Real work vs. the arts economy

I've been a professional-level musician and composer since I was about 15.

In those 15 years, I can count the number of gigs where I was paid on one hand.

Teaching isn't lucrative because I'm too gay, and neither was performing until being trans became hip.

I've made a few films and ads for Emanuel and other people, but again, the number of paid gigs has been very small. I've invested tens of thousands into my films.

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This is all par for the course. Barbara, Thomas and Lauren were largely unpaid for their mahi during the trilogy.

Liam wasn't paid to do my piano piece from Latin-Punk New Wave.

However, now that Wellington Stories is a hit and there's interest in a theatrical run, there's definitely room to use those back-end deals from Portrait of a Knight for all 3 films in order to pay people belatedly.

It's not just classical, either. Virtually everyone in music is on the dole, rich people's kids, or skilled at something that allows them to earn a crust (the English version of kaimahi).

For me, that skill is editing and journalism. People in that field admire my tenacity, rather than telling me that I'm being a disruptive freak.

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Isentia and RNZ both paid a fair wage and paid it regularly.

Neither of them told me to do minimum wage work as a teaching assistant for 3 years before I could get paid a decent salary.

RNZ started me at over $30 an hour for an entry-level position. RNZ's also keen for me to return, now that I've shamed them about the transphobia.

Hell, I made better money working for Studiosity as an essay reviewer than I'd have made doing that same gig for Victoria University of Wellington.