Handling Stress, Staying Creative During COVID

The SAG-AFTRA President’s Task Force on Education, Outreach & Engagement featured a discussion on creativity with its livestream Convos with a Creator Coach: Staying Inspired During Unprecedented Times​ on Oct. 20. Featured guests included creator coach Josh Zimmerman and industry executive Phil Ranta, who currently works as chief operations officer for software company Wormhole Labs.

While other PTEOE presentations have examined ways to generate content and connect with audiences, this webinar focused on ways to overcome stress when it affects your creativity. Zimmerman noted that although creatives commonly experience pressure in their work, many have felt a greater sense of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With everything being so uncertain, what we’ve seen is a lack of structure, [and] it has put us in a sort of freefall,” said Zimmerman. “There are a lot of things right now that are scary that we don’t have control over.” 

Topics discussed included the effects of short- and long-term stress on creativity, burnout and ways performers can better their mental health and resiliency. 

“I tend to ask [performers], ‘How can social media be useful to you?’” said Ranta. “If you are an actor, dancer, singer or any type of performer, [social media] is an outlet for you to show another side of yourself.

“If you’re in the creative mindset and having fun, that’s a great way to hold on to inspiration.”

To watch the full presentation, scroll below. For other PTEOE webinars about content creation, visit the SAG-AFTRA YouTube channel. 

The views expressed by the guests are their own and not that of SAG-AFTRA. Any mention of products or services does not imply SAG-AFTRA’s endorsement.