There's no such thing as a "Hobby".

18/03/2025

Over the past few months I've had two very similar conversations with people who interact with the creative arts in totally different ways.

The first happened while we were shooting a short film. One of our cast wasn't an actor at all, he's actually a teacher who has absolutely no ambition to forge a career in the arts, but he's as much a part of the creative team as any of us. He's an absolute GOLDMINE in the writing room, and has a natural comedic energy that would earn him an enviable career in TV comedy if he decided to pursue it.

The second was with a trade unionist who was running a workshop on the history of the workers movement and organization in the workplace. It was a fascinating project, and the passion on display was nothing short of infectious, but it was apparent that they were used to talking to people involved in more "conventional" industries.

The conversations tended to go something like this...

"So what do you do outside of this?"

"Well, I have my day-job. It's not ideal but it keeps the bills paid. I need it to keep doing what I love, but I often find myself doing too much of one thing, and not enough of the other, you know?"

"That sounds like a lot. What about holidays?"

"Not really. I CAN go on holiday, but it takes a little more planning, and I have to be ready to drop it if something good comes through."

"What about hobbies? You must do something that gets you out of that mindset?"

"Eeh, kinda... Hobbies tend to lead back to the work eventually."

That last part tended to generate puzzled looks.

There's a clip I see floating around the internet quite a lot, it's from an interview with the late great Alan Rickman on Charlie Rose from 2012 where he talks about his advice to young actors who have questions about training. He says "forget about acting, everything you do as an actor is cumulative, so go to art galleries, listen to music, know what's happening in the news..." etc. It's good advice, enough so that it's printed in a lot of books claiming to be authorities on the subject.

"But I feel like I do a lot of that already!"

Exactly.

If I go to watch a movie, see a play, or even just watch a tv show, there's a part of me looking at how the actors are doing what they're doing, and looking out for the casting director at the end.

If I go to the gym, sure I'm going there to improve my health and get a bit stronger, but I'd be lying if I thought my castability isn't affected by my shape.

What about seemingly unrelated hobbies? Playing videogames, welding, translating ancient egyptian heiroglyphics. Well, if you look on Spotlight (the industry standard online CV platform) there's a section on your CV called "Other Skills" where EVERYTHING I just mentioned can be found.

Even writing this blog. There's a part of me that thinks "ooh I'm practicing articulating my thoughts, this will help my writing when I come to make my next show."

One night when we were sat relaxing after dinner, our teacher friend asked us what it's like trying to do *gestures wildly around* ALL THIS for a living. Is it worth it?

The line between work and life is non existant. There is no such thing as a hobby. It's so much more of a holistic practice than I ever could have imagined when I started doing this in my late teens. But the highs can be SO high, and the lows (while really damn low) are often only tengential to the actual work.

The only trade-off being, you don't get to leave it at the office.