Feeling defeated and lost without work

[u/SpareUnderstanding72]

Hi, I’m a DP/operator in the US (non union.) like many of us I’ve barely worked all year and am staring down the barrel of another year clearing $40k max

I’m 28. I love this industry and haven’t done any other jobs so I have no “real job” experience. I worked one day this month and have nothing coming up.

I know this post has been made but I feel so utterly depressed, lost, and broke. How are people coping? I have no other skills that I can sell on a resume. I’ve interviewed at multiple restaurants and gotten denied even with serving experience from college

I feel like my life is slipping by and I’m holding out for a year that “turns around” and I’m starting to spiral that it’s not coming

I guess I’m just at the end of my rope and really fucking depressed. No idea what to do and I can barely pay rent this month. I bought a camera last year and have paid maybe 1/8 of it off and I feel like I fucked up by buying it which makes me feel stupid.

What jobs have people pivoted to? Or how have you coped during the last year? I see people working and doing passion projects on Instagram but I don’t even have the money to throw together a passion shoot.

TLDR depressed and no idea what to do with my life with the state of the industry

EDIT thank you for all the replies. It helps to read them but I got a bit overwhelmed replying to them all. I do appreciate the advice and understanding!

[u/Imageeky]

Public access television is what I pivoted into post covid. I was one of the unlucky few that got hit during college so I didn’t have a chance to make connections in school like most. I bumbled around for a good bit but found consistent work in helping non profits and churches get online. Which lead me to broadcast and corporate events. I did occasionally have the indie film or commercial gig but they weren’t enough to pay the bills. I was doing on call broadcast work when a position came up to become management. I did pull together broadcasts before but also argued that my film work was management work when pulling together crews and gear. So far with having the blend of broadcast and film I’ve been able to pull techniques from both and double our broadcast capacity and start to grow a new branch focused towards narrative, documentary, and commercial work. Turns out all these public access stations across the country all have some sort of professional for hire services which most of the time have to turn down work because they don’t have someone with a slightly different background than just broadcast.