Production Interning Remotely
The days are blending together. With COVID-19’s influence on New York City, it’s tough for a production company, let alone a production intern, to remain active. I have been working from home for two weeks now in Westchester County, avoiding Manhattan altogether and perhaps more dangerously, the commute. The normal tasks for a production intern — data management, helping out on set, and working on personal projects — have been put on temporary hold until we can figure out how to appropriately resume those jobs remotely. In the meantime, I’ve contentedly kept my mind and hands busy, working on graphic animations for the annual reel and researching for upcoming shoots. The productivity hasn’t slowed, nor has company communication, but personal morale has just gotten weird.
Similarly to many social-distancers, I have barely left the house in the past ten days. Outings include taking out the garbage, two short walks, and an aimless evening drive. I am fortunate enough to be home with my family, and we get along very well. No tensions have risen — the opposite in fact, we’re bonding because of it — but we’re all losing track of time on the same wavelength. I wake at 8:30, hop on a daily morning catch-up a half hour later, and get my assignment for the day. Five or six tabs rest open on my laptop as I switch between research documents, After Effects projects, unclosed Zoom windows, and Spotify queues. Around 12:30 I eat with my family then join another call, give some updates, then get back to my projects until 6pm. I eat dinner and play a video game for a couple of hours before retiring to sleep. Rinse and repeat! My conditions aren’t bad by any means; I’m comfortable, and we have enough provisions for the family. All is very well, and we’re all staying very safe. But in a county whose virus surge is described as “the most significant cluster in the country,” by Governor Andrew Cuomo, it makes socialization and fresh air that much scarier to risk. The National Guard has been deployed to New Rochelle, which faces the worst of the surge. Troops clean surfaces and deliver food in a one-mile containment area, complete with a satellite testing facility. This week, the confirmed count of cases in the county reached 108, which is more than half of all cases in the tristate area.
I remember sitting in Tom’s Restaurant (where the Seinfeld diner takes place) when the news first broke that my sister’s middle school had an affected teacher, on the 8th of March. In a somewhat comical moment of Seinfeld bass riffs playing at other tables and my family bombarding me with text messages, I began taking the virus threat seriously. Two weeks later, I’m at home writing this blog post and I have not been back to Manhattan since. Non-essential businesses have been closed down, and those who are able to work from home are encouraged to. The MTA is running, although mostly empty.
Zoom, a video conferencing software, has become the means of social interaction for many secluded workers. Grocery shopping is recommended to be done once per week. It’s a frightening time economically, but individually, the people are resting. For once, the city sleeps. Already, in Italy, the air pollution has cleared up a little because of a lack of boat activity. China’s decrease in manufacturing and transportation is also seeing a significant drop in nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant that results from fuel burning. These are definite positives.
I have not been on any shoots in a while, and it makes me a little nervous to think about what I could be missing. My own projects have been suspended, but hopefully not terminated. A choreography shoot I had planned for May will need some reworking since my choreographer was sent home to Kentucky to finish her semester remotely. It brings me comfort to know everyone is in the same place; clients have canceled shoots, crews are unsure about their safety to film. Several of my friends also interning in NYC are in a far worse position. They’ve lost their jobs and left their leased apartments to fly home. My university, like many others, gave students a mere three days notice to pack up and leave campus. Many international students had to book expensive flights and pay hefty baggage fees to get home, only to be laid off because their internships were not internationally supported. My college just turned this year’s graduation and commencement virtual. A lot of these troubles are minimally significant as compared to the death tolls in countries like Italy and Spain, but the echochamber of worry has turned New York state residents senseless.
The shopping craze has infected grocery chains all over. Some non-essential chains like coffee shops remain open, much to the danger of local workers. Cities everywhere are turned to “lockdown” and “shelter in place”, but with unclear regulations, many residents and businesses are too loosely interpreting what “non-essential” means.
This is my first time working full-time remotely, and I’m glad that I have production research to help ground me. Not working might render me so adrift that I might find myself taking poor decisions, such as joining gatherings in public recreational environments. It’s hard to find motivation with no hard end date in sight, but by concerning myself in my current work, time manages to move at a somewhat normal pace. For those also fighting off boredom and inactivity in your own homes; this is the time to pick up the sewing nee dle. Or the pen, or the wrench, or the spatula. Commit yourself to a long term project! Taking things one day at a time can be relaxing, but if you structure your mind into the span of project completion, it’s easier to find daily motivation for activity. Idleness is instantly gratifying but has tricky consequences. Use this time to develop skill sets and mental stamina, and we’ll all come out for the better at the end.
Wash your hands!
