5 Smart Additional Income Streams for Film Industry Freelancers

Additional income streams can be great to have, especially in our industry. For most of us, the film industry has always been a gig economy.  Freelance work can be erratic in the best of times.

There was no work for months when shows shut down during the pandemic.  Live events still haven’t bounced back to pre-pandemic levels.  So it’s as good a time as any to check out some additional revenue streams.

If you’ve read some of my other posts, you know that I’m a firm believer in having multiple sources of income.  In our industry, additional income streams can be especially beneficial.  And the internet and social media have enabled more opportunities than ever to earn extra money.

(Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means at no cost to you, I make a commission if you decide to make a purchase using my links.)

Here are five things you can do to earn some extra money while working in the industry:

1. Freelance writing.

If you’re a decent writer and willing to hustle, freelance writing can be a great side gig.  I had great success with it this year, and so can you.

There’s a constant demand for content creation, and if you’re willing to pursue gigs through sites like ProBlogger and send out letters of introduction to agencies and companies, you can have some real success with freelance writing.

Freelancers often specialize by category, such as finance, insurance, HVAC, pest control, etc.  Others specialize in specific types of writing, such as white papers, newsletters, or blog posts for companies.

Grammarly is one tool that's an absolute necessity for all my writing projects.  Grammarly checks grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and I have the Grammarly extension for Chrome that checks everything I write anywhere online.

I use the excellent pro version, but you can try Grammarly for free here.

You’ll need a few samples of your work to show potential clients.  I set up a separate website for freelance writing, which you can see here, but you don’t need your website up to get started.

And you can work from anywhere.

Speaking of websites, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Bluehost, the shared hosting service I use for this blog, and my freelance writing website.  Their hosting plans start as low as $2.65 a month for 12 months.

It's low-cost, reliable hosting with great customer service.  Find the Bluehost link here.

2. Affiliate Marketing through your blog or website.

If you have a blog or website, as many of us in the industry do, you should consider affiliate marketing.  You become an affiliate for products you believe in and receive a commission if someone purchases through your links.

People can read your posts and purchase through your links months or even years later, generating some passive income for you.  Affiliate marketing can provide a solid additional income stream through your blog or website.

Before you get started, I highly recommend signing up for affiliate marketing expert Michelle Schroeder-Gardner’s free affiliate marketing ebook, to get you started on the right track.  Michelle knows what it takes to be an extremely successful affiliate marketer, and she’s got lots of valuable information to share in her free affiliate marketing ebook.

And here's another valuable free resource.  We all need a platform to grow our businesses and expand our reach with email.  I use ConvertKit for my blog and love it.  ConvertKit is designed for creators like us, and it’s free if you have less than a thousand subscribers.  You can check out the ConvertKit free plan here.

3. Sell items on eBay, Craigslist, and Amazon.

I can’t begin to count the number of items that we’ve sold on these platforms. By ‘we,’ I mean my husband.  He’s the master seller in the house, and he’s listed and sold things I never thought would sell.

The downside, of course, is you never know when the items will sell.  Some items sell instantly, and others sit for months.

According to my in-house expert, Amazon is best for volume sellers rather than selling individual items.  I’ve had designer clothing and shoes sell well on eBay.

Craigslist is the place to go for local selling.  As Craigslist involves in-person transactions, take safety precautions when selling there.  Craigslist can be a valuable source for local buying, too.  I bought my car from a seller on Craigslist.

4. Manage social media accounts for businesses.

Managing social media accounts ties in with freelance writing, as some writers pursue this route as part of their writing businesses.  You can make social media posts from anywhere, so you can even do it during downtime on set.

Hey, you’re probably posting to your own social media accounts when you’re on set anyway.

I use Canva, my favorite design tool, for many business and personal social media posts.  If you want to post social media for businesses, you’ll undoubtedly want posts to look professional.

You can even sell templates you make in Canva as an additional income stream.

Canva has loads of pre-sized social media templates, thousands of graphics, and video editing and drawing tools.  I’ve used it for every single blog post on this blog.  And you can sign up for Canva for free here.

5. Monetize your hobbies.

People are monetizing just about every hobby there is.  From cake decorating to knitting to photography to golf, there’s money to be made from your favorite hobby.

You can sell a product you create, become an affiliate for a product (get Michelle Schroeder-Gardner’s free affiliate marketing ebook, as mentioned above), or teach a skill you’ve mastered.  If you’ve visited YouTube lately, you can see that people are making how-to videos on every topic.

Combining a passion with a revenue stream is always a win-win.

Conclusion

Well, that concludes part one of my additional income streams roundup for film industry freelancers like us.  There will be a part two coming shortly with even more ideas, and maybe a part three.

I should mention that I’ve always had income from at least one other source while working in the industry.  I always believed that the more uncertainty there is, the more income sources there should be.

We all know how abruptly jobs can end, and things can change.  It can’t hurt to make sure you’re prepared.