But then there is daily hire work in the industry.
It kind of seems like a job. You get a call, you interview, then you go in for the day and do your task and make the TV "widgets that go to Baltimore." Except that any illusion that you are being hired long term is just that.
Stars get sick, schedules change, networks make script or production team or show cancellation decisions and suddenly all is in flux. Just because you have a job today, does not mean that you are working tomorrow. Cancellation feess are rarely paid.
Unit production managers or line producers have their "team" that they bring from show to show. Staff lists are kept and groups of people work together as a unit on first one show and then the next, sometimes for entire careers spanning decades.
These teams work together as a unit, develop shorthand based on common experiences, and often become as used to each other as athletes, teammates that anticipate each others moves based on long standing patterns.
So when a UPM calls you to take a gig, with multiple days, you say yes. You get on a team. Then another UPM calls and books you for multiple days, and you say yes. But...some of the days overlap.
If you are double booked, you decide which show you want to cover. It is like a guitar player in a rock band not being able to make a gig. The performance must go on, and that guitarist has to come up with someone to take her place.
The gig has to go on, so as a day player you must find a replacement. This is tricky. If the replacement is too much of a rock star then they can end up being a PERMANENT replacement rather than someone to just fill in. But then there is the opposite problerm -- if they are too inept they can hold up production and that reflects badly on you.
The line producers and UPMs expect you to find your replacement for any days you cannot be there. On the other hand, if two productions want you for the same day, there is always chance that one will cancel at the last minute, so if you turn one of the productions down you may be out of work. If you are double booked, there is twice the chance you will actually work.
In discussing this problem with other successful people who work on production, a sound mixer said that he has been booked on as many as four shows for one day, finding replacements for three of the shows so that all of the shows were covered.
Yeow. I am starting to make up a team though, contacting people to cover for me when I am not available. How different it is than working a regular office job.
Love it though, glad to be here!
