high school, I was also freelancing, but it was usually unpaid or minimally paid. When I got into college, I was freelancing a lot more and I continue to do so except now I’m looking for more of a stable job at the same time.
After I graduated, it was pretty touch and go for a while, especially with the writer strikes and everything happening in Los Angeles. Ever since Covid, the film industry’s kind of been struggling, so jobs haven’t been super prevalent. To be honest, I wish I was having more luck finding roles. I’m pretty much applying to everything and everywhere.
Ideally, I’d like to branch out of the film industry as soon as possible because it’s a really difficult industry to succeed in and you’re kind of trying to find the needle in the haystack to do so. I’d realistically like to apply the journalism side of my major to my career. I’m looking at jobs in New York, focused on the journalistic aspect.
If I asked you three years ago, what goals would you hope you’ve achieved, in life or career?
I would’ve hoped to have gotten a better internship in college, and hopefully had that happened, I would’ve gotten a better full-time position after college. That’s kind of it, to be honest. I would’ve liked to be more financially secure right off the bat, but I know that that’s not necessarily feasible for everybody. Especially in the current state of the economy, it’s pretty difficult to have that be a guarantee.
How important is it to have a purpose-driven life? Why or why not? Do you think you’re on a path to do that? If not, what needs to change?
I think that it’s super important to live a purpose-driven life. To be honest, for me right now, I don’t know what my purpose is. I don’t necessarily know what I am looking for in a career. I think it’s really difficult doing freelance and contract-based work because you don’t really get a good foothold on what you are striving to do. You’re kind of just taking every job that comes at you.
But I do think it’s really important for someone to know what they want to do and have an end goal, and always be pushing to get closer to that goal. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out quite what that is for me yet.
What’s your biggest struggle right now? What led to it? How are you moving forward?
Money. I want money and I’m not getting money. The way I want to fix that is by doing more work! Freelancing in the meantime, but ideally getting a full-time position somewhere and making money.
I have thought about broadening my job search as well. I mean, I’d be happy to go and work as a bartender or something. The problem with the film industry is, it’s kind of if you don’t pay your dues you’re never gonna get the check, you know? Like, you have to spend at least four years working as a PA just to get your first gig on a real set. And four years working unpaid or low pay jobs essentially is damn near impossible. So I think it’s probably more realistic not to look further into that world, at least for right now until I have a little bit more money in my pocket. So I think realistically looking towards jobs outside of my industry is something that I’ve thought about, much sooner rather than later.
What interests/hobbies bring you the most happiness?
Probably going to the gym, to be honest. Exercise and kind of improving myself mentally and physically. That’s given me a lot of self-purpose and drive in the midst of figuring out what I want to do in life.
What do you want to spend more time working on? What is stopping you?
I want to spend more time improving my friendships with people that I haven’t seen in a long time. The people who I’ve spent a lot of time around, specifically during college, they’re good friends of mine, but I don’t see them as people who would be there for me in the long run. I know that they think that they would, but they’re not the kind of friends that I see that way.
I have other friends that I know are those kinds of people. So ideally I’d like to spend a little bit more of my free time strengthening those friendships and relationships. What’s stopping me right now is distance, primarily. A lot of them either live on the East Coast or in Washington, or the Bay Area.
If we traveled three years into the future of your life, what do you want to achieve? What would you hope has changed?
Three years in the future, I would hope to have a job that pays a stable amount every month, enough that I could invest extra. Also if in three years I’m still in LA I’m probably not doing too hot. I want to get out of the city, and hopefully, I’m in a relationship as well. I’d also like to continue to pursue film on my own time, and enter my work into festivals.
What’s the biggest lesson or piece of advice you wish you had known earlier?
Stop comparing yourself to other people in your career. In college, sometimes I felt like I wasn’t as good as my peers. So I kind of kept myself from trying harder and improving. I still tried to be better than what I was, but I didn’t use the techniques or the skills that I saw other people using because I didn’t think I could really do it well, you know? So, it’s important to stop comparing, and focus on your own growth.
Connect With Owen:
- Website: https://www.owenlivengood.com/
- Instagram: @Owen.Livengood
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