I guess all the customers at cinemas like this one at Universal City are invisible themselves right now.
As Easter passes, the world looks utterly different to how it did a month ago – and perhaps it always will. Back then, I was compiling a week of my ‘L.A. Diary’ to reveal publicly for the first time a week of meetings that show how we pitch and promote our winners’ scripts directly to industry, and how we network and build synergies and opportunities together with them. But as the tragedies and restrictions grew in China, Italy and Spain, a shadow was looming over us all. All of the normal industry meetings and trips I featured in the L.A. Diary became impossible in California just a few weeks later. Filming became impossible, box office revenue has evaporated from one market after another and another, and the industry is suspended with no sign of when business as usual can restart, or even if it’ll be possible. Not just the Hollywood industry – London and Bollywood are on hold too, like so many other places.
Our strong footholds in Los Angeles and London and Europe are a key part of our appeal to the industry and to writers. For example during the week featured in my L.A. Diary, we were able to advise several leading industry figures in L.A. about which major production companies and networks could be the most suitable for them to take their projects to across the Atlantic, and they really appreciated it; we do the same for companies and clients in the UK and Europe in return every week.
Well, since then the USA has shut down flights to Europe, and the most famously international and cosmopolitan of its States – New York and California, including the L.A. entertainment industry – are now living under lockdown, as is the whole of the UK and other countries. We actually can’t take for granted that there will ever be a full return to the era of go-anywhere travel. Even if a vaccine becomes globally available – perhaps more than a year from now – it’s unlikely to be available to everyone in the poorest countries, so the danger may endure that any of us will unwittingly carry the disease to arrive or surge somewhere else and cause many deaths. It’s unnerving.
The Invisible Man, advertising recently on Sunset Boulevard – oddly fitting during Coronavirus restrictions.
The politics will look quite different this decade to the last. The 2010s were marked by countries often pulling back from internationalism, and regions often seeking new independence too. But this decade, for the first time, people will have had a shared global experience which will have profound effects almost everywhere – economically as a result of the global impacts, even if the virus never spreads to there. The disease is hitting rich and poor, weak and powerful alike – even Donald Trump’s Transatlantic ally, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has spent several nights in Intensive Care from it, his life saved by the public healthcare service many of his supporters wanted to see privatized. So in some ways the disease is proving to be a leveller in society and global culture. Even before his illness took hold, Boris Johnson broke from the famous Thatcherite soundbite by publicly stating that the crisis was proving that there is such a thing as society. But the sad fact is that as usual, the poor will be disproportionately affected by the virus for many reasons. Maybe this time – as we share a global experience for the first time – we’ll resolve to make things better in future. In the 2010s healthcare was often controversial, but now we’re seeing global outpourings of public support for the professionals putting their lives at risk to save ours – perhaps a sign of other public feelings to come.
Every death from the illness is a tragedy to many people, and in many places the grieving are even being barred from grieving in the usual ways, such as by inviting loved ones to funerals. There will be lasting psychological harm to those affected, and to the medical professionals dealing with the overwhelm the disease has brought. Even for those not directly affected by the illness or bereavement, the situation has meant immediate personal changes for people and businesses. I have many relations on both sides of the Atlantic and further away, and can’t yet imagine when we’ll be allowed to travel to each other again. When the restrictions began in London, I almost immediately gave notice on my flat there, because even though it had two months still to run and I didn’t want to lose it, the chances I’d be able to use it in order to work and attend meetings there in person were suddenly slim; even within-UK travel to clear it out became impossible a few days later. At the same time, I’ve been hearing of people returning to live with their wider families, often where they grew up, for the duration of the crisis. The restrictions are bringing families and partners together for far more time than they are used to spending together – often in small homes with no chance to go out and get some space. Some relationships will be strengthened. But I’m worried that many won’t make it, and some people will do lasting harm to each other. Meanwhile, I’m trying to look out for our friends and relatives who live alone more than before, because if anything it’ll be even harder for them living alone through the lockdown.
It changes the mindset, being at home for long periods of time with minimal freedom to go out. Things we took for granted look like a privilege now – access to food, internet connections to our family and friends and work. I’m suddenly much more grateful to have a garden and varied space at home, a cross-trainer to keep fit on, and a dartboard to distract myself with for short breaks. And, of course, I’m grateful that we’re able to run our business virtually with almost no impact on what we’re able to do. Not seeing colleagues in person isn’t ideal. But things could be far worse for us, as they are – or will be – for so many people. That gives us a responsibility to look out for people and give what we can in this situation to help them through.
So at WriteMovies, because we’re among the fortunate ones who’ve not been hit as badly as others so far, we’re determined to use this spell to give away help that will support writers through this crisis. We’re asking around at the moment to see what kind of things we can do. If you’ve got any thoughts, let us know: we’re aiming to announce what we’ll be doing to help, on Friday.
Finding the positives – classic wisdom from the Rolling Stones on Sunset Boulevard.
Because actually, amid the tragedies and crisis, a lot of things in the world are going to – accidentally – get better during this crisis, from pollution and wildlife, to shared global perspectives on our peoples and future. Those of us living through the lockdown, who are lucky enough not to be affected in any worse ways, still need to keep positive, active and motivated – not just for ourselves, but to give us the strength we’ll need to play our part and help everyone else in whatever ways we can, and to help the global economy recover as quickly as possible once restrictions are lifted.
We’re not a healthcare service or food provider at WriteMovies. But we can help our followers contribute positively during the crisis and in the new world on the other side of it, if we help them to focus on the positives and make the best of the situation we’re in. We’re going to do this by:
- Encouraging followers to connect with us and each other daily, to help them cope with the isolation of lockdown measures and keep positive distractions and outlets from other issues.
- Helping create daily routines that will visibly keep our followers writing, learning, developing and progressing even amid lockdown.
- Encouraging and facilitating our followers to set clear goals which will ensure that they make the most of any new free time they are getting at home in order to hit the ground running with new impetus as the world comes out of the Coronavirus crisis.
- Promote positive mental health, attitudes and lifestyles that will help our followers to cope and support others amid the current crisis.
- Offer new lockdown-friendly mentoring services at the lowest prices we can, to help writers make the most of the crisis for their own progress.
Email info@writemovies.com with any comments and thoughts you have about how we can help you during the crisis. Meanwhile, and always, we wish the best for you all and your loved ones.
Here are some of the positive ways we have stepped up to help writers during this crisis:
- Launching the 100-Day Creative Challenge, 100 free daily half-hour activities to keep you inspired, creating and progressing every day.
- Launching our Academy Lite, a way to get daily mentoring and connection with our experts every day for under $5 a day.
- Offering free entry to our contests to Academy Lite subscribers, and discounts for multiple submissions.