Surviving the Recession: Scott Hinkley

Up until the stock-market crash, I had been working steadily as a re-recording mixer on feature films for years. As a mixer, I belong to a union, but I work exclusively as an independent contractor, so my personal exposure to changes in the market is fairly high. The immediate change I found, when things went south, was a complete loss of work for almost everyone in my industry. Unnerved by the economic downturn and compounding threat (empty as it proved to be) of a SAG strike, studios froze many of their production budgets and shelved their works-in-progress. Needless to say, it left me in a position familiar to many during these past months: time on my hands and no money to pay for it.. I turned to savings and what little work I could scrape together and just tried to keep my ship afloat.

I have recently found more work, and things seem to be turning around for both myself and my peers, but I feel as if I have undergone a more long-term shift in my goals and ideals during this recession. I no longer dream of the same list of unnecessary goodies. I seek more satisfaction internally and from my immediate surroundings. I have become a better cook. At the same time, I feel like I am also thinking about things on a larger scale. My future, with a family and house, seems like much less of an inevitability now, and for me, it makes those goals seem more worth-while again. Another change I have noticed is the steadily increasing rate of interaction among those meeting for the first time, or those just passing on the street. A little uncertainty seems to be a strong reminder of the value of neighbors and community.

I hope that these changes, both personal and community-wide, can survive an economic recovery. I am not sure that I am optimistic about it, but one of the biggest things I have learned to do in these times of uncertainty is to let things unfold at their own pace. I will do my best to keep that up.

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