Well-Being and Creative Careers: Interview with Tanner Mirrlees and David Craig (creator economy)

Updated and published: interview with Tanner Mirrlees and David Craig about creator culture and studies, well-being and mental health, and the rise of a creator economy now that people spend more time on YouTube than Netflix...

As part of a series of conversations with professionals and scholars in the field of mental health and well-being in media industries and professions, in this episode I sit down with Tanner Mirrlees, Professor of Communication and Digital Media Studies in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Canada. Mirrlees is the author or co-author of over 100 publications, including books such as Hearts and Mines: The US Empire’s Cultural Industry, and the phenomenal new book Work in the Digital Media and Entertainment Industries: A Critical Introduction.

My second guest is David Craig, Associate Professor of Communication and Director of the Global Media and Communication (MA) program at USC Annenberg’s School for Communication and Journalism (where I was privileged to be a Fulbright scholar back in the early 2000s). He is the author of several cutting edge books on social media entertainment and creator culture (working with Stuart Cunningham). David is also veteran film, television, web, publishing, and stage producer and former television programming executive at A&E and Lifetime.

In our conversation, we talk about activism and creative work as an influence on our scholarly endeavours, how the focus in Tanner and David’s work is consistently directed at highlighting worker agency and resistance (when it comes to corporate control or the influence of technology on creative careers), and the necessity for all of us to take seriously the work of those who create entertainment and help us to make meaning of an increasingly complex and at times bizarre world.

These interviews in part support the publication of my book (titled: Well-Being and Creative Careers: What Makes You Happy Can Also Make You Sick, out since late 2025 with Intellect Books) on health, well-being and happiness in media work, and to showcase and celebrate the work so many people around the world are doing to advocate and promote these issues in media workplaces.