Putting myself out there and working for free... and then once again learning my own worth

So here, and a couple posts after, I will fill in the blanks

I got back to my parents house the first week of September, and while most people would want a couple of weeks to maybe decompress from everything, as much as I needed to decompress, I didn't.

I started work almost right away for a small production company, as Associate Producer, working for free, which at the time sounded like a good idea. It sounded like it had a lot of promise, it was going to go for about 3 months, and if things went well for said company's projects, maybe just maybe after those 3 months the job would be extended and I could get paid. Just for the record I wasn't the only one not getting paid, essentially we were all hired as free labor.

The working for free situation lasted 3 weeks, and by that I mean, in that span of 21 days I probably went to said job 7 times. I figured I was working for free, I didn't (and wouldn't) go everyday. Even not going every day was costing an arm and a leg.

All ina all it was costing me more money to go into the city, and almost as much as the rent I was having trouble paying for before I moved back east, than the whole situation was worth. Not to mention that even though I wasn't being paid I was expected to be available at all times, on my blackberry to answer emails and phone calls at all hours. This concept wasn't new to me, in fact it wasn't any different than other jobs I've had in production, the difference being, for those other jobs, I was decently well compensated, was working for shows/productions with pretty fast coming actual deadlines, and I knew (for the most part LOL) what I was getting myself into. When I agreed to work for free, I didn't realize a freelance gig for no pay was going to take over my entire life.

For various other reasons other than just no pay (and there were plenty) I put myself out there and broke up with my freelance boss over email, asking her to call me so we could discuss me maybe still helping out from afar on a couple of things I had pitched to her. Not my most mature move, but I'll end this short story with this... "when in Rome..."

So, I was back to square one on the job front, though after my short experience with aforementioned job, I honestly felt like I hadn't ever left. But, not working at job for no pay also meant I wasn't spending any money on going into NYC, and wasn't spending money on lunch and food as I wandered the city. So maybe, being at square one was a good thing. I could go back to my original plan of visiting friends and family on the East Coast, while looking for work kind of all over, and then hoping that certain jobs I wanted would become available sometime after the first of the year.

I will tell you now (because I know you are all dying of suspense, and if you read the post before this you already know) that’s not what happened.

A phone call from a dear friend in Boston offered a new, albeit short but lucrative, opportunity that I jumped at. It meant not only would I be able to meet new people in the production world, in yet another city, it also meant I could catch up with said friend, another very good friend, and visit my grandparents and yet another very good friend in Cape Cod.

Like everything else in recent months, it was it's own adventure.