The 100 level class is half-way through and as I’d been reflecting on the class now that I’ve reached the mid-point, I made the decision to step away. The reason I shared with the lead instructor was the same issue I noted in my last post: Time needed to do drills at home and while doing okay now, I know I’m not going to be able to skate by on just a scattering of drill practices a week in the future. Between work and commute, particularly if I have a long day, I really don’t have time to do drillwork as there’s dinner, cat needs feeding and play time, and I need a bit of time to decompress after work before going to bed.
But I realized as I wrote this that it was deeper than just time to do drillwork, it’s the fact that in the end the only person or group who will really benefit from all of this is the Seattle Knights. By the time one becomes a Knight proper they’ll have spent thousands of dollars on training, gear, kit, garb, etc. with the expectation that you’ll continue to improve on your kit (outfit, weapons, armor, etc) and do shows using your own paid-time off/vacation time from your real everyday job, and all for $50 per show. This means that largely, there’s a huge investment for what amounts to be gas and lunch money for the time spent doing a show, and that feels very one-sided to me and really only benefiting the Seattle Knights organization, particularly since they’re a for-profit business (did a Washington State business records search (https://ccfs.sos.wa.gov/#/Home), Seattle Knights LLC).
If I’m being trained in a specific form of acting (I’d have been an actor combatant, trained to do such in close range, ie. in melee combat weapons would make contact) and thus have this skill, I expect to receive equitable compensation for use of that skill set for the benefit of the larger organization. However based on the details that were shared with me regarding pay once you became a knight as long as I was with the group would never really even get close to breaking even with the monetary, let alone time investment required. What costs does becoming a Knight entail? Start with your training that each student pays for, $500 per level and there are 4 levels, plus a year or two in what is an unpaid internship, where you pay all costs of working at shows, buying all your own kit (garb, armor, weapons, etc. and plan several hundred if not a thousand dollars), and only after that you stand a chance at becoming a Knight proper and ending up on the payroll for $50 a show. As a for-profit business I expect better and more equitable pay for what they’re requiring if I remained. Period, end of story, so yes, I’ve dropped this.
I agree that hobbies are for fun, however I also feel there comes a point where something isn’t just a hobby and becomes what is essentially a part-time job by virtue of what it requires (becoming a Knight and the associated expenses) and if that’s the case I expect better than the equivalent of lunch and gas money for that kind of effort required and use of skills that I have developed. Something to think about if anyone out there is looking to join them in the future.
Yup, class is over … permanently. Short journey, but I wanted to share the deeper reasoning why everything ended here.