Do you knowyou chose the right profession?

“Nobody knows anything.”

Said William Goldman, one of the great screenwriters, when talking about the movie business.

He was talking about “knowing” whether a movie would be a hit or not.

At best, you could have an educated guess.  It’s not a logical business.  No-one in their right mind would do it.

But plenty of apparently sane people still try.

Here’s a sobering statistic. Only 2% of actors make a living from the profession.  And 90% are out of work at any one time.

The other 8% are presumably hanging in there on below subsistence earnings.

Why would anyone do this?  It’s not as if these numbers are a secret.

The average UK writer (we’re talking novels here) only clears about £7,000 a year.

The author will only earn about 10-12% of the retail price of a book.

The rest of the money goes to publisher and book seller.

Self-published authors can make between 40-60% of the cover price, but they do so under the scorn of the establishment.

What about music? It gets worse.

Only about 0.4% of musicians could make a living from streaming.

As a singer, your chances of breaking through are about the same as they were in the 1950s...1 in a million.

Only 11% of musicians can make a living from music.

I can’t find reliable statistics for painters who make a living through art.  That in itself suggests that the odds are slim.

One thing everybody knows: if you want to be a writer, actor, musician or painter...prepare to be poor.

Yet, confusingly, the UK has one of the most vibrant creative sectors in the entire world.

Let me leave you with one more statistic:

In 2022, the government estimated that the creative industries generated £126 billion in GVA, which includes around £27 billion from music, visual and performing arts, publishing, design, fashion, museums, and galleries.

Something doesn’t add up.