Finding a job is an incredible challenge for any young person, but how hard must it be for young people to land a gig in the creative industries!
On this week’s episode we speak to one young person who has managed to break into the Sydney television comedy circuit and discuss with him his tips for making it big on the small screen.
Nick: Hi, welcome to Resolved. We’re glad you could join us! On today’s show, the creative industries. How can young people break into it? Well to help us resolve that question, we have the highly talented Alex Gabbott in the studio. Alex, welcome!
Alex: Hello Nick!
Nick: Your collection of work is incredibly impressive, ranging from online viral sensations including Rage of Thrones and the Hilltop Hobbits, to working on several advertising campaigns including Boost, Ben and Jerry’s, McDonalds, Dick Smith Foods and SBS. I guess the first question that leaps to mind is how did you get started in all this?
Alex: I went to North Sydney TAFE and I learnt how to do Television. So I learnt multi-camera television, from there I went to Macquarie University afterwards and then I got a job in the real world afterwards and that’s where I say I learnt the majority of what I know.
Nick: What drew you to creating content as opposed to another endeavour in life?
Alex: I’ve never really been a fan of doing boring things and I found that doing entertaining is something that can keep me interested and make me feel like I’m contributing something important to the world.
Nick: A lot of the content you’ve produced seems to be aimed at the small screen, Television, YouTube and online rather than the big screen, is there a reason for why you’ve gone for the small screen over the big?
Alex: Well I think because Australia doesn’t really have a big screen industry, there’s like a couple of players but there’s no real avenue in Australia other than reality TV or doing comedy online. Those are the two big industries and radio, of course. The small screen enables you to actually just get out there and do stuff. You can’t just go out there and make a movie, there’s a lot of preparation that has to happen with that, but you can easily go and get a camera and just film just a stupid thing and add some special effects onto it and go “Haha, there’s my comedy!”. You can easily do that, you don’t need a lot of preparation. The more you do it, the more you get better at it.
Nick: Now anyone that knows you quickly recognises that you always exude an amazing amount of creative energy. What fuels that creative fire of yours?
Alex: Well always knowing that there’s something else you can do. There’s always another thing that’s out there waiting for you and I’ve always been someone who’s wanted to do lots, and lots, and lots of different things and never just keep doing the one thing repetitively because I’ve found that when I do the one thing for a long period of time I just get bored with it. I want to do a lot of things and the only way to do a lot of things is just by going out there and doing those things. Like one day, I decided to do some illustrations, so I just started drawing and that’s exactly how it starts.
When I do something, I try and do it to the best I can possibly do and that’s a little life lesson for you, always do the best you can because people will know when you don’t. Well they will. Have you seen YouTube comments? They’re terrible!
Nick: How have you gone in the court of public opinion? YouTube comments, for instance?
Alex: I’ve gone good, actually. I don’t know why, but I’ve still got like email notifications of every comment I get. It’s like a gamble, it’s like a 50/50. Is it a good comment, is it a bad comment? Here’s what I’ve found in YouTube comments: about a third of them are good, a third of them are bad, another third of them are just unrelated.
Nick: What motivates and drives you to make the content that you make and is your joy more complete when others watch and enjoy the content you produce?
Alex: What drives me is getting people to then view what you’ve done. I get a lot of enjoyment out of people’s reactions and I think that’s a lot of what drives me. Getting that next laughter. Getting that next appreciation of what you’ve done.
Nick: How did you react when Rage of Thrones reached two million views?
Alex: I was actually more happy when it got a million views because that gets you an extra digit on the end, it’s like “Yes, I’ve made it, I’m up there with cats!”, but to be honest, I was actually doing some more Axis of Awesome stuff when we hit two million views, so I was so tired that I didn’t even register! I was like “Yes! Back to work”, which is kind of a curse, you’re so successful that- I should not use the word successful in describing myself…
Nick: Now, it’s interesting, you didn’t want to use the word successful to describe what you’ve achieved, what’s the reason behind that?
Alex: Well, it’s half because it feels a bit wanky to be going around and calling yourself successful. It feels weird to call yourself successful, even if it’s true, even if you have two million views on YouTube.
Nick: What obstacles did you have to overcome to get to where you are today?
Alex: I didn’t do too well in high school. I went well creatively, I made a kick ass visual arts short film, but I think the problem with that was it was mainly explosion-based and not sort of theory-based, so I’ve had to overcome trying to get meaning out of the work I do as opposed to just making a visual extravaganza, so I’ve had to do that all throughout High School and TAFE and even university, just trying to figure out how to tell a story the best.
I’ve always disliked when you see short films and even films and it’s a nice story, but there’s nothing unique about it, it’s very stale, it’s very boring and I’ve always tried to make everything I do have a bit of flavour, a bit of spice. Unfortunately, in my early career that came at the cost of a good story and good characters, so after I graduated uni I got right into the art of storytelling and I just had to concentrate on the theory of the story and how to get characters working, which I’m only just getting now, it’s very hard.
Nick: Does the increasingly convergent nature of the media industry limit opportunities for young people, wanting to make a break in the industry, or is it a gateway into the industry?
Alex: I think it’s a good thing actually because back in the day, there’s always been the same amount of jobs and creative opportunities, but in the past they used to be a more of a throw away thing. Like you know radio host, their work often drifts into the ether and no one hears it again, but these days, everything is sort of recorded, everything is there for you to see. And although the media industry has evolved, it’s actually grown more things, this convergence is causing more and more avenues to open up, you can go on YouTube and upload a thing there, now there is a problem with that because there is so much to see, you have to really stand out and really shine to get noticed.
You could also do the opposite and make something that’s really bad and just has one glimmer of awesomeness that causes the thing to go viral, a ten second clip of a cat can get more views than your twenty-minute short film, but I think overall that it’s because the industry is getting bigger there are naturally going to be more and more entries into that industry.
I’ve seen and worked with some people that have just used their webcam and iMovie to go and make a little, silly video but they’ve worked out how to edit that properly and how to get the most, in this case, comedy out of the video that they’re doing, even though it’s terribly made, even though I cry every time I look at it, there’s still a lot of originality in there, because it’s your voice doing that.
Nick: Do you feel that you have had to make sacrifices for this industry, be it early morning starts, late nights, relationships, how’s that all gone?
Alex: I was working on an ABC show last year, at the ABC building in Ultimo and I spent seven days a week there for two to three months, just non-stop. I would go home occasionally but I did sleep there a couple of times, so the hours do take a toll on you, but if you find yourself in the position I’m in, it’s always good to schedule it like blocks.
Once you’ve done these big blocks, it’s always good to divide it up with lots of smaller jobs because you can regain that mental capacity to think about what you’re doing, cause if you just do block, after block, after block, after block, it’s really taxing on you and you won’t be able to get the best out of you.
Nick: So time management skills are essential if you want to be successful in this industry?
Alex: Yes, because otherwise you’ll find yourself overdue with all your products and under-due with all your sleep.
Nick: What would your advice be to someone looking at making it in the creative industries? What skills does it take and how do you break in?
Alex: The way to break into the industry is just doing stuff, doing the best you can and keep doing that. That’s the only way to do it. If you do something sub-par, people will notice and you’ll notice and you’ll feel unsatisfied and of course, you won’t be doing the best work you can.
Another piece of advice I would give is to always contact people. Sending someone you like an email saying “Hey, I like your stuff!”. People appreciate that and they’ll will want to work with you on things. Sometimes it doesn’t work, but the amount of times it does work is mind boggling.
Nick: So having the confidence to go out there and put yourself forward is part of what’s necessary to make it?
Alex: Yeah, because if you don’t put yourself forward, no one else is going to. That’s what I find.
Nick: Do you find that other creatives, people that have been successful, are keen to see younger creatives succeed?
Alex: In Australia, yes. I’m sure overseas there’s lots of spiteful people who go “No, I want all the success for myself!” but Australia is such a small industry, it’s ridiculously small! Everyone in the industry knows everyone else, because there’s about twenty people there.
I think in Australia, it’s different, because everyone wants everyone to succeed. Very communal, very sharing industry in Australia.
Nick: If you could give me one word to describe what you do and why you do it, what would it be?
Alex: Awesome.
Nick: Awesome?
Alex: Yeah, I think awesome is probably an apt term, because you do want people to be in awe of what you do. Even if it’s only some.
Nick: Alex Gabbott, thank you for your time!
Alex: Oh Nicholas, that’s alright, any time, like seriously, I’ve got a lot of spare time, I do nothing at home really.
Nick: And you can see Alex’s full range of work at his website, alexgabbott.com
Alex: There’s also a “www” in front of that and a full stop! Don’t forget the full stop.
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