Coronavirus outbreak: How freelance professionals have been affected

Industry professionals who get paid project wise and have no other source of income may have to dig into their savings, if the lockdown continues indefinitely

Covid-19 pandemic has majorly impacted our freelance professionals - from Bollywood stylists to fashion photographers to celebrity makeup artists. Industry professionals who get paid project wise and have no other source of income may have to dig into their savings, if the lockdown continues indefinitely. Makeup artist Clint Fernandes, who works in fashion and advertising on a freelance basis feels lucky that he had clinched high-paying assignments in the months of January and February. “However, if the lockdown persists then from June onwards, I’ll have to dig into my savings and as I see makeup space, I don’t think there will be jobs even in June and July. The marketing and advertising budgets will be slashed. The only people who will be making the bucks are the ones who are working with a movie star, who’ll need them during promotions and events. I’m contemplating exploring films as another option,” says Clint.

As a freelancer who works on assignment basis, it’s really a setback as all the bookings/weddings/shoots have been postponed or cancelled. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

In Bollywood, celebrities started cancelling their promotional tours in the beginning of March as events stopped internationally. Stylist Eshaa Amiin recalls, “My team and I had worked hard to style an actress who was supposed to travel to the US, but the trip got cancelled. We had made so much effort in researching and there were sourcing expenses too, hence we incurred losses. I hope the unstable scenario settles soon as we have to pay for our staff and take care of them. I am positive that once Bollywood shoots start, work will start pouring in. However, the appearance styling may kind of get reduced a bit.”

As a freelancer who works on assignment basis, it’s really a setback as all the bookings/weddings/shoots have been postponed or cancelled. Nisha Karna, fashion and celebrity makeup artist says, “There are times we take advances, but it would be unethical to hold on to the advances of clients, who had to cancel the events due to the current circumstances. Work will always come back but the days which we lost won’t. Once things get back to normal, either projects may overlap or not work out at all hence I’m prepared for the best and worse. As of now I’m being optimistic and still taking bookings for end of the year. The wedding market will definitely not be the same for a while as most destination weddings will be on hold. The plan is to be consistent in what I do and not let this break affect my work, keep creating more work, getting in touch with potential clients and being in the picture as an artist.”

Celebrity and fashion photographer Ajay Kadam says, “All the photoshoots that were pre scheduled got cancelled which was a good 15 day of planned work. Since I had assignments which were already shot, my post retouching work is getting done from home. Once the lockdown ends, some shoots are in the pipeline so I’m positive.”

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