And Then We Grew Up by Rachel Friedman

Author:Rachel Friedman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

The Restless Director/Editor

“I was at Pitchfork for five years,” he said. “But I went freelance in 2013. I got sick of only doing music-related stuff.”

“What do you work on now?” I said.

“Lots of different stuff. I’m editing a cooking show web series for the Times and about to start work on a travel documentary for Vice. And there are other cool random projects of my own, like I’m working on a documentary about this huge Eminem fan. He’s this very intense and fascinating French dude who calls himself Silk Shady. He dresses like Em. He makes all these weird videos online. He’ll do entire videos where he is showing off all his Em clothes and posters.”

“Do you have plenty of work?”

“So far. My benchmark was always: if I make any more than I did at Pitchfork, then I’m good. And I have the past two years. It’s much easier to make rent now and I can work from home, work whenever I want.”

“Do you find it difficult to balance your own projects with the freelance work?” I asked Eli.

“Yeah, sometimes. My own work always takes a back seat to whatever is paying. I got some advice early on that you should never say no to stuff the first few years unless you have to, and that has served me well. I want to focus on the better projects, but I’m not quite at a place where that’s an option. But I’m getting closer to a place where I can say no.”

The “whenever, wherever” part of freelance writing is what had appealed to me, too. It was part of that bohemian New Yorker writer’s life I had envisioned. Not that freelancing had been as free as I had pictured it in my head. I spent an inordinate amount of time each month chasing down payments from publications. I worked long hours while constantly worrying I’d run out of work. In reality, I was far from psychically, financially, or artistically free. Freedom is one of those words we throw around a lot as an abstract aspiration, but it becomes really complicated in practice. We love to encourage people to embrace their entrepreneurial spirit and pursue their passions. Be your own boss. Build your own company. But that liberating Jerry Maguire moment is never where the story ends.

“I’m pretty restless, and I think I don’t deal well with authority figures for long periods of time,” Eli said. “But with freelancing, it’s so easy because it’s all short term. I just have to keep them happy enough so they hire me again. I don’t have to kiss ass every fucking day. I like having a mixture of being home and being out in other places. I don’t always want to go into an office. I want to have some days where I can do whatever I feel like doing at my own pace. Sometimes I want to be around people and have some structure. And then that gets old. Everything gets old.”

Unlike back when he was trekking around Brooklyn filming bands, most of Eli’s days are spent editing.

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