Holiday Lull and Reality Gripes

Well Well... Time sure goes by fast, I keep thinking about this blog, but realize that I haven't written anything in about a month... how am I ever going to get anyone to comment like that??

The problem is when I'm juggling my 12-14 hour days with a high maintenance woman and a social life, there doesn't seem to be much time left for creativity and expression.

This year, I was afraid of going broke because it took me a bit to get over the "holiday lull". In the production business, work slows down rapidly in December and doesn't pick up until at least mid January. If you aren't playing your cards economically, it could spell real trouble! The reason for this lull is that it's not worth it for a production company to start pre-production in December only to have to pay the crew double for shooting during the holidays. Not only that but it's usually cold and dreary weather which makes outdoor shooting unpredictable. Adding to the mess this year was the writer's strike... It was blamed for having caused a larger lull than usual.

So I hadn't worked in over a month, I went to London for a weekend, and Florida for Xmas. If you guys know London with it's 8 dollar subway rides, 20 dollar sandwiches, and 600 dollar a night hotels, you might guess that my bank account wasn't feeling too good. I did what I felt needed to be done, I put myself out there, re-wrote my resume, and contacted everyone I could to find work. Eventually I landed a sweet commercial gig doing the Diane Von Furstenberg's American Express commercial. It was a beautiful three day shoot in the winter wonderland she calls her farm. It's a 300 acre piece of property she bought when she was 26. This gave me a renewed taste for the commercial world, something I strongly believe I must pursue. More on this in another post.

But then, I got bit by the reality bug. I got hired on a show (which I am not legally allowed to name - they made me sign a contract that I could be sued for one million ($1,000,000) dollars) that featured a person trying to make it in the fashion world, meeting with all the top designers, and getting mixed up in the over all chaos of New York City's fashion week. The real problem with these types of shows is the sheer lack of organization. We never knew what we would do next, when we would EAT next (Food is a supremely important part of production), and when we could go home. We had a team of Californian Producers that thought it would be OK to take on the title of Production Coordinator and Assistant Director. In fact I don't even know why they hired a Director because they were watching and listening to the shoot wirelessly while calling all the shots to the Director into the walkie. He would in turn tell the Camera Ops.
It was ridiculous. I will say this once and probably many times more - Californian crews do not understand the way New York City productions work. Again - more on the Cali - NY rift later.

After this fiasco was over, I got onto another month long reality shoot which was one of the worst production experience I've ever had. We would put in our regular 12 hour days, watch the entire crew get wrapped, and then have to sit there for 2 hours waiting for the Assistant Director to figure out the next day's schedule and give us our call times. It did not foster morale at all. It resulted in us getting home so late, there wouldn't even be 8 hours between the time we entered our door and the time we had to get up for the next day's shoot. That meant no sleep, low morale, and a diminished work ethic.
Productions are like buildings, and PAs are the foundation. If the foundation is weak, the rest crumbles. It was a 6 day a week, 12-15 hour days, for a month straight. I know I'm paying my dues, but damn that was hard to take.

I got another pitiful offer for a reality gig and went on an interview for yet another one where they promised 18 hour days, low pay, and what they described as "grueling, but a good learning experience". This time I resisted and decided to get my ducks in a row and geting back into the commercial world. Although I haven't yet succeeded, I have just finished working on a documentary and starting work on another one. It is not often in my career that I get to work on something in which I truly respect the content, but this is one of those times. They pay decently, are very upfront and honest about the hours, and have respect for my professionalism. What more could I ask???