Is a Creative Career for you?

On the face of it, military life and the entertainment world are as far apart as it is possible to get. Indeed, back in the ’70’s the BBC even made a sit-com called ‘It ‘ain’t hard hot mum’ which explored the numerous differences between the two with usually hilarious results.

However, the truth is that they have far more in common than you would think. Indeed, once you actually understand how films and television shows get made, you’ll start to understand that not only are they remarkably similar in many ways, but why the creative industries are a perfect second career for anyone leaving the armed forces.

Behind The Scenes with Veteran Richard Thrower filming his first Short Film. Photo Credit: Motion Focus Media

For a start, one need look no further than the list of names that appear on screen at the end of every film or programme. For just like the military, the creative world is a huge machine made up of many cogs. Each one doing a very specific job, of which there are many!

The similarities become even more apparent when you first step onto a film set, especially one involving a location. For what you are seeing is, in effect, a textbook military exercise. After all, both involve a great deal of planning to get people and equipment to a specific location, the completion of a specific task and the safe recovery of kit to base and in perfect safety.

More importantly, having spent time in the military you will not only be highly skilled and well trained, but you will have other attributes that are not only invaluable, but incredibly attractive to potential employers.

For example, anyone serving, or who has served, will be used to hard work, discipline and will possess the kind of adaptability required to complete any given task within a given time, often under extreme pressure. Similarly, working as part of a close knit team, not just on the clock but off it, is second nature to most of us. And trust me, if you’ve spent any length of time away from your family on deployment, a few weeks shooting a film in the wilds of Wales or the heat of the Moroccan desert won’t be much of a challenge. Especially when the money is much better!

Once thought of in those terms, it isn’t difficult to start to see whey servicemen and women fit into the creative world so well. Indeed, there are already thousands of veterans already working in the industry at pretty much every level. Not just in the logistical or security roles, but in more technical positions. From armourers and military advisors right through to communications technicians, electricians and mechanical engineers, medics, the opportunities are almost infinite.

It isn’t, of course, as easy as simply stepping out of uniform on onto a plane heading for Hollywood. For as technically skilled and hard working as you might be, the film world does work differently from the armed forces. That’s why it’s important that whilst we recognise the qualities we do have, we also need to understand those that we might not. That’s where transitional training comes into play.

Thankfully, there are plenty of organisations happy to provide that and this is one of the reasons why we formed Creative Forces UK. Not simply to promote film and television as a second career to the armed forces community, but to facilitate everything you might need to make that transition easier. Including a pathway to the any training that might be required.

So, if the creative industries does interest you and you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us and we’ll be happy to answer them for you. If we can’t, we’ll certainly know someone who can.

11 August 2026 - Dougie Brimson