Conclusion

This paper has furthered the understanding of freelance work by showing the significance

of freelancers working in the creative industries in London and highlighted what they

bring to the creative process of project-based work. By exploring the sector as a whole

(notwithstanding the complicated definitional issues) and not as specific sub-sectors,

this paper has brought empirical and statistical evidence to an inherently patchy and

“messy” field of economic policy. Furthermore, by focusing on firms and freelancers,

the data of this paper expand the information on project networks that has hitherto

remained largely assumed within social science literature on freelancers. In exploring

the creative industries landscape it quickly becomes evident that freelancing as a

working practice has become an extremely prevalent and an increasingly important

mode of work. Therefore, the form and function of freelancers can be regarded as compli-

mentary to the prevailing industrial structure rather than in competition with it. If freelan-

cers are to fulfil their potential and continue to act as a source of competitiveness then

public policy needs to be better related to the needs of freelancers in much the same

way it has come to support SMEs. Consequently, recognizing and supporting freelancers

in UK public is essential for sustaining the growth of the creative industries. In addition to

presenting a portrait of freelancing as a part of London’s creative industries and identify-

ing the absence of freelancers from public policy debates, this paper has signposted numer-

ous avenues for further research relating to the form, function and future of freelancers.