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Retirement Workflow


Jan McL

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Have not been much here these last couple years.

 

Went slightly into Nest Egg Panic. That combined thankfully with great material offered more back to back than I'm accustomed to executing kept me out of trouble.

 

Delighted that said panic helped me push kit rental, parking perks/reimbursement and above-contract wages to my market's limits.

 

My body on the other hand is less-than-delighted.

 

Two years straight of regularly not drinking enough water have taken an undeniable toll, with repercussions that cannot be accommodated in a production environment.

 

The realization came surprisingly quickly since it turns out the body will not be ignored.

 

There were tens of paper-thin red flags that it might be 'Time'. I kept track.

  • Hyper Vigilance due to: squeezed production / post production schedules, inexperienced leadership, wacky shooting styles, changing RF world.
  • RF Chaos. So much troubleshooting, data point gathering.
  • Acoustically exhausting locations due to high ambient noise. 
  • Old School Macho Assholes. I've encountered only a few in my fairly long career, but a bunch came back to back. My capacity to turn around the bad juju of wanting to kick said assholes in the nuts was near nil. The red flag was actually verbalizing that sentiment to the EP. Time to go soon.

 

The last 4-5 years have been monitoring the Nest Egg regularly and spent considerable time researching:

  • Real Estate. Where in the world to land. I cannot afford current region. Have explored all directions but south. I need to go five or six hours distant from NYC to buy within the parameters I've set which are: cash purchase less than $100K, garage, single story, preferably within walking distance of a grocery store.
  • Others as they approach and execute Retirement. Our venerable host Jeff Wexler has been an invaluable source of first hand, real time info on the subject, as have Al McGuire and Eric Toline. We've spent a few of hours together in videoconference every weekend for five or six years, during which time I witnessed all of these fine engineers work, work less, hit hiccoughs, triumph over trepidation, and ultimately seamlessly make the crossfade. Bravo gentlemen. I hope to be able to execute the move with half their courage and precision.
  • What to do. Writing, documentary film, teaching. At this point I'm tired and hate everything. Need to give this some time and put it out there.
     

Am much more at ease having begun to sell the gear and gotten great and generous responses from our NYC community. Kept it rather on the QT local to NY since shipping is such a PITA. Thanks to all who bought / will buy.

 

Also more at ease having confirmed I've enough hours to receive full insurance coverage and learned that I don't have to choose between the monthly pension check and the lump sum: you get BOTH! Yippee. Surprise! There's the house.

As usual, this won't be the last entry on the subject and much anticipate your thoughts on the matter.

 

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Oh wow Jan.  This is SO large a can of worms that I can't do anything more than say "I will contribute" to this thread someday soon.

 

I feels ya, and while I'm slightly beyond you, process-wise, there is a lot to chew on.

 

Good luck and for those of you wondering how you'll know when it's time to get out. . .

 

you will just know.

 

D.

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I'm a few years ahead of you, understand what you're facing, and am in no position to give financial advice.

 

But one thing that's kept me sane: When I moved an hour away from downtown (Boston) three years ago, I made sure to get a place that would accommodate a small but workable in-the-box mixing setup. I let enough people know I still had two ears and ten fingers, and was open to anything that (a) interested me, and (b) was being done by someone I liked and/or respected.

 

I haven't made much money this way (and don't have much overhead), but the creative low-$$ indies and pro bonos are just enough to give me ongoing energy and pay a few bills, while letting me sleep late when I want to.

 

YMMV. But I hope it turns out to be close.

 

 

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"At this point I'm tired and hate everything. Need to give this some time and put it out there."

 

It is a journey not a destination and if I may  paraphrase Martin Luther King ,"keep your eyes on the prize", which is a happy Jan living a balanced life in retirement.

You are the only one really knows what you are looking for, but if you are  value oriented  look to the little towns that were once part of America's Industrial period and now are museums of 1800's buildings and victorian bungalows.  A great excuse for  blue highways road trip of discovery. 

There is a whole new chapter out there and you get to design it. 

 

Items to think about. 

Access to quality medical care

Near a university with a Film School  - you earned your scar tissue - time to share it  

Accept you have a need to be around intelligent people, this will not available in all zip codes

 

See you on Sounderday tomorrow 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jan,

 

You are an absolute inspiration in the community. The lessons that I've taken from you (ex: it's the "little things" that matter) are numerous and important, and that's only from reading your words. I'm jealous of those that were lucky enough to work alongside you. Your professionalism and kindness have always been evident on this crazy world wide web, and we're all better off for it.

 

I hope you remain active in the community, and help us all to grow. Even more, I hope you keep writing, writing, writing.

 

Congrats on the next chapter. Enjoy it!

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Oh, and can I also add : (this might be of interest for anyone)

 

Radio and podcast is really fun and important. I got employed at the Swedish public radio as a technician and I've learned a lot and I'm not breaking a sweat. Ymmv, but if you still want to keep doing some sound, radio and podcast are seeing a new dawn. Spotify and others are putting lots of money into podcast, and a lot of exciting tech stuff is happening in the audio only world. You could do both recording and mixing with much of what you already have. 

 

Again, just saying. Maybe you know already 

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1 hour ago, Olle Sjostrom said:

Hope everything works out for you and that you find something that suits you. 
 

Can I just say that I Love your writing. You have a real gift there.. Just saying..

 

 

Thanks Olle. Means a lot.

 

Writing / drawing helps me think stuff through.

 

Having a close reader or two makes the thinking even more clear. I am eternally grateful to and honored by you.

 

Invaluable part of the process of living to me.

 

I've every confidence that the right opportunities will present themselves. Just as with anything I've done, have consulted with experts in the field, done the research and thanks to the internet and friendships, am able to put the word out.

 

12 hours ago, al mcguire said:

[Snipped]

 

Items to think about. 

Access to quality medical care

Near a university with a Film School  - you earned your scar tissue - time to share it  

Accept you have a need to be around intelligent people, this will not available in all zip codes

 

 

For sure good points, Al.

 

All of your spot-on bullet points have cycled the brain pan.

 

I could probably create a bangin' curriculum for a film school. Just need a few million to get it going. Ha.

 

The town I"m seriously looking at has a university whose student numbers have gone down by 50% to 8K. Fairly certain they don't have a film curriculum but they do have broadcast radio and TV.

 

Anyway, 'nuff for now.

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10 hours ago, Mattias Larsen said:

I was listening to your talks with Dave the other day and I do really enjoy the few articles I have read.

 

I can only wish you the best, thank you for everything,  I have learned a few things about set attitude from you.

 

Thanks, Mattias. Set attitude is close to Everything, right next to Showing Up.

 

".....smorgasbord of fun and adventure....." OMG, that will be the mantra as I begin to conceive the shape of the future. Thank you once again for your kind wisdom, Crew. XOXOX

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Congratulations Jan on a well deserved retirement! I hope it’s a smooth one. While I’ve enjoyed many members here over the years, your posts always made me feel grateful to work as a mixer and excited to go out and do it tomorrow.

 

Your post are always so delightful and witty. I would definitely keep writing on some form!

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I went through this a couple of years ago. Work was miserable for about 6 years. Intolerable for the last 2 years, but had to hang on to build up 401k and need of medical (or so I thought). On paper, retirement looked ok, but I was apprehensive. I was at the breaking point; willing to eat rice and beans rather than work another day. I wanted to have a retirement rather than find myself dead at work one day. Two retirees told me not to worry about it. That retirement costs less than you think. I stepped off the precipice and it has been great. Had I known what I know now (friggin wisdom, why can't you get it in advance?), I would have retired two years earlier.

Summary of my experience - it's a real bugger to figure out retirement without being retired. Trust your financial analysis. It is correct. Things will be better than you anticipate. You will be busier than ever once you retire. You will wonder how you ever held down a job and got all your other obligations done. Not only do I not have time for a job, I don't have time for my chores. Chores now are more of a bother than ever. With the freedom of  retirement, I want to spend all my time goofing off.

 

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On 20 January 2020 at 11:42 AM, Jan McL said:

 

I could probably create a bangin' curriculum for a film school. Just need a few million to get it going. Ha.

 

The town I"m seriously looking at has a university whose student numbers have gone down by 50% to 8K. Fairly certain they don't have a film curriculum but they do have broadcast radio and TV.

 

 

Jan, first of all I thank you for bringing a difficult topic up, and doing it with courage and humour is clearly appreciated by all of us. The replies have been just as inspirational.

 

Secondly (I couldn't manage to put the quote box in the right place - hopefully it's a tonight thing) my little comments on the box:

 

Curriculum - millions? Hmm - education has been discussed recently and many times before here. I think it's as simple as coming down to 'looking, listening, understanding' - everyone in the industry has real understanding when compromises from the 'it works' are made and why. And with this understanding we are able to come up with situations when it could work better. Education should teach the first bit, but it really seems to me to want to churn out 'stars' in the order; auteur, director, producer, DP, then maybe the lesser ones they might eventually claim as alumni. We all know this is not the reality of industry and that the film industry, despite it's faults, carries on (and is enjoyable let alone survivable) because it is an industry, not the celebrity group of 'celeb-techs' that education pretends.

 

Being another who managed to work in pretty serious radio early on in my career (and my love is split equally between 'broadcast' and 'film' which in my experience have been very separate worlds) ... we have been told that we are in a new golden era of television (personally I don't see it - I still look back to far better periods of both television and film throughout the world) I'm encouraged by Olle's words about radio (/sound only broadcast). If there's a new generation of listeners (after 'starers') this might be a good shift and Jan I'm sure you would be an excellent teacher of storytelling, emphasis and technical know how.

 

For what it's worth, the all time best radio for me (above War of the Worlds, Glenn Gould and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ...) was the BBC series of Lord of the Rings in 1980. (Best as original 26 half hour episodes but still excellent in the 13x one hour release - ruined when they reedited it to follow the book losing the potboiler drama aspect). My second favourite is also 1980s The Tree of Strife.

 

What I mean to say is ... Jan - teach !! But if film, tv, radio etc is indeed unteachable (I'm being unintentionally unkind to excellent people who did once teach me here...) enjoy retirement, your legacy, inspiration to others and the fun I am sure you have had.

 

All the best, Jez Adamson

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