How I Survive Being a ‘Work-From-Home’ Producer

Working in the theatre industry during a pandemic is depressing. There’s no way around it. We have all found ourselves at some point lamenting the lack of funding/ limited opportunities/ our uncertain futures/ unclear government rhetoric/ why we couldn’t have listened to our aging school careers advisor when they told us that theatre just wasn’t a real job – “have you thought about teaching?”

But the theatre folk around the world have struggled on in any way that we can, holding on for dear life during the swell of the pandemic storm, and hoping that when it dies down our industry isn’t a hurricane battered shell of what it was in times before. Those of us who have been lucky enough to keep working on projects throughout the past year have had to adapt and reshape our way of working. And it was out of this environment that Out of the Blue Theatre was born. Made up of creatives whose natural habitat was rubbing shoulder to shoulder with their colleagues in stages, rehearsal rooms, tech booths and theatre lobbies, OotB formed itself as a fully digital theatre company. From across the globe we have been Zooming, streaming, group messaging, Google Drive-ing, and remote rehearsing our way into the pandemic era. This digital setup has not come without its challenges and teething problems. To this end, I will use what I have learned to outline some of the ways in which I have survived being a ‘work-from-home’ Producer.

1. Organisation, Organisation, Organisation

This is a bit of a no-brainer, but keeping organised and on top of your schedule is key to staying productive during this period. Even if you are working in your pyjamas, eating pasta straight from the pan, you still have to make the effort to keep your task-list in order. I can’t stress this enough. No matter what you do, make sure you have a task-list ready whenever you are working. You can do this in several ways (weekly, daily etc), but do it you must. OotB have a practice of outlining each company member’s action list at the end of each weekly company meeting. To this end, each of us knows what we need to achieve during the following week, and we can refer back to it during our next meeting. On top of this, I always make it a habit to spend some time mapping out which days I will spend on each action point, prioritizing them by time sensitivity and challenge. My friend Kirsten swears by using a Weekly Planner desktop pad (such as this one found on Etsy), and planning out her next week as the last thing she does on a Friday. This way she avoids the deadly Sunday night feeling of – ‘oh god, what do I need to do this week?’ If it feels a bit overwhelming to map out your week in full, try organizing yourself in smaller chunks. The night before, write a list of what you need to achieve the next day, ensuring you start your next morning with some direction.

2. Keep in contact

It is so easy to feel isolated when you are working during lockdown, especially as a freelancer. This feeling of disconnect can be combatted in many ways. As referenced above, OotB have a strictly scheduled weekly Zoom meeting. No matter what is going on in our individual schedules, we all commit to meeting at this same time every week in order to check in, discuss the last week’s achievements, and plan our upcoming tasks. This has proved vital in the growth of our emerging company - one that supports each other actively and stays on top of our company goals. I would recommend this strategy to anyone working in a theatre company or project team, no matter how small. And as well as being strict with your consistency, strive to be strict in your management of the meeting. Try and keep it limited to a set amount of hours, and remember to schedule in breaks, to stop it from becoming too much of a ‘chore’. Learn to take minutes – at OotB we each take it in turn. End each meeting by listing everyone’s action list for the next week, and what you want to discuss at the following meeting.

Another way that my group of freelancer friends has found to keep in contact whilst they work, is to create a virtual ‘office’. The way we find it most useable is via the application ‘Discord’, a free voice and video communication programme that can be downloaded, or used via a browser. On Discord you create ‘lobbies’ where people can dip in and out as they please – not via set meeting times. Often, we will use our groupchat to say we are popping by the ‘office’. The general etiquette is that each person stays on camera, with their microphone muted whilst working, unmuting when they want to bring something up. This way an office environment is emulated, whereby you can ask your ‘colleagues’ questions as they arise – ‘How does this Instagram post look? – ‘Does this paragraph for my funding bid read well?’ – ‘Does anyone know how to fix this problem on my excel budget?’ etc, etc. What we have found is that, even when we all stay muted for an hour or two, just staying on camera and feeling like you are accompanied by other colleagues hard at work helps to keep us focused and motivated.

3. Take care of yourself

One of the most important things I have learned from working at home during this pandemic, is remembering to take care of yourself during your work day. I find that if I forget to incorporate my self-care habits into my day, one of two things happen. I either become so overwhelmed and put off by the prospect of working at my desk all day that I procrastinate and avoid it. Or alternatively, I end up working non-stop for hours and hours, forgetting to move or take breaks, ending the day feeling exhausted and irritable.

My friend Ellen combats this by incorporating her self-care habits into her written daily schedule. This way, she has a visual reminder keeping her on top of both her professional and personal goals for the day. So whether you schedule in 20 minutes for stretches mid morning, add in a reminder at 3pm to walk to the park, or set a 1-hour screen break (laptop AND phone!), all these little moments break up your day into more manageable chunks, and help your body and mind to reset.

Another crucial aspect is to set up and maintain a good working space. This can be difficult, as many people in the arts such as myself are living in small living situations, without the luxury of a full desk. My solution is to set up a portable work-station on the dining table. The purchase that really changed the quality of my working habitat was a laptop stand. In order to avoid back pain and eye strain, you need to use a stand that allows the top of your screen to be around eye-level. Believe me, a laptop stand will change your life. For maximum comfort, I recommend purchasing a wireless keyboard and mouse set in tandem with your stand. I bought a rechargeable set from Jelly Comb, which being light and compact, makes it very easy to set up in the morning. To this end, I also made sure I bought a foldable laptop stand which makes it efficient to store away. And to really top of the full comfort experience, I purchased a cushioned wrist support a mouse pad, which makes all the difference after a long day of writing programming submissions. Another good habit that I was recommended by Harriet, a fellow dining-table worker, was to buy a nice smelling surface spray to wipe your table before you set up for the day. This helps to transform your space from its humble evening dining duties, complete with sticky cup rings and spilled salt, to a clean desk space, ready for you to start your day fresh.

4. Adapt to the changing environment

Working in producing during this period is very different to pre-pandemic times. One of the first things I have had to grapple with is patience. As we know, a large percentage of theatre workers have either lost their jobs are on furlough, meaning there are less resources, staff and opportunities around. If you are one of the lucky ones who are able to move their operations online, you will still face challenges. What I have found is that everything has become a much slower process. Programming staff are often only working a day or two a week. This means that often weeks go by between email responses as teams struggle to maintain their correspondences with less hours and less resources. This will seem incredibly frustrating at times, but you always have to keep in mind that we are all in the same boat - we all deserve a bit of leeway to stay afloat.

Keeping this in mind, I recommend keeping your email correspondence as informed and to the point as possible. When you reach out to programmers or festivals, make sure you give them everything they need to know about your show, without having to ask you long lists of follow-up questions. Keep the body of your email well formatted, succinct and clear. Before you reach out, spend some time creating a show pack which includes: a synopsis, background on your company, previous touring history, technical requirements and, if you have decided this with your company, suggested financial agreements. By attaching this informative and professional show pack to your email, the programmer is able to review it in their own time without needing to come back to you with multiple queries, making it easier to keep your conversation rolling without long gaps of communication.

As many projects have been put on hold, and we are finding ourselves with smaller workloads, or not having the chance to work in theatre at all, now is the perfect time to take advantage of affordable networking and training opportunities. Staying engaged with the industry in alternative ways helps you to stay positive, and keeps your skills sharp. A great example of this is the range of affordable online theatre workshops from Part of the Main. Furthermore, use this down period to ‘get in the room’ at as many networking events that you can. Exploit the fact that many events are taking place online – use this as a chance to explore the resources of venues and organisations that you normally wouldn’t be able to due to distance or monetary constraints.

Many of these suggestions may seem simple, but even the smallest of changes in your working habits can make all the difference in this odd time of separation and stasis. Above all, remember that although this has been a scary time for all of us, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Keep doing what you can to survive, (even if that just means marathoning Married at First Sight…), and remember that there is an after-show pint in our not-so-distant future. Hang in there!