There is an endless imaginary list I’ve created of the things I never would have imagined could be connected to production. The most recent addition to this post-it note, back of the napkin, inside of my wrist collection is: Craigslist.
Personally, I have always been drawn to antiques (possibly stemming from a movie inspired life long adoration for the 1890s) and I have what has best been described (by a highly productive use of time, Buzzfeed quiz on interior style) as a romantic storybook interior style. It should thus be no surprised that my personality combined with the nurturing of my generation – Nickelodeon ran a lot of those Reuse, Reduce, Recycle PSAs in the 90s – has led me to the path of Craigslist.
Downtime for a production company is strange and ill fitting, so it is only obvious that in the first quiet week we’ve had in months ReKon Productions gave itself an office make over. We up and got ourselves walls (which I almost found on Craigslist but then didn’t – more on this in a different post), rearranged everything and dove into an early frenzy of Spring Cleaning. We’ve been venturing down the road to this destination for ages.
In our era without walls, I was constantly in search of wall-like furniture – bookcases were our staple go to object. Where do you find immediate bookcases with whatever cash you happen to maybe have in your wallet that afternoon? Craigslist. And with a little bit of patience and the odd habit of using an Internet scavenger hunt as a reward break from accounting and paperwork, you can even manage to find bookcases that match furniture already in the office!
So ReKon Productions started its relationship with Craigslist slowly and reactively. We bought a new, larger, wireless printer that needs a home? Lesley envisioned the perfect sideboard table – several searches later it became a newly acquired white expedite bookcase. Remember? We love our bookcases at ReKon. Maybe it’s a deeper love for the objects that house so many stories. We joined a wine club? Three days later, Lesley found the most epic wine rack that fits in the office.
As we redid the office, Craigslist became a constant. We needed matching office chairs or matching desk drawers – search for closing offices and furniture sale. Our shredder stopped working – use those inter-web searching skills. But then we have an extra filing cabinet that we don’t need, or a desk that was useful but doesn’t match anymore. Throw it up on Craigslist! Because just as we need, so do others.
At this busy intersection with our ReKon Trading Post, the oddest realization dawned on me. We bought chairs from a marketing agency that worked in commercials. Our newest shredder came from a closing down production office for a finished TV pilot. The person who bought the too small desk from us is a screenwriter. Insight: the motion picture industry builds entire TEMPORARY worlds and systems – fictional towns and efficient professional offices. And then in the blink of an eye everything is over and closing up shop becomes a trade post. 90% of our new office is parts of other offices of people who too spent too many hours in front of a computer eating the remnants of crafty.
So Mufusa was right when he told Simba that everything as connected in this Circle of Life. Craigslist and Production includeded.