An incredibly important announcement
I am getting my own office space, and feel excited about it!
I’m at the tail end of the pitch cycle on this current film project. We’re about 3/4 of the way through the meetings we’ve scheduled, and it’s been nice to feel busy and nice to feel some optimism about the state of Hollywood! Most people we’re talking to do in fact seem interested in interesting and unique films! Or at least, most people with interesting and unique taste do!
Even without all the pitches, it’s been a busy week in the Day household as we’ve been prepping for an upcoming shoot for Father Figures, at the same time that we’ve been prepping for our very first home renovation (eek!) in which we will be tearing out our very tired bathroom, at the same time that I’ve been looking for a temporary office space to move into to avoid the noise created by the bathroom situation mentioned previously. I move into my office space Monday, and we’ll see whether a dedicated work space that costs me money every month ends up making me more productive or if it just means now I have lost the one perk of being a freelancer — never needing to leave the house.
But, the office space is going to be critical! Just this morning they started tearing down walls which meant I was riding zoom’s mute feature through back to back zoom meetings. Not to mention noisy construction on the other side of a wall isn’t exactly the most conducive enivornment for the creative process.
I haven’t had a dedicated office space since 2020, when we lived in an apartment with a spare bedroom. Now my wife and I kind of share a desk / the kitchen table depending on who needs to be able to close a door for a meeting. I’m a firm believer that writing can happen basically anywhere as long as you’re willing to get into the habit of doing it. But! That being said, I’m excited to be creating a little space of my own to work (and not work) in. There’s something that feels very “back to school” and exciting about the idea of filling an empty room with exactly the things you want, knowing that that room is going to just be for you and you alone.
It’s actually kind of a dream come true!
A few of the things I’m excited to have in this little square of mine:
— A big desk. I like the idea of having a desk with just my computer on it! Wouldn’t that be great? Although what always ends up happening with my desk is it slowly accumulates papers and envelopes and notes to self and all sorts of to-do’s! Maybe I can put a desk in here and keep it clean (for a while).
— A big cork board. I like using notecards on cork board as a place to collect story beats, ideas, themes, and stray images that inspire whatever new thing I’m working on. Although, I did recently write on a series where we used giant white boards with magnetic whiteboard cards that we could write on and then move around the board and it was sort of an incredible magic trick in that it was the most efficient version of being able to use notecards PLUS whiteboard PLUS move things around without erasing everything all the time. So… if you’re really looking to go ALL OUT, maybe a big magnetic white board is the secret.
— A big chair. Look, you can’t ALWAYS be writing in your writer’s office. Sometimes you want to sit in big cozy chair to read. Sometimes you want to sit in that chair and daydream. Sometimes you want to sit in that chair and watch a movie. I’m gonna move a big chair in.
— Art! The perk of having a dedicated space is that you can make it as inspiring as possible. I’m excited to get to hang photos and posters of past shows and movies, and just any and all ephemera that feel creative and inspiring to me.
— A dog bed. If I’m going to be putting in time at “the office” I might as well bring our dog! He likes to sit right next to the desk that’s currently in our house, because that allows for maximum closeness to whoever is working there, as well as maximum random petting time.
— A window! Even with no view at all, it feels absolutely critical to me to have a window in order to be creative. I don’t even really look out of them very often when I do have them, but knowing that I can… that’s the stuff.
As I was writing this, I dug through old photos to try to find all my old workspaces.
Shall we go on a tour???
Dangerous area under hundreds of pounds of gear, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, circa 2014
pros: long desk, big calendars, plant(?)
cons: long desk was situated under approx. 300lbs of heavy film equipment that could have at any moment fallen onto me, killing me instantly
The corner of my living room, bed stuy, circa 2016
pros: upgraded desk, bookshelf, window, no longer under a lot of falling objects
cons: very little light because it was a ground floor apartment, under a staircase
The corner of my living room, los angeles, circa 2017
pros: lighter, corkboards, printer(!)
cons: no window, small desk
wow! an entire room, los angeles, circa 2020
pros: hello, it’s an entire room! with a big window!
cons: what’s not to like??? I guess desk could be bigger?
& 2024 marks the beginning of the empty industrial cube
All hail the cube!
I move in Monday. I’ll report back on whether it’s at all useful in terms of productivity, and of course share photos once I’m settled in.