This seems like a good day to post an update. It is impossible to ignore a world on fire and a country in the midst of an existential crisis, but what can we do after we’ve kept ourselves reliably informed and voted? We have to do the best we can.
I’ve been lucky to have the welcome distraction of work lately. A lot of my former go-to clients and collaborators have finally geared up for the WFH world and/or finally figured out for themselves that this ‘new normal’ is going to be around for a while and, if they want to stay in business, they have to adjust. In some ways, the transition hasn’t meant much of a change for me. For years I have often found myself working from home for extended stretches of time. Even when I was doing a ton of script adapting for Anime shows, I mostly worked from home. I only went “in” to the production company once a month or so with a portable hard drive to load in new episodes, then I would go home, do my work and email in the new scripts as I completed them, along with my invoices for payment. Companies would either then mail me a check or do a direct deposit. …and now that everyone has a dropbox or google drive account, the monthly trip to load up the hard drive is a thing of the past. So basically I’m saying I was already prepared for this mode of work, much more prepared than most of the companies who hire me.
I’m also thrilled that so many of my creative friends are rising to the occasion and, in spite of all the obstacles, they continue to work and try new things. My friend Chrisi, who wrote the hilarious play “Airplane LIVE” that I directed, is now branching out to scripted podcast comedy/mayhem based on old radio dramas, and she has asked me to do several voices. Of course I love doing voiceover work and of course I already have the mics, equipment and know-how to do it all remotely. So much know-how in fact, that it is a continuous source of embarrassment that I still haven’t launched my own podcast – in spite of already spending years laying the groundwork for it. My continuing struggle to find meaning in ‘comedy’ given the current state of the country/world has made it difficult for me to commit the time, energy and brain bandwidth necessary for doing such things while wildfires burn, a pandemic rages and chaos reigns. …but we all want and need to “get back to work” whatever that “work” might be, right?
So I’m back at it.
In the meantime, I know I’m writing these blog posts for a small audience of friends, fans, and well-wishers, so my lack of posts isn’t really an issue to anyone, but I also feel like I’ve been shirking some responsibility to the people who’ve always supported and encouraged me. In a weirdly-related note: When I opened up wordpress today to write this post, I noticed that, according to my ‘stats’ page, for the past 10 days, my site has been visited every day by people from China. I’m not sure how ominous that is, but it definitely feels weird and unrelated to comedy or writing.
I don’t know what kind of country we are all going to wake up in tomorrow. I hope the better angels of our nature (both national and individual) win out, and we can start to come together, clean up the wreckage and move forward together. I hope. Oh man, do I hope.
PLANET O'CONNOR 