Joel Meadows, Freelancer of the Fortnight 30 January 2012
Why did you choose to become a freelancer?
I didn't choose consciously to become a freelancer. I was temping at my old university and I got chucked from that, so I went to do a subbing test at Press Association in Vauxhall Bridge Road. That led to a regular run of freelance work.
If you trained, where? If not, how did you become a freelancer?
I did a degree at Middlesex University, writing and publishing with English and literary studies. But it wasn't great for contacts and skills as I taught myself QuarkXPress and put a magazine together myself off my own back.
Do you specialise in any particular field and what areas do you write about?
As a journalist, I write about comics, film, TV, books and genre. So I specialise but in a few different topics.
Which publications have you been published in?
It's a pretty long list but these include Time Magazine, The Times, The Guardian, Independent on Sunday, Big Issue in The North, Broadcast, SFX, Comic Heroes and Judge Dredd Megazine.
Which articles, in which publication, are you the most proud of?
This is a difficult question to answer but the publication I've freelanced for the most is the Judge Dredd Megazine, which I've written over 30 articles for over the years. I even got a really nice letter from the now sadly deceased creator of Modesty Blaise, Peter O'Donnell, from one of those features. I am proud that I've gotten to meet and interview a number of people who I've admired for years like Terry Gilliam, Michael Moorcock and Guillermo Del Toro.
What are the best and worst aspects of freelancing?
The best is the sheer variety of the work that you do and that keeps things interesting. The worst is when freelance work isn't around and so from a money perspective, it can be very tight when this happens.
Do you have any interesting anecdotes in relation to your experience as a freelancer?
It's not exactly from freelance work but we did a signing for the book Studio Space that I wrote a large chunk of in Forbidden Planet back in 2008 and I bumped into Guillermo del Toro, film director who had written our introduction. And he said that he wished he knew we were doing our signing because he would have come along.
Senior Desk Editor - International News Desk
