Anybody else get furloughed from their job due to Coronavirus?

Mike Krumlauf

Mike Krumlauf

Award Winning Filmmaker
..because I did and 205 other hourly employees at my company did. They said we could apply for unemployment in the meantime but Colorado's unemployment office is overloading and I cant apply by phone or computer. Fun times we are living in. My company said they are expecting to have us return by June 1st but we will see. Hopefully its sooner.
 
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Most people here (those that post a lot) don't have full-time jobs, but appear to have lost almost all of their freelance work for the next month or two, three.
 
I got a promising inquiry for a BTS interview for a feature film (which had already finished filming) to film this week. Talked to the producer on the phone who I gather didn't think I sounded excited enough about the project (that's just my personality; I'm not exuberant). Yeah, I definitely want to do your project. Well, I think he's going with someone else because I didn't sound enthused. Oh well. That's what I don't like about narrative film producers; they often hire you based off of your passion for their project and not based off of your actual skills and qualifications for the job. Corporate work rarely has this problem.

Still waiting for my next job to book.


On another note, I'm just asking here and now that the mods don't go lock topic crazy. The NAB coronavirus topic didn't seem to have gotten that political to me. If someone is breaking the rules and talking politics after being told not to, to as Barry Green stated, "proactively ban the morons who seem to think the rules don't apply to them," rather than lock the topics so we can't discuss something that is affecting everyone in the industry, affecting us moreso than whatever the latest and greatest camera is.

AbelCine just followed up with me today about stock for the Alexa Mini LF; yeah no; I'm not buying a camera in this economy. I do wonder though if owner/ops will start mass selling their gear if this goes on for long enough, which for people who do have money, could make for a good buyer's market for used gear (as in, used gear will sell dirt cheap), not that there would be many people in the position to buy.
 
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Yea, the topic/thread locking is getting out-of-hand, but it's their world.

I'm dumping the rest of any small pieces of gear I have here and there, I don't really want to own anything right now.
 
In the UK, we have a cameraman's Guild - members are reporting a stream of cancellations and a couple of the guys have NO work in the diary. I've had two myself cancel today - and it's getting really scary now. Most TV and video folk are self-employed, not employees so get NOTHING if they don't work. Employees get all kinds of state benefits, we don't!
 
Eric Coughlin said:
The NAB coronavirus topic didn't seem to have gotten that political to me.
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That's because we deleted the political stuff, which was getting into name-calling (which political stuff always does).

We'll take it as it goes with the coronavirus stuff. If people figure it out after a few thread closings and refrain from getting political, there's no problem.
 
Yeah, most of us are just SOL with cancellations, etc. For some people, the shoots may come back around. For others of us, they are gone forever, because the events were outright cancelled. And being a freelancer, sole proprietor or even owning your own company(Incorporated), you can't claim or collect unemployment.

CBS and Turner are going to pay their contract and freelance personnel for the work they would have done for the NCAA Tournament.

https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/march-madness-crews-to-be-payed-by-cbs-sports-turner-sports
 
Regarding thread locking: I agree with Eric that locking should be as infrequent as possible, since it punishes everyone for the actions of one miscreant.

I would rather let the rule-abiding membership go about their business, and target moderation efforts specifically, swiftly, and decisively against those who choose deliberately to break our rules.
 
You might like either. A lot of people in freelance end up getting a different steady job as it can be an unsustainable way of life for most for the long run.

I always felt like many people in freelance are very talented who either do this and struggle or do this and have trust funds. Rarely anyone in between (excluding those who actually set up a real business/company and operate as one).
 
I've already lost four video shoots this month. That's a lot of money I won't be making. And because I own my production company, I don't qualify for unemployment benefits. And my wife (a theater stage manager) is also out of a job for at least a month. And we have a two year old.

This is getting very scary.
 
I am fortunate for now. As a systems design engineer I can work from home and have VPN access to the office servers. We are being extra cautious because we have Suzy's 97 year old mom living with us. Neither of us are spring chickens either.
Plus I could use some time off. I'm supposed to be semi-retired and working part time, like 25 hours a week. I keep telling my supervisor that these 40 hour weeks are killing me.
Field installation crews are getting furloughed if their job sites shut down, but we still have future projects to quote. I'm more worried about being able to get product to install when the projects are sold. Especially flat screen displays.
I feel for all of you though. I freelanced field production services for a couple of decades. It can be tough in the best of times.
Hopefully the time it takes to get Covid-19 under control will be short if people are smart and do the things we all need to do to stop the spread, or at least slow it down significantly.
As a nation we are weeks behind in responding to this in a way that could have possibly avoided quarantine actions on a national level. Not to mention the Great Toilet Paper Panic of 2020.
 
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My fiance works in Clinical Research and is working from home but I who was working full time as a hotel a/v tech, as well as my parents who were working management in retail are not working right now. I didnt get laid off.. my job still exists, its just on hiatus. Nobody is doing Events in hotels so my company was not bringing in a penny of profit.. at least in this country, so all us hourly got the temporary axe until s*%t figures itself out.. thats if it does figure itself out. If we get into a purge-like scenario by summer I honestly would not be surprised
 
NorBro said:
You might like either. A lot of people in freelance end up getting a different steady job as it can be an unsustainable way of life for most for the long run.

I always felt like many people in freelance are very talented who either do this and struggle or do this and have trust funds. Rarely anyone in between (excluding those who actually set up a real business/company and operate as one).
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No, definitely won’t hold on to either of those long term. This is strictly pay-the-bills-for-2-3-months work... those are just what I’ve thought of that I can do, wouldn’t mind doing, and that seem to have an immediate need. I’ve grossed into six figures for three straight years, but have spent most of it struggling to get debt-free. Sadly had some setbacks late last year and early this year, so this downturn hit at precisely the wrong time. Won’t let that happen again.

Hoping I’ll be back shooting politicians and CEOs in a good and profitable way soon enough.
 
My son managed to cancel the new car he was about to pay for, so having lost his income that's better. My guess is he will be back with us before long - Technical Manager of a large theatre and entertainment centre.

We actually have one theatre who has refused to close, as our advice from Government is not law, just recommendation. Instead of people saying well done as they expected, they've had a torrent of complaints about them trying to take advantage of others closing. Not what they expected, so I think they will shut too. Our big TV studio has closed, and quite a few churches have cancelled services too. I had to smile though - one large package from one of my Chinese suppliers had inside a box of 500 face masks - she included a note saying you need these more than we do at the moment!
 
My day job is as an AV Tech as well, except I'm at a corporation's in-house conference center. All meetings and event's have been canceled, but I haven't been sent home yet, as I also test the AV equipment in three adjoining buildings and help out the maintenance guy swap out fluorescent tubes. I'm not sure how long it will be before they tell me to stop coming in to work, so I'm a little nervous. I have a small emergency fund, so I guess I'm in a better spot than a lot of people, but it's still kinda scary.

I wish people would stop freaking out, and stop clearing out the grocery stores and hoarding supplies they don't need.
 
I've been a full time freelancer for the past 4 years. Not making big money, but making a living. When my biggest client offered me a year-long part-time contract last September, I was unsure of whether I should take it because it would mean that I couldn't take any longer-term projects. But now I'm really glad that I did because all of my other client work is drying up. I have one last freelance edit to deliver and then the well will be dry. My part-time gig should keep me going for at least a little while longer. We might have to get creative about making their product videos. Fortunately, I know a good 3D animator.

If my contract is terminated early, I might brush up on After Effects and see if I can get some infographic or kinetic typography work. Or I could even fall back on my previous career as a graphic designer, though I am pretty rusty at this point.

If those don't work out, I might have to apply for one of those Amazon warehouse positions. Anything that I have to do so that I'm not leaning on my fiancee too much (she will be able to work from home in perpetuity).

All in all, I consider myself to be pretty fortunate. We live in a condo without any shared entryways/exits/doors and some good views of a forest, which I find to be very calming. We're also a six-minute drive from some nice hiking trails that we've been taking full advantage of this week.
 
Imamacuser said:
I wish people would stop freaking out, and stop clearing out the grocery stores and hoarding supplies they don't need.
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The main one I don't get is the toilet paper hoarding(well, water too. Nothing indicates that our water system is in danger). Does everyone think that they're going to start s****** themselves 24/7 if they get covid-19? I read an article Monday and even the toilet paper manufacturers are at a total loss as to why people are buying it/hoarding it in such large quantities. They also said that most plants already operate 24/7 at max capacity, so there really isn't much they can do. And it's probably going to cause a big negative financial impact on the back-end, when everything calms down, because it doesn't go bad, so people will have months and months(year?) worth sitting at home and not have to buy it, whereas under normal circumstances, it's a regularly purchased item(i.e: people are probably buying it weekly or every few weeks).

I did venture out to the grocery store yesterday and I just had to laugh walking around. The canned soup section was probably 90% decimated. There was not a single can of Chicken Noodle to be found. There was some bread, but again, it was almost all gone. TP/Paper towels and cleaning supplies, forget about it. Soft drinks were still largely there, although I did some people with large amounts in their carts. One woman had at least five boxes of Pepsi cans and another woman had seven or eight 2-liters of Coke in her cart. There was milk and they were putting out meat. I had talked to a few friends over the last few days who said that places like Wal-Mart and other grocery stores were completely out: beef, pork, chicken, you name it. The chip aisle was patchy, some things therefore plenty of, and others were completely gone, like Tostitas. I guess everyone is going to subsist on chips & salsa... There is a meat distribution warehouse a few minutes away from me that has a retail side and every time I've driven by, their parking lot has been almost completely full. On a normal day, you may see two to four cars at a time, max. Also heard a guy talking while I was eating lunch yesterday, he said he had just been at the grocery store and someone bought seven loaves of bread. It's going to go bad before it can all be used. At least five or six of those could have gone to several other people that needed it.

And like a lot of states, they have banned dinning in in any eating establishment, only take-out, drive-thru and to-go is allowed. I went to get lunch at my buddies deli today and he said I timed it right, even though I did have to wait about 20 mins. He said they have been totally slammed. Grub Hub was there waiting to pick-up, as well. He said at one point, for one of their really popular hot sandwiches(philly) that it was a 45 minute wait, because they were out of space on the grill/flat-top trying to fill all of the call-in orders.

Obviously we want life to return to normal as quickly as possible, but as long as restaurants don't completely close and the raiding stops at the grocery stores and they stay open, that will go a long way to calming people down.
 
I had only heard about people cleaning out the shelves of TP and hand sanatizer, so I went to the store to do my normal weekly shopping and couldn't get many of the things I normally buy. The meat was cleared out with the exception of expensive steaks and turkeys, the ice cream was almost entirely cleared out, and of course the rum was gone.
Rum meme.jpg
 
@Run&Gun: It’s not the actual virus that is going to cause everyone to s*** themselves; it’s the fear of the virus that will cause everyone to s*** themselves.

Bread can be frozen. I bought two loaves so I can freeze one.


I just bought another gun as well. Been wanting to get one for concealed carry regardless. Apparently you need to size up your pants a bit to fit the gun inside the waistline. Good thing I’ve been losing weight so it may all balance out. If things get worse when leaving a grocery store with the last roll of toilet paper, that toilet paper can now be protected. At least I don’t have to worry about people stealing my camera gear anymore because it’s all worthless now.

Don’t have toilet paper or a bidet? Turns out a shower can be used for cleansing of evacuatory body parts as well, and fortunately, most non-public toilets are right next to a shower.

I’m going to start selling the leaves in my backyard and relabeling them as toilet paper or butt leaves.
 
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