Not so entertaining
September 23, 2015 3:28 AM   Subscribe

"In the past 12 months, workers in the entertainment industry considered taking their own lives almost seven times more than the general population. Almost one in every 14 performers surveyed admitted to making an attempt on their life. For roadies and technicians, the figures were even more troubling, at almost one in 12. That compares with roughly one on 30 for the wider Australian population."

Unsurprising to anyone in the industry, startling to those outside, a recent study (pdf) sheds light on the sickness within the Australian entertainment industry

Discussed less in The Age article but described in the study are the hugely elevated levels of drug and alcohol use also endemic to the industry.
posted by deadwax (21 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
Those figures are astounding. and horrific. I had no idea that suicide was such an issue with entertainment roadies and techs but from reading the stats about low wages, lack of sleep and addiction it makes sense. Horrible sense. For anyone with mental illness any one of those factors is huge.
posted by biggreenplant at 6:14 AM on September 23, 2015


Earlier this year an old friend and longtime roadie posted a cry for help on Facebook - no sleep, never staying in the same place for more than a few days, disconnection from friends and family... another lifelong sound guy I know got gout before he was 30 because of his incredibly unhealthy diet...

It looks like the good life but for every hilarious story there's a sad one that never gets told.
posted by greenish at 6:44 AM on September 23, 2015 [5 favorites]


What prompted me to post this was the strong resonance it had with many people I know (and myself) in the industry. I've mostly been in the entertainment or arts and cultural scene since I was 18, which is now half my life, and this study is just simply not surprising. I posted The Age article to facebook a week or so ago and the response is "yep".

It's broader than the entertainment industry as well. There is huge crossover from music and theatre into galleries, museum work and the wider more "cultured" arts scene. In my experience the picture is often the same there.

It's also not just a case of a sick industry. Through the nature of their work technicians, roadies and the like often end up with experience and licenses that are in theory very valuable in construction, mining and the like. I know more than a few (myself included) that have tried to cash in on that but it's often that leaving the entertainment industry is worse for the mental health of these people than staying. I honestly think the industry is sick because it tolerates and supports sick people better than most - and then underpays them, deprives them of sleep and offers easy access chemical diversions - which of course makes things worse. Teasing out the causal relationships here is damn hard.
posted by deadwax at 7:12 AM on September 23, 2015 [10 favorites]


The part about performers having a higher rate of depression and suicide doesn't surprise me in the least. I was in entertainment for a time. Mostly stage, but a couple of voice-overs etc. In many ways its such a psychologically unhealthy business. A lot of smiling to one's face and stabbing them in the back goes on. Also it's an industry where performers by nature are treated as a 'product' rather than a human being. There can often be a feeling of being discarded and forgotten while they look for some other product to replace you.

And then there's the weird lack of respect that comes with being a performer mixed in with the respect that comes with fame. When I was an actor my DREAM was to be a stage actor that toured around the world doing various plays. No one becomes famous or rich doing that, but in my mind it's way more rewarding than doing a cheesy, badly written tv soap operas and such. But a lot of people have this assumption that if you're looking to become a performer your goal is to achieve tv or film fame and therefore no matter how successful you are as an actor- even if you make good money doing it, you're often considered a 'loser' by the regular population if you aren't in OK magazine being photographed getting the paper. No other profession is like that. When someone mentions Joe the lawyer who makes 70k a year working 50 hour weeks no one at the dinner table scoffs and says "Ha! Never heard of him." But when talking about Linda the voice-over actress who makes the same amount a year or even much more "Ha! Never heard of her." is something you might hear often. As if her lack of fame doesn't make her a successful artist. The general population confuses professional celebrity-ism with professional artistry and so successful performers are often spit upon as if they are losers. This can have an enormous effect on someone's self worth.

The Techies though... That I don't get. When I used to wait back stage I'd look at them doing their jobs backstage and would envy them. I used to think they had it much easier. Guess not.
posted by rancher at 7:14 AM on September 23, 2015 [12 favorites]


"Discussed less in The Age article but described in the study are the hugely elevated levels of drug and alcohol use also endemic to the industry."

Those tend to be a symptom as opposed to the cause.
posted by I-baLL at 7:22 AM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


That's tragic. I wonder if this is true everywhere or if there is something about Australia that makes it worse (or perhaps better; I have no idea what comparable numbers are in other places) in terms of the toll life on the road takes on its entertainers.
posted by TedW at 7:30 AM on September 23, 2015


I'm looking through the PDF and I can't find an average length of time spent away from home without a break. I work for bands as a tour manager and I love the road. I'm sure there are outliers like me, but I have to imagine that the length of time you spend away from home drastically increases your level of dissatisfaction. I've not had to spend more than two months away from home and I'm fortunate. I'd like to see what the average is, though, as I imagine touring a big production like The Lion King would eat up most of your calendar. 10 years of that would be brutal.
posted by GrapeApiary at 7:50 AM on September 23, 2015


I'm not in Australia, but I imagine this is pretty much universal: we have a friend who is a pretty huge star in our small country and many other countries, with a cult-like following, but not a megastar of the international scene. When s/he has to take a break to recover their sanity and practice self-care, it means their whole crew (also our friends) is not working during that time, unless they pick up other gigs randomly, so this is also a major psychological / emotional burden on the star, because they feel responsible for all of those people who are like family (or even closer, really) whom they've worked with intimately under every condition for a couple of decades now.

But the star can't afford to pay the entire crew all that time, and the crew has to absorb these gaps, financially and emotionally, and live with this always precarious security unless they choose to leave for something more reliable. There are all the other concerns as well – the drinking and drugs, the scene weirdness ... all the usual stuff, but knowing these folks, it's really now far less about all that and much more about being worried about supporting their families and being present for their kids and/or partners and so on. A lot of instability and worrying for everyone, which is much easier when you are an unattached starryeyed young thing, but which grows much more heavy and wearisome as time goes on.
posted by taz at 8:26 AM on September 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


Rancher, techs have to be cool with often longer hours than the talent, potentially worse pay, the same dislocating times of work, the same travel and no recognition outside the very small industry (the number of times you hear as a tech "oh, I never even considered that someone has to actually do that" because apparently lighting is magic, is nuts), so it can be a pretty damn rough gig too.
posted by deadwax at 8:30 AM on September 23, 2015 [8 favorites]


> I have to imagine that the length of time you spend away from home drastically increases your level of dissatisfaction.

Which in turn makes me wonder whether the findings will be only replicable to the same extent in the US, Canada and Australia, where the countries are large and the major cultural centers are mostly clustered at points a thousand miles apart.
posted by ardgedee at 9:22 AM on September 23, 2015


I suspect the touring side of things is only a small part of it. I've worked rock and roll in both the UK and Australia and the culture is extremely similar. A pretty large part of the industry (I have no idea of the percentage, but it could well be the majority) never goes on the road or only rarely, yet I'm certain this study applies to that portion as well. Of the three industry suicide victims I knew none were tourers.
posted by deadwax at 10:07 AM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Which in turn makes me wonder whether the findings will be only replicable to the same extent in the US, Canada and Australia, where the countries are large and the major cultural centers are mostly clustered at points a thousand miles apart.

Well, in Europe, you are usually going to major and not-quite-as-major cultural centers in various countries, if you're popular enough. I'd extrapolate that it might similar for other distinct geographical and economic-sharing regions, or, of course, other large countries (India? China?) aside from the US, Canada and Australia.

But this is just me nitpicking a bit. As deadwax points out, there is more involved than travel. (Though even within a small country, travel is a thing; if you are in the US, imagine traveling just between several cities in your state on a regular, ongoing basis – it can be disruptive and depressing, especially if you feel you don't have a choice.)
posted by taz at 10:29 AM on September 23, 2015


The Techies though... That I don't get. When I used to wait back stage I'd look at them doing their jobs backstage and would envy them. I used to think they had it much easier. Guess not.

First ones in, last ones to leave. I got home from work at 11:45 last night, and left again at 7a. These are my normal(ish) hours, 5 days a week, 7 months of the year. I'm considered one of the lucky ones; I have a house gig. When I'm not at my steady gig, I have no idea what's coming next. I constantly make and cancel plans because turning down work means they won't be as quick to call next time. It's incredibly difficult to create and maintain relationships with people outside the industry. I've comforted more than one big tough sobbing man; heartbroken that he's missing his kids growing up. I spend more time with my colleagues than they do with their spouses. I'm recently single, and feeling like I want to date again. But, "Well, I'm off Monday or Wednesday," isn't terribly conducive to dating.

I could keep going. This job is hell on your body, and sometimes you just want the pain to go away. The toxicity of the macho work culture. Safety gear as something that just slows you down. The insane pressure to get the show up on time, no matter what.
posted by mollymayhem at 1:35 PM on September 23, 2015 [7 favorites]


Having a job where a fuckup could cost thousands of dollars and/or kill someone is very stressful.

And I think there is a very sick system in how any proximity to "fame" is considered somehow compensatory for how hard the work and life and stress is. As if being a rigger on Lady Gaga's tour gives you some kind of magical mitochondria so your body doesn't physically register the effects of 18 hour workdays and sleeping...wherever...for (average) US$38K/year.

That's like your one dumb cousin who thinks you're rich because you got interviewed on the TV news, and everyone on the TV is rich so.

And in any given production, there's only a couple of "stars" and they are pretty much wholly owned by the production, have hundreds of jobs dependent on them, are the object of constant grossly-intrusive obsession (which, many people will say, is the punishment they deserve for getting famous). They do get better pay and usually a better place to sleep, but again that's one to maybe a handful of performers involved, while all the other performers make only what the union requires and are only allowed stuff like breaks and bathroom access because the union requires those too. They are otherwise, like the rest of the crew, slightly specialized meat products who can be replaced with a phone call.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:54 PM on September 23, 2015 [3 favorites]


I was dubious going into this post, thinking "yeah, drink drugs. What do you expect?" But these comments have been illuminating. I'd like to hear more.
posted by Modest House at 4:56 PM on September 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


Many here have said it better, but i wrote this at the beginning of my day (6am est) and I'm posting it at the end (1145pm). I'll have the same hours tomorrow, and the next day, and the next....


I've been thinking about this since I first read this article yesterday.

I've written about my career elsewhere here. I'm a third generation stagehand,/lighting tech, been in and out of the business for almost 25 years, in daily for the last 12 or so. These issues have been on my mind almost since day one.

I grew up hearing all the crazy stories, I've lost a bunch of friends and family to all manner of craziness: suicides, overdoses, multiple people who fell asleep on the drive home purely out of exhaustion, and more than I can count who worked their asses off long past age 65 or 68 (long hours, physical labor) and then dropped dead weeks or months after they retired, usually because they had worked so much and for so long they had no idea what else to do with themselves once there was no more work.

Firstly, and this applies to me as well, the entire industry is a massive gang of misfits: those who never fit in, those who couldn't fit in despite trying, those who couldn't make it in the regular 9-5, and those who couldn't even get in the door for an interview, whether because of multiple felonies and never having lived in one place for more than a few months or because they could barely speak English despite the fact it was their first and only language.

And even while having actively considered it on a near daily basis, I'm still at a loss. There is no easy answer, and it defies boiling down to chicken or the egg pat answers. (Generalizations about blue-collar people to follow, please realize I am a third generation blue collar union worker and damned proud of it. YMMV)

First, obviously, a lot of this is blue collar work, with all the attendant things that go along with it...not taking care of one's health, eating poorly, not sleeping because of long hours at work and then capping it off with abuse of drink or drugs at the end of it...my grandfather had all his teeth pulled and then went without any teeth in his head for FIVE YEARS. And this was while he was late middle-aged, still working. I and pretty much everyone I know could tell stories such as this for days.

To go along with the long hours, that means your family life suffers, or is non-existant. One works to make money one can never spend, or to pay alimony to one's ex(es), or to give to the bookies or the track. Those at home never see you and then often don't see any money coming home after all that time away. One guy I knew died on the job and they found tens of thousands of dollars in cash hidden behind his locker. Growing up, I never saw my father, which was just as well...when he came home he was so angry that I preferred to not see him anyway. When I got my union card a close friend said to me "Now nevercalm, with that card comes one free divorce." I used it a few years later. Surprise! I was working too many hours, sleeping at work many nights, and everything down the line fell apart.

The work is inconsistent and unpredictable. Your show could end at any minute, and then you're out, back to working the phones and connections. In the meantime, the show goes on...holidays? I went years working Xmas, new years, Thanksgiving, thru funerals and friends weddings and missed dates and whatever else you can think of. Your parents are dying? You work until the absolute last second. There is no security whatsoever.

In the meantime, everyone is gunning for you...producers want to cut your spot, your coworkers want their brother/sister/cousin/neighbor/son to have your job, that piece of scenery that was badly rigged could finally fall. Equipment fails. You make one stupid comment and you suddenly are told "Hey, I had to bring in someone new tomorrow. I'll call you when something turns up."

The despair that follows and/or being surrounded with said despair can be crushing. I work on an amazing show with amazing people, but I spent years working shows with all of the above going on and far worse, and there are no easy answers. I've felt it myself, lost family to addiction and suicide.

Still and all, I say this all the time: this life? Ruins you for anything else. We are the dreamers, and the makers of dreams. It's corny, but when you hear the applause every night and you had a hand in it? All that nonsense falls away for a few minutes. When my boss hands me my paycheck every week, I say "all this AND I get paid??" And I mean it, no matter how bad the week.
posted by nevercalm at 8:52 PM on September 23, 2015 [11 favorites]


Every night, the overture gives me goosebumps. Every night.
posted by mollymayhem at 9:01 PM on September 23, 2015 [4 favorites]


The comments in this thread are amazing.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:46 PM on September 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


I worked for a AV company in the 90's and the work schedule was brutal, and it true about the first to get there and last to leave, and everything is your fault.
posted by boilermonster at 11:38 PM on September 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


I have close family who have been in the industry for the best part of 20 years, and can confirm it is one of the most brutally exploitative (legal) industries around, for everybody except the producers and major stars (actors & directors).

Technical staff in particular are treated like utter shit.

Chews up individuals and their families, and spits them out, with no concern whatsoever for the mountains of human carnage left behind.

Stay out of it. :(
posted by Pouteria at 4:46 AM on September 24, 2015


"Listen to the stage manager and get on stage when they tell you to. No one has time for the rock star act. None of the techs backstage care if you're David Bowie or the milkman. When you act like a jerk, they are completely unimpressed with the infantile display that you might think comes with your dubious status. They were there hours before you building the stage, and they will be there hours after you leave tearing it down. They should get your salary, and you should get theirs."

-- Henry Rollins, Black Coffee Blues
I've seen this posted somewhere in almost every venue I've been to. That simple paragraph (especially the last sentence) has given Hank an enormous amount of goodwill in the world of rock and roll techs and stage crew.


I suspect the touring side of things is only a small part of it.

I think you're right. Not least because local crew often have even longer hours and do more physical labor than touring crew (at least in the music side of the business - the show I did last Wednesday we were there two hours before (some) of the tour crew rolled in off the bus, and closed up our truck two hours after all the band gear was loaded and the tour crew was off to bed or to party.) And get paid less - touring is where the real money is.

So people wind up between a rock and a hard place; you can tour and make good money but spend little time in one place (more than a few musicians or techs I know "live" with their parents - as in they crash in the spare bedroom the few weeks a year they're in town and store their few belongings in the attic). Or you can stay local (mostly), where you theoretically get to sleep in your own bed and have some semblance of a "normal" life, but earn much less and still have such irregular hours that your life winds up a lot less "normal" than you'd hoped.

Firstly, and this applies to me as well, the entire industry is a massive gang of misfits

I think the tech & crew side of things tends to appeal to people who thrive on (or at least are not bothered by) a certain level of last-minute seat-of-the-pants problem solving. I'm sure there are other jobs that can give you that adrenaline rush + boost of whatever brain chemical (endorphins? I dunno) that kicks in when you're thinking quickly and are hyper-focused. Off the top of my head, I suspect jobs like EMT or firefighter, chefs/catering/restaurant and bar management, maybe some coding/software jobs. (And some quick Googling strongly suggests that EMT/firefighters/chefs/professional food service workers also tend towards higher-than-average rates for suicide and depression and substance abuse & addiction.)

How this psychological quirk might correlate with a tendency towards depression I have no idea. But I do think lots of techs could be doing something else - they just happened to stumble on this odd little pocket of work that pushes certain buttons.


Added to that is the point that being able to mix a band well, or design and run a great light show, or design and build fantastic stage sets, requires (I believe) some level of innate talent. It might not be Capital-"A" Art, but it's definitely skilled craftsmanship, and while the skills can be learned, there are always people who are better at it than others, or able to learn the skills more quickly and easily than others - there are people who have a talent for these jobs just like some people have a talent for writing or dancing or singing. And once you've discovered that you have that talent, you derive no small amount of internal satisfaction from using it. But it's an odd and rare talent, and there's only so many situations in which to use the talent - it's not like MegaBank is gonna pay me to sit in a cubicle and mix bands 40 hours a week at 80K yearly.


It's corny, but when you hear the applause every night and you had a hand in it? All that nonsense falls away for a few minutes. When my boss hands me my paycheck every week, I say "all this AND I get paid??" And I mean it, no matter how bad the week.

Every night, the overture gives me goosebumps. Every night.

Yyyyeaaahhhhh . . . . . . . . Hell no. Sometimes a gig is just another goddamn day at work - long days, hard labor, you can't pay me enough to deal with these assholes, and I'm gettin too old for this shit, Riggs.

So far the good days outnumber the bad, and I get enough opportunities to do new and interesting things that I can deal with the shit days, thinking "This too shall pass." But I've been doing this for nigh on thirty years, and I've always felt - no, known - that some days it's worth it, and some days it isn't. Some days the applause makes me proud I had a hand in it, some days the applause just means I'm that much closer to getting the fuck out of there.

YMMV, of course.
posted by soundguy99 at 8:12 PM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


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