I absolutely love having my home studio. You can’t beat the commute. I don’t have to shave if I don’t want to, I can work in my pajamas, I can hop on my system anytime I want should something come up, which allows me to provide near instant service to my clients when I feel that’s beneficial. If I get hit with inspiration in the middle of the night or can’t sleep I can just walk down the hallway and work. It’s great.
But there are also pitfalls. It can be difficult to separate home from work and not respond immediately while if I had a separate studio something might wait until tomorrow. I have two young kids and I’ve often found that it can be hard because they don’t really get that daddy’s working and shouldn’t be disturbed, they know I’m home and they want my attention when they want it. Or they’re in the other room playing but are loud, or the dog’s barking or whatever other distractions come up…
Despite my best efforts to make sure my kids don’t ever see what I’m working on – they’re not allowed in my studio while I’m working because I don’t trust that they’ll keep a secret, (like when I’m working on a Marvel film, or a big season finale etc.), plus they’re too young to watch most of what I work on.But there’s not much I can do to stop them from hearing the sounds that come out of the studio through the door. Today I discovered another pitfall of working from home.
Zach, my 5 year old: Daddy, what does sexually active mean?
Me: Someone that has sex
Zach: What is sex?
Me: Sex is when a man and a woman get together to make a baby
Zach: Oh
Me: Where did you hear that term?
Zach: It was in that movie that you’re working on.
Sure enough there was a conversation in this comedy I’m working on where those words were uttered, and despite my best efforts, he heard it.
It was funny and he seemed to drop it so no big deal, but that dream of building a separate studio in my backyard is suddenly feeling more urgent than ever before.
