Composing : New Arrival at Stage 32 by Michael Dawson

Consider the ice broken, Michael Dawson. :) Yes, the pandemic presented opportunities that still impact my life. Screenwriting wise, I was able to spend more time honing my craft and pitching, which has made me better as a writer, made my scripts better, and made my pitches better.

Welcome Michael! That's a fantastic question. Can you share how opportunities from the pandemic changed your life? It'd be great to hear about how you've transitioned into film making from music.

Maurice Vaughan - what an excellent use of time you made, that's fantastic!

I don't know if I would frame the pandemic as presenting opportunities per se over here. It certainly altered my life due to Covid complications, which led to the creation of an EP in response, which in turn has opened some doors and led to some wonderful friendships being made. I suppose you make your own opportunities, which Covid certainly forced me to do!

Thanks for your commentary! It's been my observation that some individuals took the opportunity to create in a "different way" in the midst of a global emergency served many purposes personally and professionally. The isolation of the lockdowns brought about creative "urgency." Making time to learn new things was key to my mental health.

Thanks, Joanna Karselis. Congratulations on creating an EP and building some wonderful friendships!

Just saw this. COVID's been excellent for me! Investments have done astonishingly well, so money is no worry at all, while social interaction has been driven online and into a captive media situation (community and human interaction was wiped out forcing people online). The requirement for content went through the roof. I'm stateless and homeless, so the COVID clusterfuck affected me in only good ways. I'm already looking forward to COVID-II the sequel. Basically, it has been an absolute dogsend for financially secure online content creators. Or anyone NOT in the 99%! Cheers, indeed!

HI Michael, great question. My travel has been curtailed and all of my meetings are now on Zoom. The good? People seem more open to a quick Zoom meeting. the challenge is then to pitch via Zoom and follow up. What are you finding?

hi Micheal, I think the pandemic, changed the music game forever, not like the old days renting studio time and bring the band, now it's zoom or emails , we have lost a lot of contacts, but with time we will restore our connection and creativity as artist

In essence, driving everyone online has been the great leveller. No longer is it who you know (and how much you can spend on the band) that gets your foot in the door, but what you know.

Hi Michael Dawson - What a great question, thanks for bringing it to the lounge! Personally, I went through a creative drought during the first few months of lockdown. I was always on the go, and had been neglecting my own personal space. As soon as I purged decades of old paperwork, did a clothing sweep and consolidated my photos, I started feeling better and inspired again! I had more opportunities to be a global curator and made some fantastic new connections!

There is quite a variety of replies here. Thanks for writing back. / I think the biggest take-a-way is that we need human connections in person. The modern communications technology evolution is something I know quite a bit about as I worked a day job as the internet was emerging from the academic/government realms into the beast we inhabit now. No doubt I've been able to meet and connect virtually with people on a planetary scale. but when I get to hang out in person, the MAGIC is exponential. COVID made travel problematic and dangerous. And I'm not just talking about the virus, it's clear that humans struggle with mental health in the present circumstances.