What’s the impact of the pandemic on you, your company, your approach to doing business in the future? What practices emerged that you will continue even as restrictions are loosening?
The idea of “the office” has forever changed. We have offices in LA, San Diego, Washington DC, and Pittsburgh, but we have employees across the country. Some of our staff have permanently relocated to be closer to their families, and we celebrate this. Everyone at Wondros has found and continues to find a way to use the tools and resources we have at our disposal to pull together and get our work done. Our team members continue to thrive and exceed expectations.
We’ve also had to adapt our production approach quite a bit during the pandemic. We’ve really had to tackle remote filming. You can still do great work and build a strong community through telecommunications.
Many established businesses have been forced to close, and many gifted entrepreneurs have seen businesses that they’ve dutifully built over decades wiped out in a matter of weeks and months. Wondros has had the privilege to expand our client base and increase the number of products and services we offer. And that is only because of our employees and their ability to continually innovate and rise to the challenges of the times.
How has the call for equity, racial and social justice affected, honed or influenced your sense of responsibility as a company in terms of the content you create and/or your commitment to opening up opportunities for filmmaking talent from underrepresented backgrounds?
Wondros’ mission is to serve. The problems that we work on - issues such as equitable healthcare and social justice - continue to be the primary focus of our company. Our diversity, equity, and inclusion plan challenges leadership to prioritize inclusion that supports our people internally and creates more opportunities through more diversity and gender balance in our hiring, as well as a commitment to pay equity. Our new Chief People Officer, who we hired in 2021, is helping to lead this effort with a fundamental philosophy that equity and inclusion is not just a box you check off - it’s a way of being and running a company. Commitment requires consistency. We must actively practice what we believe, and we will always have more to learn.
While gazing into the crystal ball is a tricky proposition, we nonetheless ask you for any forecast you have relative to content creation and/or the creative and/or business climate for the second half of 2021 and beyond.
The pandemic has taught us that life and this world can be remarkably unpredictable. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I believe that the next few years will be no different. No one can know for certain where we are headed, but I’m excited to take on new challenges and opportunities