In your own words, how would you describe your creative work? 

Although I originally trained as an actor, I quickly realised in order to be creative all the time, I had to develop into a multi-hyphenate.

So, I’m now an actor, voice actor, presenter, audio editor, acting & voice coach, script writer and professional photographer.

Being creative is something that is in every part of my life. I did my many years working in bars, restaurants, delis, night clubs - pretty much every survival job under the sun, but those jobs weren’t fulfilling me and with acting being such an unpredictable career (you can go months without work and then everything comes at once!) I took the leap, well actually I was pushed head first, into full time freelancing.

When did you first discover your passion for music?

I can’t remember a time I wasn’t performing as a kid. It was always something I had a passion for and ever since I can remember it was what I always wanted to do with my life.

After I left school, I went to study at UWTSD and Cal State Arts, where I also took a writing class for stage & screen. That’s where I found my passion for writing and telling stories, as opposed to just creating characters in a story.

My passion for voice acting has really been a natural progression as part of my acting career but I first discovered it during Covid. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was made redundant from my 9 to 5 job and so I had no choice but to go full time freelance. That’s when I turned to Voice Acting, as lots of actors did during that time.

Now we are out of Covid times and I’m able to explore the world of Voice Acting without it being so pressured, I’ve really found a passion for voicing audio books. They are a lot of work but so rewarding when they are complete.

My passion within photography is portraits and capturing peoples essence.

Looking back at my childhood, it sort of makes sense as to why I gravitated towards being a professional photographer. As a child, I was always getting the old family photo albums out. I’ve always loved that feeling of looking at a photograph and feeling like you know someone - for me, that’s what I like to capture in my photos.

I suppose, what all my jobs have in common, is a passion to tell stories that impact people and communities positively.  

What's the creative process? 

It depends on what medium I’m working in, but there is always a list! I like to get all my ideas out to start, see what’s available to me and then I form a plan on how to move forward.

For acting, the creative process starts with reading and understanding the text as a whole. I then read the script again, focusing on my character. I then dive into my characters backstory & journey, analyse the script, work out my motivations (what drives my character to do what they do) and then its all about delivering the lines with the authenticity and truth of my character.

For Voice Acting, it’s a very similar process, but it focuses more heavily on what I need to give my audience, as opposed to creating a huge character backstory, etc. That’s generally because in voice acting, you only have the words, your relationship to them and your relationship to the audience. You don’t have anything to fall back on like set, costume or even other people like you do when your acting. Therefore, it’s integral you make it all about your audience, their understanding and their journey.

As I always say to my students, if you don’t perform in the studio for the audience, you’re just a person talking to themselves in a box! This usually gets them changing their performance pretty quickly. You can’t think about yourself too much in voice acting, you must focus on your audience.

For photography, I tend to make a list of ideas, concepts, stories and colours. From this, I then plan out what story I’m going to tell and what shots I want to get in order to tell it.

My photography work focuses on building stories for brands and includes creating headshots that fit that particular business/brand. For me, brand photography isn’t a one size fits all, you have to match the story ark of their shots to the individual.

When I photograph events, the process is a little more loose - it mainly comes down to having an idea of what I want to get, but I can’t be as structured as when I’m photographing individuals or brands/businesses. I just sort of have to go with the flow. 

For writing, I like to put all my ideas on post-its as a base point. I start with my main theme and sub-themes, then from that I write out what specifically I want to hit upon within that theme. This then allows me to start building scenes and characters.

Finally, it’s all about putting it together in some sort of structure and sending it off to my developer for notes/feedback. I will then do another draft and so on until it’s ready for the audience.

What does a typical day look like to you?

A typical day is a difficult one to answer! As I’m a multi-hyphenate, every day is different and sometimes projects come in last minute that will completely change what I thought my day was going to look like. I realised very quickly that freelancing is all about going with the flow and never expecting anything to go the way you think it will. I try to always expect the unexpected!

What have you learned most about yourself in recent times?

That I spend a lot of time focusing on what I want to achieve in the future that I sometimes forget to be in the moment. I’m making a conscious effort to be in the now and enjoying what little time we have on this earth!

Do you have any wisdom you can share with others who are thinking of launching a creative business?

Dive into it head first - the longer you wait, the less inclined you will be to do it. There will never be a ‘right’ time, so take the plunge and do it.

Everything is figureoutable!

For me, I was pushed into becoming a full time freelancer by a redundancy, but you have the option to choose and that is a very powerful position to be in.

And remember, if you try it and decide it’s not for you, at least you gave it a go! As cliched as this next part will sound, it’s also true - you don’t want to live never knowing what you could have done. Yes, it could all go gloriously wrong… but it could also go so fantastically right. It could fulfil you so much, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.

Take the plunge, do it, and remember you have amazing communities, like this one, around you to support you along the way.

If you need any guidance, I have created a brand new podcast called ‘Not the 9 to 5’ which will be launched on 4th December. We will be discussing life as a freelancer, how to keep creative, being your own boss and much more!

What is on your mind right now? 

I wish I had something more profound to say… but I’m wondering if it is too early to start eating Mince Pies? (Or is it never too early?!)

Links:

'Not The 9 to 5' Podcast
www.katsiggerscreative.com 

Instagram:
@katherynsiggers 
@katsiggersphotography 
@notthe9to5pod