This is INFODUMP 38. How you do one thing is how you do everything.
How did it get to August already? I had imagined that I'd be flooding you with updates during lockdown, but it never really happened. Partly that's because, fortunately, writers have been one of the few groups in TV and film who have remained employed during this period, so it's actually been pretty busy. But I've also found that the act of being physically constrained at home has made me less inclined to reach out to people virtually. I've become a hermit, in other words. And hermits don't write newsletters.
Now that I’m starting to emerge, cautiously, from my cave, here is a snapshot of my world as it has been over the past few months...
Work has started to become easier again, after a few weeks (months? years? I no longer perceive time as linear) where the level of background anxiety interfered with focus. In the past couple of months, I have handed in a movie re-write, a TV pilot script and, at time of writing, I am finishing up the scripts for the third season of the podcast, which we’re hoping to record early in September for a December release, and a back-up script (that’s episode 2 in the real world) of a TV series.
A couple of jobs that were on the cards are no longer there as studios have started to tighten the purse strings, but that’s OK - they will either come back or they won’t and I have plenty to be getting on with.
One project has moved forward further and faster than any of us thought likely and may even become OFFICIAL in the next few weeks. That being the case, it will mean opening a “virtual” writers room, which I’m really looking forward to - I think it’s going to be simultaneously much more flexible and much more productive and I suspect that virtual rooms will become the norm even after all this unpleasantness is behind us. Not having to travel to work, not being trapped in one room for hours every day, being able to work with writers from all over the UK and even Europe; there are so many reasons why a Zoom-room is superior to the real thing.
I'm going to be running the room using a Basecamp iteration. I discovered Basecamp during lockdown and implemented it for my own company - we now have writers working on podcast commissions and talking to each other, generating ideas. The whole thing feels like the perfect creative headquarters, and no one has to turn up to an actual building.
Obviously, there are many who don't have the luxury of being able to work like this, but for those of us doing knowledge work, or working in the creative industries, virtual offices are clearly going to be the future, and the benefits of being able to carve out a real work/life balance, of being able to work from anywhere, of not having to commute, are legion. If one were forced to point to the silver lining in a cloud of devastating airborne viral particles, the way it has changed how we organize work could be it.
Media recommendations from the last few months:
The Last of Us Part 2 - Obviously I've been playing this. I'm not done with it yet, but everything you've heard about how good this is, is true. It's so awesome when a team sets the bar for games this high; the storytelling, acting, script, etc. are all out of this world.
The Vast of Night - Was recommended this on Amazon Prime. A low-budget UFO movie set in a small US town in the 1950s. It's essentially a two-hander that plays out in a radio station. Beautifully put together and perfectly creepy.
Beneath The Silver Lake - This is a movie you'll either love or hate. For me, it was a great combo of LA noir and Lynchian moments floating in soup of weird conspiracy theories, code breaking and paranoia.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Got completely addicted to this during lockdown. A few episodes into Season One, you realize you're watching something more than just another superhero network show; this is all about the characters and the emotional beats and the storytelling is brilliantly worked out and incredibly bold. Each season, the show makes a big leap forward. No idea is too bold and it all works because the writers ground their story design in complex character relationships. I don't think you have to be a Marvel fan to like this.
Folklore, Taylor Swift - I would not previously have described myself as a Taylor Swift fan, but this album, created during lockdown, is a huge departure and a great piece of work, created in collaboration with Aaron Dessner from The National. “The Last Great American Dynasty" stands as one of the best songs I've heard in a very long time.
Cryo Chamber - I discovered Cryo Chamber at some point during lockdown. They're a record label producing incredible dark ambient music that is amazing to write to. I have specifically been making use of their Lovecraft-inspired albums while writing the third season of the podcast.
Tim Ferriss talking to Hugh Jackman - When Tim Ferriss is on form, and has a great guest, his podcast really takes off. I don't know that it's ever been better than Episode 444 where Tim talks to Hugh Jackman about process, philosophy, etc. Really inspiring and full of great ideas.
A round-up of a few of the apps and gadgets that have been helping me out over the past few months:
Hey email - The single biggest technological revelation for me during lockdown has been the launch of Hey email, coincidentally built by the people behind Basecamp. I'm not going to go into detail, because other people have done that better than I can, but for any of you not aware of it, you should check out the site HERE. And specifically the video they made, which was what sold me instantly. I didn't realize how broken email was until these guys fixed it, and now I can't imagine ever going back.
Hobonichi planner - Keeping track of days has been essential, but the energy to properly journal, either by hand or on a typewriter has often been lacking. I have, however, managed to at least write a basic few lines about the day’s activities in my Hobinichi Planner.
Audio equipment - Covid is affecting how we can record our Lovecraft podcast series. With Season 3 almost upon us, we are having to sacrifice some (not all) of our location recording and do some stuff remotely. I’m married to Kennedy Fisher, so that means I suddenly have to have decent audio equipment at home. The Zoom H5 is what we use for the handheld recording, and I already have one of those (quite a bit of Kennedy’s footage has been recorded at home before). Now, though, I need studio equipment, so I asked David Thomas, the sound recordist/mixer/designer/all-round genius what I should get. His recommendation, which I followed without question: The Rode NT1A microphone kit and a 3rd Gen Scarlett 2i2 audio interface. I’ve added a Neewer NW-5 screen to the set-up, in the hope that it will knock back a bit of outside traffic noise.
App: Waking Up - I've never got on with meditation or meditation apps. I tried Headspace for a while but it never really gelled. Sam Harris's app, however, is something else; a 28-day guided meditation course followed by a whole menu of daily meditations alongside discussions, videos, articles, etc. The app is packed, and Sam Harris has no truck with the woo-woo aspects of meditation, so all you're getting is a practical approach that has almost immediate results. Within a few days, I could feel anxiety slipping away and a whole new attitude emerging to that annoying, negative voice in my head. I also love Sam's promise that for anyone who cannot afford the course, for whatever reason, he will provide it free for a year.
App: Lose It! - Like everyone else, I put on a ton of weight during lockdown. And it wasn't like I had Brad Pitt's body before that. When crunch time finally came, I turned to this app, which counts calories for you in a really easy and simple way (scanning barcodes on food against a database that seems to have every kind of food from every kind of store), and takes in information from fitness trackers to log exercise, etc. and amend your calorie counts accordingly - in practice this means that a long work earns you extra snacks. I've lost 7 lbs in the last month and haven't ever really felt like I was on a diet.
I also recently ordered a Cowboy e-bike, but that’s not set to arrive until October, so I’ll let you know how it is then.
A few pieces that caught my eye over the last few weeks:
And this last ties into an episode of 99% Invisible that dealt with maps and how they can influence the world they represent. The link to that episode is HERE.
On Pocket’s “Discover” page. I came across an LA Times long read about a PTA mom who was framed by rivals. It’s long and sometimes a little too involved, but it’s an interesting portrait of some seemingly unlikely criminals.
I’ve been digging into the process of writing this newsletter (a process which, as you’ve probably guessed, was previously pretty flawed). What I’m trying to implement is a system whereby I write a section of this every day for a week and then send it out on Friday or over the weekend. This week that has worked pretty well, but I’m not kidding myself that I’m Austin Kleon or Tim Ferriss or Helen Lewis, with their well-timed, efficiently dispatched, weekly letters. It’s something to aim for, though.
Stay well. Wear a mask. Get outside and walk around. Try to see a horizon once in a while.
