AdNews brings the stories of those working from home (WFH) in the advertising and media industry during the coronavirus crisis.
Bonnie Law is an executive producer at Heckler.
How are you dealing with the silence?
I'm seven weeks (at the time of writing) in and finally getting into the swing of this new normal.
The first few weeks I found it impossible to focus at home - I was one of the loners still going into an empty studio, watering the plants, checking the mailbox, feeling extremely helpful being able to share files to the team if they had trouble accessing the server. It was just myself and a colleague Adrien (senior art director) talking across the room, plus three daily visits from the cleaners sterilising all surfaces.
Heckler is a great place to work, and it was sobering to be in a desolate studio, in a usually bustling Paramount House in Surry Hills.
What’s the upside?
Now I have my home routine and feeling more settled and focussed. Amid all the chaos, I decided to move house two weeks ago!
I now live in a fairly quiet street and I’m loving the sound of birds, getting acquainted with the time the rubbish gets collected, observing new neighbourhood noises (guy who walks his baby twice a day, old man playing Italian hits on a stereo from his porch). I think I’m realising I am a natural recluse. One of the upsides to this difficult situation is that I get to eat dinner earlier. Although having said that I’m on job delivery this week which means I am checking emails 24/7 so this interrupts any type of cooking or eating.
The downside?
I’m working on a CG project and the team have so many platforms for sharing updates and information that things seem to go around in circles. It used to be so simple. I'd get feedback from a director and would gather everyone together in a daily WIP meeting to troubleshoot any issues and make a plan. Now I am dealing with the team via Shotgun, Google Chat, email, text, phone calls, Zoom, Google Hangout, WhatsApp, plus regular calls and emails from production companies and agencies about jobs, plus daily zooms with our accounts dept, Singapore studio, marketing socials team, management and resourcing catch ups, plus (most importantly), new business pitches to keep our wheels turning.
Some days I just need to turn the Zoom camera off and be in my track pants, it helps me focus.
How are you using the commuting time saved?
I used to like the commute to work, I would listen to music or podcasts and enjoyed it as a gentle buffer which separated home and work life. Now the boundaries are blurred, but I am definitely enjoying some little home rituals like a cup of tea in bed in the morning that I wouldn’t normally have time for.
I am looking forward to being back in the office because…
I can't wait for the creative and collaborative days to happen face to face again, but more than that I want to see our local community survive this and thrive again, as it did before.
I miss my workmates - our studio is usually buzzing with designers, animators, editors, VFX artists and I miss them all!
Also every time I have glass of water on my desk and get stuck into an email I look up to see my cat drinking it… there’s always one jerk in the office
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