The Mt. Freelance Podcast

In our 12th and final episode of Season One Aaron James [https://mathdept.com] and Andrew Dickson [http://andrewdickson.com] welcome freelance custom designer Amanda Needham to the show. Amanda got her start designing costumes for going out at night in her younger days as a club-goer in 1990s Portland, Oregon. Fellow Mt. Freelance podcast guest David Cress [https://www.mtfreelance.com/mt-freelance-podcast-david-cress] gave her a shot at costume design for commercials and she never looked back. Amanda has worked on independent films like Wendy and Lucy [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1152850/] and TV shows like Shrill, Portlandia, Baskets and Chad. Sometimes even on more than one at the same time! Her work earned her all kinds of recognition including winning an Emmy [https://www.emmys.com] not once but twice. In our interview Amanda talks about how she got her start, her approach to the creative process and how she does her best work when she is helping to create a character and backstory through costume design. She also talks about being a mom, balancing work and family and how she was initially supposed to make 14 costumes for Shakira’s Super Bowl performance [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pILCn6VO_RU] but had to make 50 when the performer decided all her dancer’s needed to wear them. And that’s a wrap on Season One. Thanks for listening.

In our 11th episode Aaron James [https://mathdept.com] and Andrew Dickson [http://andrewdickson.com] welcome freelance stand-up comedian Amy Miller [https://www.amymillercomedy.com] to the Mt. Freelance [https://www.mtfreelance.com] podcast who speaks about her creative process, being a woman in comedy and how challenging the pandemic has been for pandemic. Good news, she’s touring again! And you can buy tickets [https://www.amymillercomedy.com/gigs]. Amy Miller is a headlining stand-up based in Los Angeles by way of Portland and Oakland. Prime-time TV watchers will remember her from Last Comic Standing [https://www.nbc.com/last-comic-standing], and comedy fans know her story-based style of comedy based on her own experiences and observations. When we think of the creative community, we often focus on folks who are designers, photographers and producers. But Amy reminds us that musicians, artists and yes, stand-ups are so obviously freelance that they typically don’t even use the word. It’s just part of the gig. In our conversation Amy shares some insights into her creative process, touches on the challenges of being both a woman comedian, being a comedian in the pandemic, and even being a woman comedian in the pandemic. And also reminds us of the power and excitement of live events with performers and audiences members together in once place. Give it a listen and get ready to have some fun.

In our 10th episode Aaron James [https://mathdept.com] and Andrew Dickson [http://andrewdickson.com] welcome designer and apparel designer, the one and only Bob Smith [https://bobsmithdesign.com/nike-sportswear] to the Mt. Freelance [https://www.mtfreelance.com] podcast. Like so many designers, Bob went to the Kinko’s school of design, getting his start making band posters and fliers for the deli he worked at. This landed him a short stint at the Wieden+Kennedy studio [https://www.instagram.com/wkstudiopdx/?hl=en] before getting a job designing t-shirts at Nike in the late 1990s. He couldn’t help but notice Nike [https://www.nike.com] was exclusively focused on performance. So, he found an empty office, transformed it into a coach’s office with the help of the Home Depot and filled it with vintage Nike apparel and his own designs. While his immediate superiors were annoyed he wasn’t cranking out enough t-shirt designs, he eventually convinced the company to launch Nike Sportswear [https://www.nike.com/sportswear], an instant success that landed Nike on fashion runways and in stores like Barney’s. He shares that story with us! As well as how we came up with the idea of a Nike + Pendleton [https://www.pendleton-usa.com] collaboration to benefit the American Indian College Fund [https://collegefund.org], and why he left New Balance to create his own brand, Ore-Cal Sportswear [https://www.orecalsportswear.com]. Not only is Bob a great designer and storyteller, he’s got loads of advice and insight into the creative process. Hear him explain why “a good idea is a good idea is a good idea”, how his rule of “complain for 10 minutes then shut up or do something” about changed his life, and why freelance is a series of micro-decisions. But our favorite might be “just because you like making pies doesn’t mean you should open a bakery.” That’s exactly why Aaron and Andrew are freelance and started Mt. Freelance and aren’t running our own agency.

In our ninth episode Aaron James [https://mathdept.com] and Andrew Dickson [http://andrewdickson.com] welcome freelance producer and entrepreneur Arlo Rosner [http://www.anrfilm.com/about] to the Mt. Freelance [https://www.mtfreelance.com] podcast. Arlo got his start in the creative world as a cinematographer, before becoming a producer and eventually running his own production company. He’s been instrumental in creating campaigns shot all over the world for almost any client you can think of [http://www.anrfilm.com]. But what got us excited about talking with Arlo is how he uses being freelance and the skills he’s learned as a producer to create not just side projects, but entire side businesses. This includes helping to relaunch iconic Manhattan bar Max Fish [https://maxfishbar.com], and creating the always vegetarian often Vegan restaurant Superiority Burger [http://www.superiorityburger.com] in New York City, which GQ Magazine named the best burger anywhere, meat or otherwise. As Arlo explains, why go through the heartache and headache of being freelance unless it’s allowing you to do things you couldn’t if you were full-time. This week’s episode is a must-listen for anyone with a big idea they need a little inspiration for bringing into the world and also offers great advice for creating a team that works well together.

In our fifth episode Aaron James [https://mathdept.com] and Andrew Dickson [http://andrewdickson.com] welcome actor Ayanna Berkshire [https://ayannaberkshireinfo.com] to to the Mt. Freelance [https://www.mtfreelance.com] podcast. Ayanna started acting as a teenager and has been a working actor for two decades, with a career that spans Hollywood blockbusters, Independent films, episodic television, award-winning theater productions and yes, even commercial work. Perhaps best known for playing Cora in Twilight she is a resident artist of Artists Repertory Theatre [https://artistsrep.org] and a 2020 recipient of the Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship [https://circle.tcg.org/blogs/emilya-cachapero/2020/04/16/tcg-announces-fourteenth-round-of-fox-foundation-r?ssopc=1]. What makes Ayanna’s career particularly impressive is the breadth and quality of her work and the fact that she’s been able to thrive as a working actor based in Portland, Oregon. In fact her IMDB page [https://circle.tcg.org/blogs/emilya-cachapero/2020/04/16/tcg-announces-fourteenth-round-of-fox-foundation-r?ssopc=1] reads like a history of Portland film and televisions from the past two decades. While we don’t always immediately think of actors as freelancers, Ayanna assures they most certainly are. In our interview Ayanna drives into her craft, sharing insights like what filmmakers need to do in order to set actors up for success and touches some of the challenges actors and performers, and in particular female actors of color, face. And she offers up a long list of insanely practical and inspiring advice for any and all creative people from the dangers to selling out when you’re young to the importance of forming a connection with the people you are working with right now because they are the ones who will create opportunities for you down the road. This episode is a must listen for anyone looking for insights into the craft of acting or looking to get fired up about digging into your freelance career and investing in your future.