We are all Sarah

This week there has been an upswell of support for Sarah Jones, an IATSE member who was killed when a train hit her on a location shoot.  The producers had applied for a permit to shoot on the tracks, that permit had been denied, but the crew went to the location and commenced production anyway.  They assumed that it would work out and tried to do their jobs.

Any rational person who does not work in the business would say "Why would anyone go out on a train track and put themselves at risk? Didn't that Assistant Cameraperson know that they could be hit? That trains are dangerous?" 

That is very true.   But a rational person does not work in the film business. They work in a job that has regular hours, where the pay is reasonable.  Those of us who work in the industry are driven to do it because we love it. There is nothing like the sheer joy of watching a shot successfully pull off the magic.  The tingle when a funny thing happens.  The heart pounding feeling of watching an action scene play down without a flaw, in real time, right in front of you.

We all work trusting that the members of the team who are creating this magic --  the special effects mavens, the directors and producers and location managers and permit pullers and all the other behind the scenes organizers are doing their job and getting their part of the process properly aligned.  

Sarah Jones, and the rest of us, trust that all the others on our team will make it happen, and that it is just up to us to pull our weight and make sure that we get the shot, then stand up and dust ourselves off after "cut" is yelled.

Anyone who questions anything -- like the way things are being shot -- the way things are planned -- the overall scheme of production -- is quickly labelled as being a detriment to the team. A comment about any other part of the production than your little area is "above my pay grade."  And people who ask thos questions are labelled a troublemaker. And troublemakers are not invited back to play again the next day.   

Because of liability issues, most of the time productions come off without deaths.   No one wants  to die to get a shot.  Serious injuries happen, though. Falls. One show I worked on only replaced a faulty, dangerous set of stairs where multiple falls had occurred after a crew member fell for the second time in one day, injuring herself badly enough so that she had to go to the hospital overnight.  And even then she did not complain about the stairs, blaming herself for being clumsy.

Producers only replaced those stairs because they were afraid of being sued.

So Sarah was on the shoot, and from what I hear trains were coming by fast every 15-20 minutes.  She was hit while running, trying to remove equipment from the tracks so it would not be destroyed. I suspect Sarah was trying to make sure that they could set back up after the train passed --  and get the shot.

RIP Sarah, I hope that your death makes people reflect a bit about production, their lives, and not questioning what we are asked to do on the job. 

Phoning it in

Today our call for the show was uncharacteristically early.  I got up well before dark, dressed and went out to the garage to discover our seriously ailing ancient cat was dead.  I found a box and put her in it.  

A somber beginning to the day, my partner is burying her near our grape arbor.

I was to work on time, set up for almost an hour and then noted I had not seen or heard our director on set.

Apparently he did not get the changed call time, and when an inquiry was made he was still commuting from home.  However, via telephone he described how the blocking should be, the second team rehearsed the scene for cameras and audio with an Assistant Director telling them what to do.

The director arrived and we are only slightly behind schedule.

So even in high-stakes Hollywood sometimes people "phone it in."

And last night's moon rise was spectacular.

The ambassador is coming….

All day the walkies on set have been buzzing with talk of the ambassador.

"The ambassador will be here at 4" and the like.

I figured it was a code.  Meaning that someone was coming and they did not want to say who.

On another show, when the drugs for one of the stars has shown up, it is referred to as "Gatorade"  as in "The Gatorade has been delivered."

I did not pay much attention, until the Ambassador arrived.

With his kid, and the Secret Service in tow.

Apparently not only is the Ambassador's kid a fan of our show, so are the Obama kids.

They want to come visit, too.

Wild ride, this Hollywood stuff.

Easy come...

The ebb and flow of freelance bookings continues, with days being booked and released. Because I am the recordist of record on a show, I have to make sure that I can "cover" those days, bringing in someone who will do the job well enough, but not too well since I do not want to be replaced.

I was booked for most of November, December and January on a new show.  On that show they finally reached an agreement with the Director of Photography, who wants a very expensive lighting package.  That in turn had ripples thoughout the production and eventually ended up with the decision not to have someone do what I do, rather to have someone to wrangle files.

So after weeks of agonizing abouit how I was going to cover the days where I was triple booked, this weekend I had to unwind that web of bookings and release people.  I am sad about that, it is very hard for me.

I even convinced one guy to join the union to cover some days for me, I had to tell him they were off as well.  

Heading back to work today, the traffic was horrible.  But it rained last night, and outside it is a beautiful day.  

Triple booked

This month looks busy. One show continues, another is starting, another extended.  So I have been scrambling to replace myself on the production roster. You know, it would seem that there with high unemployment there should be a lot of people who want to work.  But finding someone to "be me" has been very hard.  

The web of acquaintanceship and friendship is strong.  I have been making calls and also some of the other people I work with have been making calls, to the extent that I heard some of the folks I called got calls from other people asking if they could work on my shows.  

Amazing.  

Oh, and R*** is back to work, he seems fine.  I am glad.

Serious as a...

Two weeks ago Monday morning.  Woke with a migrane at 4am.  Got up, took Tylenol and waited for it to subside.  Drifted off to sleep at 5ish.  At 6 I went back to bed only to be awakened by my phone ringing at 6:25.  am.  :/

It had stopped ringing by the time I got there but I could see it was another recordist calling.  No voicemail, so I called her back. She answered.  

"Are you working today?" 

"No."  

"How soon can you get here.  R** had a heart attack and needs someone to cover for him."

"I'm on my way."

So I dressed and was out the door in 15 minutes.  Woke up after about a half hour on the freeway.  

Traffic was light, it only took 90 minutes to get to the job.  Call time had been at 8, so I was only an hour late and the person who called me had already set up the room.

I got it figured out pretty quickly, we were ready when they asked to roll.  No delay to production.

My friend went on to her other job, I began to see people I knew on the set, and for the next three long days I worked 12 hours a day and drove for another three.  (90 minutes each way)

R** had three stents put in, and was back to work in two weeks.

The show must go on....

Day players

Regular jobs you have hours. An employer wants you to be there at a certain time, to do the assigned task, then to go home.

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!