US post-production studio, Seismic Post Audio, based in Santa Monica, CA, has written to its clients explaining how they will be responding to the Covid19 pandemic. We think it is an excellent response and one other studios should consider adopting. We have been given permission to share it with the community.
Garrard Whatley, President wrote…
Hello all,
Panic regarding the coronavirus outbreak is unwarranted and completely unhelpful, but not being prepared is arguably worse. Soon, as has already happened in parts of some of our clients' home state of Georgia (and around the country), schools may be closing here in Los Angeles as a mitigation effort, and other measures may be put in place by local governments to encourage "social distancing" to further slow the spread of the virus.
Many of us - certainly those with children with regard to school closures - will have to make adjustments and may have major disruptions to our lives.
And those of us - and I know it's not only me - with family members who are sick with compromised immune systems, must be ever more cautious and vigilant.
But life - and work - must go on, and we are ready to move forward.
As a company, Seismic is prepared in two important ways:
For our clients and contractors, measures for remote working are already in place. All projects have been moving forward in multiple departments (dialog, Fx, design, foley, and premixing) with central coordination. At the moment, there are no facility closures, and no reported sicknesses for on-site personnel; so, with simple precautions in place, meeting for mixes is still a very straight-forward, practical reality.
Our normal jovial handshakes or hugs will be replaced with nods and smiles. Please know this going in: I will, as you certainly will, make every effort not to endanger those I have at home with compromised immune systems.
Further, if and only if meeting for mixes becomes an activity that is deemed risky, then, barring any interruption of internet capabilities in the city, we will be able to produce full premixes and uploads for you to evaluate and send notes, and we can continue to work to produce a mix that will at minimum fulfill television broadcast standards - and for those of you with films, we can make individual arrangements based on your particular deadlines and circumstances, at the main facility 740 Sound in Playa Vista, with only essential and scaled-down personnel present.
Seismic has produced and is promoting material guidance for fighting coronavirus in a calm, community-centered, proactive, thoughtful manner - it's called Be a Barrier, not a Carrier. The material is attached below as a JPG - meant to be shared as widely as possible on social media.
The message is simple: you may be healthy, but others in your community may not be; following simple precautions may help save a life.
As an individual that not only cares about his community, but cares about my at-risk family members at home - and yours - I humbly ask that you share this card on social media, without political or partisan viewpoint, but with the health of our neighbors and friends as your motivation.
I believe that as a community we can help slow the spread of the virus with the goal of not overwhelming our health care system, and that consistent messaging - especially to those that are still skeptical about the virus or have not been educated on how it differs dangerously from the flu - can help make that a reality for all communities.
Slight behavioral change is an absolutely essential local need - and I believe that that change can begin with a simple message that can persuade, and that all can agree on.
Thank you so much for your time, and above all, stay healthy!
Thank you,
G.
As we’ve already said we think it’s an excellent response and would encourage you to share this via email and social media.
Remember - be a barrier, not a carrier.
UPDATE: 19th March 2020 at 07:30 GMT
Garrard has posted an update…
Brief but good update on our efforts - the "Be a Barrier" campaign caught the eye of a senior fellow at The Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies in Wisconsin, who requested materials both for social media sharing and printing for hard copies in communities and neighbourhoods, to be distributed through their national database of doctors, community leaders and organizers, and to further ties throughout the world.
As a result, we have changed our Seismic Post Audio webpage to serve this single purpose - an access point for these materials for PRINT - PDFs in both colour and B&W, in single-page or 2-to-a-page format for printing efficiency - and SOCIAL MEDIA - JPGs in colour and B&W for Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Our desire is to post the message as widely as possible, to "spread the word to slow the virus," so communities throughout the world can be safer, and those at-risk can be protected.
The following is a sample of tweet text:
For those who don't know how seriously to take the virus, or how it differs dangerously from the flu, please consider how simple precautions could save a life.
Unity and Protection: Be a barrier, not a carrier.
#beabarrier
With social media, please remember to use the hashtag --> #beabarrier
Material communities can download to print & distribute, or share on social media, are at this address.
link.
Thank you!