Following on from the question – what do freelancers do when they are not working, meet the casting exec with the best side hustle in the business, writes Media Parents Director Amy Walker.

Casting Exec Emma Smith is one of the funniest people I have met. One of those people who seem effortlessly funny, the ones with funny bones. (I could go on – suffice to say I married one – Emma, there is at least one out there for you). Working in TV with Emma lifts your soul and of course her humour hooks in the punters. I have no doubt that her stand up act “Holding Out for a Hero – the binfire that is modern dating” will rock the aisles of The Hen and Chickens Theatre. To buy tickets click here, to win a pair drop a line to @welshalienldn on insta.

Holding Out For A Hero (WIP) is a one woman show about the binfire that is modern dating.

Journalist Emma Smith has been holding out for a hero her entire life. Now she’s in her 40’s, she wants to know where the F*** is he?!  In order to find out, she’s channelling her Welsh soul sister Bonnie with this comedy cabaret romp. Think all singing (well, mostly lip syncing), all dancing meets stand-up-meets-ex-rated-TED-talk.

Alongside her own shambolic love life, she explores the history of dating apps and how they’ve affected our search for love and our behaviour. Is Hinge really ‘designed to be deleted’? Or does it want you to keep you paying a montly subscription? 63% of British singles now use apps, and the industry is worth 165million annually. But are dating apps now dead?

Prepare to find out how Emma got banned from Tinder while on holiday in Sicily. Meander through her slut years and her x-rated whatsapp archive. How did she survive a period of voluntary celibacy? And why did a Thatcherite call her a Feminazi?

“Swipe right on this show.”-CEO of Hinge (probably)

“We banned her.”-CEO of Tinder

What better way to hone the networking skills gleaned online from the Media Parents Networking Workshop than by putting them into practise at our Media Parents Autumn Drinks? This exclusive event for Media Parents talent is hosted by Media Parents Director Amy Walker and ClearCut MD Rowan Bray, in the gardens of a beautiful Bloomsbury townhouse.

Previous Media Parents drinks at ClearCut - come on it's lovely!

We are encouraging freelancers to invite a contact along to the drinks – don’t be shy, everyone loves a party! Use the invitation below or download it here: Media Parents Oct 15th invitation See you there!

How have you been filling your time when not working? Asks Media Parents Director Amy Walker. (Media Parents is running a series of free courses for freelancers so job applications hit the spot and it’s been great to meet so many talented freelancers through those. Make sure you catch the networking workshop before Media Parents Autumn Drinks!)  I love wild swimming and as well as all the sh*t in TV, I am infuriated by what’s happening in our waterways, so I’ve signed up to Surfers Against Sewage A Dip a Day in October largely to raise awareness of how often we cannot swim in the water these days due to dumping. I’ve enlisted champion wild swimmer Doon Mackichan (Toast / Two Doors Down / Smack the Pony) to help me face the brown water problem.

Actress Doon Mackichan will be cold water swimming with media parents Amy Walker in September

This weekend Doon is running her annual wild swimming and writing retreat in Scotland. I’m heading there to try to get my creative back after this soul-destroying period in TV, and partly as a way to limber up for October’s Dip A Day. Scotland, in my experience, is always a season ahead of England, so I figured if I can swim in a loch in “skins” in September, the English Channel in October is going to feel practically Mediterranean.

If you know me you know I don’t do things by halves, but actor and stand up Doon Mackichan is way beyond me in those stakes. Her book My Lady Parts details her dynamic progression from cold water to cross channel swimmer; motherhood successfully raising a child through leukaemia; and countless freelance career battles that anyone in TV can relate to and be inspired by. All this with a sense of humour and a strongly feminist punch.

Amy Walker, Media Parents Director looking warm and dry. Brace yourself for October's Dip a Day (photo: Robert Ludovic)

The TV situation, the sewage situation – both cr*p. No real solutions in sight yet. So let’s face it, if this slightly risky experiment to boost creativity and immunity doesn’t work, at least with Doon I will hopefully die laughing.

To sponsor Amy’s Dip a Day go here. Actually we have raised more than the target already so if you would like to join me in supporting a charity that gives families Christmas Dinner and Christmas gifts who would not otherwise receive them then please go here: https://survivingchristmas.co.uk/ I’ll swim for that!

www.mediaparents.co.uk - the jobs and social networking site for short term, part time, job share and regular hours jobs in media. For free events for subscribers go here: https://blog.mediaparents.co.uk/2024/08/event/