Freelance, Freelancer

Nowadays, most technicians who work in television and film are freelance and are engaged for periods ranging from a single day to many weeks. For the freelancer, this means that they can work for any number of employers and if lucky enough to have a large client base, a good technician can be busy most of the time. Employers also like to contract services on a freelance basis as they can quickly scale their staffing levels up or down depending on how busy they are. The downside for the freelancer is that there can be long periods without work, and you also have to make provision for your own insurance, health care and retirement as well as paying an accountant to look after your tax liability. So there are considerable costs associated with being freelance as opposed to staff.