Developing a Freelance-Focused CV and Cover Letter

As my career intentions have become clearer, I’ve made a conscious decision to frame my professional documentation around freelance and portfolio-based practice, rather than a traditional graduate employment model. While MDIA5007 asks for a CV and cover letter, it felt important that these documents genuinely reflected how I intend to operate within the creative industries.

Instead of presenting a full chronological employment history, my creative CV prioritises skills, process, and selected project work, mirroring how freelance animators and visual storytellers are typically introduced to studios and collaborators.

This approach reflects the broader context of the creative industries, in which creative work has increasingly been positioned in relation to economic value and employability. Hesmondhalgh notes that the rise of the term “creative industries” was closely tied to efforts to legitimise cultural practice within national economic agendas, encouraging creative practitioners to articulate their work in professional and industry-facing terms (Hesmondhalgh, 2019).

Alongside the CV, I developed two versions of a cover letter: a longer professional introduction and a shorter, email-first pitch. Both are framed as freelance introductions, emphasising storytelling, collaboration, and practical workflows rather than formal job application language.

In this process, I gained a clearer understanding of how professional identity, tone, and presentation must adapt to the context, and how intentional restraint can effectively communicate credibility and confidence.

References

• Fig. 1. Campbell, D. (2025) Creative freelance CV.

• Fig. 2. Campbell, D. (2025) Freelance cover letter and email pitch.

• Hesmondhalgh, D. (2019). The Cultural Industries. 4th ed. London: Sage Publications Ltd.