We were lucky to catch up with David Newman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi David, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
I am currently doing so! I am a full-time sound editor at a post house here in LA working on TV. It was very much not like that from day 1. When I first moved to LA, I didn’t have a job. I got an (unpaid) internship one day a week at Private Island Audio, a small audio house. While I was there, an office manager position opened up and I took that opportunity. I made sure they knew I wanted to sound edit, did some practice work using their facilities that they were kind enough to let me practice on, and eventually got the chance to work on full projects for them on a freelance basis. I started interning there around the beginning of 2019, was an office manager around July, and did my first project for them right at the end of 2019. I was working both in the office and doing about 3 or 4 features, TV shows, or shorts with them from the tail end of 2019 through when I left in early 2022. I left there for my current job, where I have been working full-time as a staff sound editor at a post house in TV.
David, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a sound editor working in LA. I am originally from New York and grew up in NYC and the surrounding area. I went to Vassar College knowing I wanted to study film and discovered my interest in sound. I take an approach to sound that’s kind of out-of-the-box. I like taking one sound and using it a context you wouldn’t expect, in order to help further tell the story or create an emotional moment.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, it’s the act of creation. It’s looking at a blank timelime and asking “What could go here? What should go here?” How can I elevate this moment using sound and help best tell the story? Can I use sound to help build a character? Create a moment? All of those questions, for me, propel me. But I would also say the act of having created, if that makes sense. Being able to look back and point at a specific thing and say “I did that.” That’s very rewarding to me.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Just pay them what they’re worth. Not what you think they’re worth, the rate they’re asking for. If artists and craftspeople can’t afford to live doing their art, then they won’t be able to do it. It’s that simple. You want artists and a thriving creative ecosystem? Do that.
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