none of us could have anticipated the
impact of kovat 19 on the global scale
we've all had our lives flipped upside
down in the past month and here to share
their experiences our bollock now ski
hey Robbie how are you
All Things Considered I'm doing well
thanks beau beau is the owner the
founder of a marriage right there one of
the world's most well respected vendors
of single board computers and other
maker tech
so this is where I'm sitting yeah just
in the middle of the Tauri area cool my
next guest is community ambassador and
co-producer of Seth MacFarlane's the
Orville Tom costantino how's it going
hanging in my friend along with Tom I'm
also thrilled to have visual effects
supervisor on the Orville Brandon
Fayette joining us next in line is our
very own world-famous co-host on
category 5 technology TV adored by all
its satiric Minh hello
and finally cosplay engineer woman who
can start her Tesla by waving her hand
and most recently a contestant on Fox's
new TV series lego masters with Will
Arnett it's a me double D hi Amy
great to see you again now since I work
in IT and we're considered essential I
still have to go to work every single
day but like you I've been very careful
to practice social distancing and for
the most part I'm interacting with
nobody but my immediate family except if
I'm separated by a couple of metres or
more my wife and three kids are at home
and I'm actually kind of feeling a bit
envious of those dads who are able to
stay home with their families right now
just going to be honest but I know it's
not easy for folks we all have our own
challenges Sasha you and your husband
Dave are you guys hanging in absolutely
yeah we are all of the above doing what
it takes you know staying isolated and
you know just keeping ourselves
entertained and prepping for the move
we're good
oh how are you doing you and your family
healthy and safe oh yeah we're all
healthy good there there's a theory that
we in California have already all had it
Amy how have things been for you
transition to working from home I work
from home most the time in I'm home on
the weekends so not too much of that has
changed for me
do you feel like I'm living in a
fishbowl it's like a wake up for the
morning workout and then I'm like well I
can go outside today but I don't need to
so it's it's an interesting mind it's
more of the mind at least for me because
I'm very much home all the time so it's
just been a very different yes stay away
from the news how is it that Lego
masters was able to air during the
pandemic so Lego Racers we filmed from
October to December so we had wrapped
filming number premiere date was in
February the last episode just this week
so it's been interesting doing
interviews because everything now has
been digital interviews come in my house
so it's like one of those where I just
had to open the front door and they had
to take my picture standing outside this
is my life now yeah it's kind of
mind-blowing how things have changed in
just a month thinking of I mean at the
start of March I announced to viewers
that we were going to be moving our
studio at the end of the month but by
the time that we got things rolling on
lease arrangements and the insurance
that I need for a new place cope at 19
was in full swing
so our insurance brokerage closed the
property managers office I wasn't sure
if I could get a hold of them
I was actually honestly I was getting
worried that you know perhaps I wouldn't
be able to rent a truck for the move or
even secure a unit in time but I
absolutely had to be out of our old
space by April 1st I think it's fair to
say that most if not all of us were
caught off guard let's start with
Brandon where were you and the team at
the Orval as like where were you at as
far as production goes I know you were
working on season 3 when all this went
down sure I mean we we had filmed a good
portion of the first chunk of episodes
of the season and you know the way we
typically work is our previous team for
visual effects is kind of a couple
so you know did we haven't released how
many episodes of doing the season
probably have we done no we have it's 11
so far for today yeah so we we had
things all the way up to episode of 5
and some of some like one-off scenes
shot and you know we're in previous
right now in episode 10 so you know I
mean we were we were in a pretty good
swing footage wise I think when I strike
it good and now we're working from home
trying to complete kind of the
pre-visualization of all of the effects
knees and then we've been to doing the
editorial for what we have in the can
trying to kind of just get shots ready
get stuff delivered to our the effects
vendors so we can start actually
creating you know the passwords final
you know visual effects we don't know
this time is kind of letting us do which
is pretty good yeah we're just trying to
get as much work done as we can because
you know it could be a long cold summer
are you guys ready for this like how
much time did you have to transition
from the Fox lot to home based editing
we had about a day on Lian kind of prep
we knew that we were going to shut down
on a Friday so we kind of synched up as
you know many drives as we could you
know we have to do everything through
the Disney security standards so we got
the cutting room group making sure
everybody's right you know appropriately
locked down you know everybody you know
as much as you can do in the midst of a
crisis but we never do pretty good I was
gonna get kudos to my wife she was a
little head of the curve because she
knew this was coming so we're I was able
to secure well I mean ask forgiveness
for with content security to get some
footage going but you know yeah I mean
were we were we ready to go from 0-100
to 0 I mean no no I don't think anybody
was anything we had a week ramp up time
to try to get everything kind of
relevant and then once we were up and
running it was you know production
virtually is a little bit stilted but
we're moving in pretty good clip now I
think we've kind of gotten in 20mins
Oh Sasha how about you as a personal
support worker you care for elder
elderly folks and I imagine that this
would be a very difficult time
what throughout this entire the pandemic
what has caught you off guard I was used
to the assumption that the clients I saw
would be my biggest risk you know
there's always risk of injury like back
injuries let's and falls as soon as the
pandemic came it was the realization
that I as an outsider coming into
people's homes now I was the risk to
them that was that was the biggest thing
that caught me off guard was the fact
that all of a sudden I felt like at any
point in any interaction with any one
person I could unknowingly be getting
them sick and so I I mean I already am a
very careful person but I went in to lay
OverDrive's
and if there is a rule to be followed I
am following it but yeah that was the
thing that was the biggest thing that
really hit me with the pandemic I would
say well what about you guys what were
you in the midst of a Tamara Droid we
were in the process of scheduling
appointments to go visit clients in the
California Bay Area okay Silicon Valley
and San Francisco area and obviously or
social distancing reasons and with a
marriage Roy being a tech company do you
feel that that kind of better prepared
you to suddenly have to move staff to a
home-based work scenario well we are
very much a paperless operation
we almost all of our stuff is already
done digitally good good
we have Network staff so we do things
like VPNs and all that type of stuff to
get into the business anyway so Remote
Desktop and virtual machines and stuff
like that so it hasn't really changed a
whole lot for us because we were already
kind of prepared to do that
right and we do a lot of work on you
know instead of on paper we do it on
tablets and on on the screen
Amy how about you how have your plans
been impacted yes so I'm supposed to go
to a hacker event in Serbia and we're
planning to fly into Budapest and then
take the train down to Serbia and have
like a hacker thing on the train some
friends so that is a postpone with no
like no date I got a Def Con in August I
go to Dragon Con which is also in August
and that may seem it's like enough time
ways away but it's I mean it's really
not I don't see like too many even if
they do reinstate it how many people are
gonna be going to these things because
right here is a very strong motivator a
lot of people and the fear of the
unknown and the the Internet is this
epitome of misinformation
so that's are you gonna be going to an
event and if you are now people are
going to be hugging or the interactions
are not gonna be the same or how people
spend money in the future is going to be
very different
I I think this will be an interesting
wake-up call for some of the younger
generations that haven't saved you know
there are six months of savings or their
thousand dollar emergency funds or
however they handle like the financial
crisis situation and I just adds to like
another stress level and it's
interesting because it's how can how can
we give back when we can't even like
some people can't even help themselves
or you feel you can't help like with
interaction and I will say like working
on some side projects or just building
things sometimes I I feel guilty about
sharing like stuff I'm making you're
working on I feel guilty for being happy
we actually had a hangout call the other
day with a bunch of people from the Lego
masters and we all just like had a
hangout call and we were just like
buildings yeah it was nothing plan to
build but everyone we were just building
with something with Lego and all just
hanging out on a live call and it was it
just felt that that felt normal to be
doing something that you're already
familiar with yeah so change is hard
right so it's you're out of your comfort
zone for a lot of the most a lot of
people are out of their comfort zone for
that but yeah just got an infinite
supply of Lego for now comes with the
territory I guess now while I was really
fortunate to have some friends help out
with the move itself for me it's been
really tough juggling the studio move
and setting things up and being ready to
broadcast tonight since social
distancing says that I can't have anyone
else here to help me out we also had to
postpone the construction so I don't
have a stage or even a desk in front of
me I've had to drill a hole through the
studio wall as a temporary way to get
the signal from the camera into the
production room which is actually a
separate room so I think you know while
my scenario is not terrible
we're all having to kind of figure out
innovative ways to keep doing what we do
I'll start with Tom what about you
what's it been like to have to move to a
home-based production studio I hate not
seeing everyone and also trying to work
with the boss from you know we're you
know seven miles away from each other
and it's you know presents some
technical challenges and yeah I mean I'm
Brandon can answer too it's you know I
mean luckily we do a lot of stuff on
computers and hence we're all pretty
good about you know keeping up with each
other but you know it's nothing replaces
all of us being in an office together
sure yeah I miss I'm missing I'm missing
everybody's faces for sure but you know
we lucked out that we live in an area of
the country that has fast enough
internet that we can do remote
workstation and yeah and why do either
you know little tricks to kind of make
sure that we can keep moving forward you
feel at least kind of like we're in the
office even though we don't really see
each other except over a camera like
this yeah I mean we're definitely
working
good I mean it won't be forever we're
you know we're gonna run out of work I
mean the effects can go a little longer
we can work that out financially but you
know we're now we're gonna run the
pipeline till we run out of material
once we have you know all the end it's
delivered by you guys meaning we've got
a lot of work that shows really visual
effects heavy so I mean we've got
thousands of shots already that we can
start kind of putting into production
just with what you did last few weeks so
you know best to get sculpted animated
you know
ingested into vendor systems you know
and then we start bringing it to life
shot so it's good we got a lot to do
fortunately yeah I can't imagine Tom you
you also said that you'll eventually run
out of work I can only hope that by the
time you get to that point we're going
to be through this but I guess some
viewers and certainly myself are
wondering right now do you have any
projections at this point as to you know
when the third season of the Orville is
going to be available I I'm not at
liberty to say because I don't know I I
think this is gonna affect all
production we will all be in the same
boat so without without quoting me and I
mean that yeah I can't see how all of
television and film isn't delayed by
this you know what people aren't
realizing is we have to now figure out
how you go back and put a hundred to 200
people in a wood box and film together
when there's you know when we don't have
a vaccine or a treatment yet so we got
some plans to do we that we mean the
higher ups than us right right
that's not answer yeah
Sasha how how have you and Dave been
impacted so with the pandemic happening
we made the very important decision to
be closer to Dave's dad sooner rather
than later and we moved up our mood our
move to Newfoundland by a few months and
so we're packing up and leaving and
going in the midst of a pandemic which
is an interesting kind of it's a
challenge because you we have to abide
by social isolation and physical
distancing even during you know a very
big like multi-day move where we have to
take into account the fact that we can't
go anywhere for food you know that sort
of thing when we get to the and we get
to the house we get home we're not
allowed off the property for 14 days
it's it's legally you know mandated
quarantine which we happily will abide
by but it does mean that we've had to
make make arrangements that there's
gonna be food there for us you know that
you know that sort of thing that you
don't even you would never think that
free movement in your own country would
be something that you would have to
really think about though how have you
been impacted at a marriage right there
there are people are working from home
now almost most people here are working
from home at the moment but our shipping
staffs still coming in and they're still
shipping yeah and everybody's doing the
social distancing thing good we have a
fair amount of room here so it's easy to
keep keep our distance
but in our in our county right now
there's only one confirmed case and it's
a somebody who's on parole so our on
probation I guess it's they're under
house arrest right now anyway so just
like the rest of us bow ami how about
you
so I have pretty much a full makerspace
shop in my house so that hasn't changed
too much I have the access to 3d
printers laser cutters or I have a live
access CNC machine I have like I have
all the tools to do stuff here yeah at
this point I think it's just as I always
says head case all right because at some
point I'm always worried about time for
finishing a project or for a certain
event or a certain kind and now it's
like I have this abundance of time what
can I be doing with this extra time I'm
now I'm not commuting an hour to work in
an hour from work I mean reality is
everyone has the same hours in the day
as everyone else right so you know when
people are what's the motivation to get
out of bed in the morning for me I've
been making myself work out every day so
when people are stumbling out of bed
when it's still dark outside I've
already I've already worked out for the
day I've already tried to make the best
of it that's a good idea how do you
stick to it I am I am you make a habit
you make a discipline you just
indiscipline not as a punishment and
discipline as in you can do this you're
you know you're worth it so every day so
I think today is like my 24th day that
I've worked out or something but like
like the fifth day I'm like this sucks
I don't want to do it right but that
discipline has like I'm like come change
so much of just how my day has been at
like all right I'm waking up at the same
time every morning even on the weekend
when I don't have to work because if
nothing I'm just get in this slump and
I'm like now I'm just watching useless
stuff on TV something that is not
furthering or pushing myself like I
could stay home anytime and watch
Netflix like why um not that I still I
got some Netflix shows I like so no
judgment on that it's I think it's going
to change to the future of any elective
or places that say hey you can't work
from home and now all these companies in
these roles position to that right
also all the wonderful parents that are
also learning how to balance
homeschooling and and working yeah I
think it's been a different challenge
for each of us you know I think like I'd
try to think how many days it's been my
biggest challenge is my dad is older so
try to not you know like if I have to be
around him or you know go get his
groceries like not being able to give
those people a hug has been like hard
for me I think also like not the fear of
the unknown
the fear of the unknown is probably one
of the hardest things is I'm I'm
planning to go to these two conferences
if they need to be here so I'm trying to
plan to work on these projects and how
these things finished on time so now
where's the motivation to finish those
why should I finish those and that's the
next steps like okay what if this is the
new norm now now we're not going to be
having these events am i making my
projects for myself or other people am I
making it like it's kind of sorry
puppies thirsty no worries you were
saying that you were considering whether
you were making your projects for
yourself or for others yeah but it's
kind of made me think it's like why do
we do the things that we do do we do
them for acceptance about people are we
doing them for us or doing them to learn
and I think I've kind of been honing on
like improving some projects I've
already worked on and I was like so I'm
not gonna go back and work on that it's
fine and you know I'm fine it's just not
okay so I've been back and kind of
improving on some of those and I have
the time to do it so that's been a yeah
I guess an interesting balance yeah
that's good
Sasha what's been the hardest for you I
think the uncertainty day-to-day the
fact waking up not not knowing what's
happening the next day has been
difficult and I would say for me
personally my biggest challenge
husband I have a tendency to lean
towards like the bright side of
everything as you may know and although
I mean it's so good to see all of all of
the humanitarian efforts and all of the
good that's coming out of this pandemic
there's a real sad side of it and for me
it's coming to terms with like the
actual fact of the tragedy and it's been
a very big challenge for me to balance
that I think because I have found myself
you know being one of maybe many who end
up glued to the TV and they're watching
stats and they're watching you know it's
it's real lives being affected yeah but
at some point I had to teach myself okay
I need to turn it off and just tune in
you know to something something good
right yeah so that's been our biggest
challenge is just learning to filter
through when it's appropriate to be a
part of the the news and when it's not a
me how about you I had my grandmother
died I'm sorry but I never thought I
would be asking like to do a private
live streaming of a funeral and you know
we live in weird times and you know so a
lot of family members couldn't be there
for the funeral and I was trying to put
it in a way to my dad is it's not as a
disrespectful thing to do this for your
mother our grandmother and my brother
put it as a good point he said we have
these amazing technology tools to
connect us so even if we can't
physically be there like we can be there
virtually and people didn't used to have
that that chance or that experience and
though it is bizarre I guess you would
say to livestream a private funeral I
know the people that couldn't be there
were very grateful that they could at
least
I guess honor or put their respect
towards it yeah yeah it's it's
definitely living in a weird time yeah
Sasha besides the move itself what kind
of changes has the pandemic brought
about for you so this is actually really
quite be interesting it's almost
experiments in the fact that we were
between studios and then we are in a
pandemic yeah and we have to be
physically distant because now as a part
of the show in order to maintain you
know the connections I've made I am
going to turn a part of the house into a
studio and so I'll be able to connect
remotely just as we're doing now and I
mean it'll be a different time zone
which I understand but I'll have to get
accustomed to I think I end up I end up
airing an hour and a half later than you
but yeah I'll be I'll still be part of
the show I'll just be very physically
distance Amy how have you had to adapt I
found that if how to become more
resourceful so for example I was trying
to design some like new circuit board
components and I need some parts that I
don't have and have to order well now
they're not available right I can't get
them so I'm like okay I have to use what
I have in my house I feel like I'm like
you know yeah you have these five things
and you have to make this and you have
an hour I feel like I'm back on the Lego
master show but I feel that I started
become more creative and or really
understand the parts that I do have or
take things apart but it's first
technical apology I think having the
Internet has the internet connects us
but I even did like the the Netflix
watch party and I've never done that
before where you watch movies with your
friends and I'm like why that's weird I
just watched movies by myself anyways
but it was actually really fun because
we had
six of us in the room and early movie
you're sitting next to the person or
you're in the dark so you don't ever get
to see and it was actually probably more
fun to watch my friend's facial
expressions because some of them had
never seen you know like some of these
like old school movies that when or Star
Wars or Indiana Jones and you're just
like wait a minute or when they like
make the connection so to watch their
facial expression it's like taking
someone to Disney World for the first
time it's almost just as fun to like
watch them that's such a fun idea now
this is a terrible time for many and and
some of you that are watching at home
may have lost a loved one or some of you
are scared or coping with loneliness or
worry I want you to remember that you're
not alone through this we're all
experiencing this differently but we're
all in this together
Tom your thoughts you know I'm gonna
quote my great grandmother in law who's
no longer with us but was very wise and
she always would say this too shall pass
and she's been through like three world
wars and you know trying to think about
all the all the myriad of things I think
she was even around for the early part
of the Great Depression so you know it
seems as bad right now and it's gonna be
rough but humans are resilient and you
know maybe in a year year and a half
it'll just be that haha funny thing for
us it was lucky to stay healthy haha
funny thing we hey remember that time we
all were stuck in our houses for months
on end um hopefully you know but I do
think the human race is very resilient I
think you know like I said it's almost
like buying a house if you were lucky
enough to do so it's horrible trying to
do it and then when then you don't
remember any of it except for the house
when it's over with so you know I think
I think well I'll be okay eventually
thanks Tom yeah I hear ya it actually
reminds me my wife and I were just going
through some old photos from a couple
years back just on this past weekend
we'd taken the kids up to the cottage
for Canada days fire
works so we sat on the beach of West
Guilford and as the Sun went down we got
eaten alive by mosquitoes it was
terrible but as we looked at the photos
my wife actually remarked in looking at
the pictures all you see is the good
part of the memories you forget about
the insects the discomfort and how
terrible it was at the time we made it
through and now all we have is the fond
memory and I'm really hoping that we're
gonna see the same in this situation
sascha final words this will pass we
will be okay and we're with you every
step of the way this world is is small
we are your neighbors we I mean if
anything that that this pandemic has
shown us is how just even one kind word
to another person can really make a
difference and yeah I just want to say
we're in this together and we are here
for you I am here for you I'll just be
here in Newfoundland thank you my friend
Amy what would you say is important for
each of us to keep in mind I think it's
it's okay to laugh still and I think
that's what people are sometimes afraid
of right now is like I feel guilty for
having fun and fun doesn't have to mean
you're irresponsible and you're you know
you're going outside with like 20 people
and you're right I mean fun can be like
we were you know you get to go your
friends and you do a live stream and you
put together stuff so you can yeah you
can laugh so after you can still have
some future I don't have I don't the
right answer for that and I don't anyone
that says they have the right answer
doesn't know themselves there's too many
unknowns but yeah support like you're
not eleven like that that's the best
part you're you're not alone but we also
have the tools to connect or maybe you
know someone
who can't afford a laptop maybe you can
you know donate for some you know people
to get laptops or cell phones something
to have someone to help them stay in
touch because those are things I I don't
think about and I know some of the
school districts they're teaching you
know the kids are from home I'm gonna go
do they provide laptops for those kids
and I know a lot of schools don't so
that's it's also financial yeah you're
right
I've been fortunate personally that with
all with all three of my kids at home
I've been able to give them each an old
computer but sadly and I kind of feel
bad about this but I honestly Amy I
never really thought about how others
may not have access to to an old
computer for example so I think that's a
really great idea thanks Amy
bow speaking to those who are struggling
right now what would you like them to
know and that's that's hard you know
life can be really difficult and we've
come through with quite a few challenges
since the turn of the century haven't we
with terrorist attacks and housing
crisis in the late 2000 like 2008 and
and after that we had the recession and
and you know just their ongoing actions
in the Middle East and I don't know just
there's been a lot of stuff going on in
life and you know I from a technology
standpoint there's not really a whole
lot we can view other than prepare to
work from home - we raised our children
in a home school environment so so as
far our children are already out of that
past that so it would not have made much
difference for us from a schooling
perspective but I can see how for a lot
of people it's it's making a huge
difference and I'm hoping that it gives
people more time with their children
really as they as a prepare to school
from home
and as they work from home as well of
course I can be challenging to segment
work and school you're working enough
and working family life yeah yeah but as
far as people who are suffering that's I
wish I had some magic words to say for
those people other than bro in your in
your face and rely on a higher power
because you know we as humans can only
do so much thanks Bo
Brandon some final thoughts I think
right now there are people that are
fortunate to be able to work like we are
and you know for as long as we have that
that's blessing and I think for those
that are struggling right now you know
the world has gotten through recessions
the world has gotten through Wars people
are very good at adapting there's gonna
be a light at the end of this tunnel
there always is you know we as a society
and as a planet you know can get through
things and bounce back even stronger and
I think that there's gonna be a lot of
positive that comes out of this that uh
we didn't really see before and I'd say
for everybody you know find a thing to
keep you happy find a new hobby spend
some time doing something you haven't
done before but find one great thing in
a day to you know keep you motivated you
know create something you've never
created you know it's it's a time to
explore things it's a time to say you
know hey for those who have family you
know this is time you're never gonna get
again like this you know take photos of
your kids have these memories you know
they won't remember it
but you will and you can show them later
what this was like I mean is it's a
milestone event for the world I think we
need to just recognize that in the midst
of all the negative that's surrounding
us there's definitely positive thanks so
much everyone I appreciate those words
so very much from all of us we wish you
your families help
and comfort throughout this time stay
safe
[Music]