Freelance or Perm?

[roarke80]

Hoping to get some opinions on this. Basically I'm at the crossroads. I've been doing pretty well as a freelance artist for a few years. A top vfx / post house has just offered me a full time position. Although the work would be more interesting, I would have to take about a 50% pay cut.

On one hand, I see this as possibly the next progressive step in my career as an artist. On the other hand, I greatly cherish the freedom, independence and pay of being a freelancer.

To add to the whole situation, I have only one night to decide =)

What would you guys do?

[theta]

I've been working full-time for a while now and I love it. Stability means a lot to me right now. If you ever plan on doing the kids/mortgage thing, I've found a full-time job helps relieve a lot of stress. Both have positives and negatives, just gotta weigh them and decide for yourself.

But personally, I would counter offer with a higher salary and let them make the decision. If they accept - you work full time and get paid what you like; if they decline, it's back to freelance.

[roarke80]

Thanks for your reply! I already have a mortgage and hopefully will do the kids thing soon, but I seem to find just as much stability in freelancing if not more than a permanent role.

They have refused to budge on the salary, so it's a case of take it or leave it I suppose. I should also mention I am a pretty poor negotiator =)

I feel like I'm at the crossroads of whether to be practical and grow up, or persist with my almost childish and naive vision of what I would like to do for a living. It's a tough one!

[Steinz]

Im freelance and currently have no work so a full time position can seem tempting. Its hard for people to give advice without knowing your situation . If your confident you can get work then freelance seems like a better option for me

[tommy138]

Why don't just take the position for a while, and see if you like it.
It might be a 50% paycut, but you might earn the same in the end (although you don't have the downtime, which can be nice).
This way you can maybe build a nicer reel, with some cool shots, which might help you later on when you decide to go freelance again.
You might also learn a thing or two, which you can again use later on to get more work/pay as a freelancer?
Just a thought...

[roarke80]

Thanks for your reply. You make a lot of sense! I was kinda thinking along those lines as well. I always have the opportunity to go freelance, but a good position doesn't come along very often.

So my plan is probably to go with the position, do as much cool stuff, learn as much as possible for a few months, and become a more valuable freelancer at the end of it.

At the same time, I will be hunting for more flexible freelance opportunities to try and make up the income difference.

I hope that sounds like a good plan. Thanks so much for taking the time to give me your opinion (all of you), it really helped alot!

[Tagger]

At the same time, I will be hunting for more flexible freelance opportunities to try and make up the income difference.

just make sure that they don't make you an exclusive employee (or if they do, that they just have to pay you more).
if you sign a contract saying that you won't work for their competitors, you're pretty much f***ed if you want to do other exciting work