William A Chapman Jr

Good Morning Cinematographers!

 

I revised David Elkins Job Information sheet; you can find his at cameraassistantmanuals.com, they are very very useful.

 

I have found that the Job Information Sheet is a great utility to have on my desk, so when someone calls about work, I can fill out the appropriate information right away, organize it, and also remember to ask questions that might be glanced over.

 

I find that if you fill out this sheet, and then send it to your AC's or anyone else that you would be hiring, it saves time, and is very clear about what is to be expected of everyone...etc. The less explaining you have to do on set is always better.

 

This is revision 1, so please let me know if any changes you think I should make. I made this form to support my needs and to improve on Elkins' original.

 

As always, I am trying to give back to the community, so I appreciate any kind of feedback.

 

Jamie Metzger

Thanks, that should be a big help.

You can't leave out Ansel Adams

Thank you to all that responded, That clears things up.

This is probaly on odd question but I thought I would ask here. How dose movie theaters work? Dose the studio get a percentage of the box office sales or do they rent/lease the film for a certain rate. I would guess it goes by ticket sales.

I liked it, It was more campy then "Book Of Secrets" but still very good. Donald Sutherland was great. the underwater stuff was really good as well. I dout this is a movie that AC or ICG will cover.

Well, I went to see "Fools Gold" Last weekend. I thought is was a fun movie in a "campy" way. I noticed the critics pretty much hated it, which is why I wanted to see it. Has any one else seen it yet?

Check out http://www.handango.com they have a lot of usefull programs

To give you an example let's go back to the 1930's Wizard of Oz movie where we had this phony tin man which was nothing more than an actor in a costume. Technological advancement was not an excuse because by that time a steam powered robot had already been invented that had a torso made out of a boiler and and its smoke stack was a cigar sticking out of its mouth. This steam powered tin man was capable of bipedal locomotion but it was incapable of balance and had to be propped up and it could only walk in circles. The complexity of this machine was no more complex than what you would find in a lego mindstorms robotic invention system yet their was no effort on the part of the film makers to build such a machine in order to make their movie more realistic.

 

Not all movies are this phony however. In the 1970's we had a movie called Damnation Alley that had a vehicle with three wheels on each side of an axle configured in a triangular arrangement so that these wheels could climb over rocks. This so called prop featured real patented technology and had a real custom made working drivetrain that actually worked.

Next you'll complain about C3P0 and how Star Wars was phony...Stop destroying my childhood...lol

Dose anyone know if any of the industry magazines covered "The Dukes Of Hazzard" series from the late 70's/ early 80's. I looked though the AC and ICG back issues and didn't see anything. Thanks in advance.

W

:( Well right now I'm stranded. The worst flooding in over 50 years. The freeway is under water, Stores are flooded, houses are washed away, 100,000+ homes are with out power and heat, People are dieing! What a horrific day for Washington!!

for those interested here a link http://www.komotv.com/#

:( Well right now I'm stranded. The worst flooding in over 50 years. The freeway is under water, Stores are flooded, houses are washed away, 100,000+ homes are with out power and heat, People are dieing! What a horrific day for Washington!!

Interesting, I've emailed them a couple times about my ASC subscriber access on the website, as I haven't been able to register on the site for some reason. And I still haven't received a response after a few months of trying.

 

Could you Personal Message me his email address?

I just sent it to your PM.

I just wanted to let people know what happened this past week. I went to the ASC website to order some of the $1 back issues and when I tried to add the May 2001 issue that they had listed for $1 it came up with an error message. I contacted them to let them know about the error and A man by the name of Saul sent me an Email telling me that that issue was out of stock, But to my surprise he sent the issue anyway for free! I am amazed at the service that the ASC provides, you don't see that with many companies any more. The ASC is truly a one of a kind! I will support the ASC 100% when ever I can.

oh, and I realize I posted this in the wrong section. Sorry about that.

I did a qiuck look at my AC issues and At theasc.com website and didn't find anything, but I didn't check ICG yet.

So, I've been looking at colleges (mostly art schools) with good film programs. Full Sail is supposed to have a really good program. What I can't figure out, though, is if it is an acutal 4 year school or not (like LA Film School isn't a 4 year school). Does anyone know if it is or not?

Did you check their web site? http://www.fullsail.com/flash/index.cfm?degree=film

On the other hand, if the movie makes a huge profit, the residual never goes into overdrive does it? It stays at the same percentage no matter what. Do you see how that works, if the percentage stays the same, than the money losing films are offset by the films that make a lot of money, and in the end it's all the same. Many times the productions that lose money lose money because they are reserve options just in case the blockbuster fails. So it becomes easy to designate a movie as a money loser simply because it did it's job, which was to be available as a back up option for a failed block buster.

 

I gotta say your response to the posted letter was rather snarky and trivialized the life experience of someone who has probably created a lot of work for other unions, your brothers and sisters. To sort of focus your response to one aspect of the letter while ignoring the fact that the letter was based on a 20 year career is not very respectful, in my opinion. You read a letter from someone who has led an existence devoid of earned perks because they were denied "simple, logical" money due. You attempt to trivialize that 20 year rite of passage with a smart alecky two sentence answer.

 

Get a clue, that letter was from the elite of the creative animation business who was being denied a 48,000 dollar a year residual on a show that will get aired 400 times a year all over the world, and that seems rather ridiculous. It wouldn't surprise me if all the the money that has been "saved" by denying deserving creatives their small annual residual did little more than keep a couple of attorneys employed. Perhaps every year those attorney's primary responsibility was to create enough "savings" to retain their own mercenary jobs. I kind of wish those few attorneys who have siphoned the money that should have gone to the creatives would just die, or be exposed.

 

I wonder if an illegal quid pro quo case could be made here. The studios employ a few extra attorneys who justify their job by stealing perks from the creative side, and in turn those attorneys and their law firms are then available to the studios for other cases, perhaps even personal issues such as divorce cases for the studio elite. I would examine the very studio attorney's who siphon their living from the creative side and see how their law firms get rewarded by the studios. It looks to me like an insiduous, unethical relationship that should be busted open before they bust the unions.

 

You can't just divert deserving money from the creatives by hiring extra attorneys who in turn reward the studios with additional legal perks. That is worthy of investigation and disbarrment.

I was not making A direct comment about the open letter but to the situation, I'm not against the union. I just think it should be decided on a per-job basis not a blanket "this is how it has to be" and I'm not saying it has to be a either / or situation with pay up front or percentage of profits, but if they want a bigger percentage then I think they should get less upfront. Maybe I did not explain it the best, for that I'm sorry, I did not mean to offend anyone.

With that said I hope both parties find a quick resolution, If its prolonged nobody will win.

As a co-author of a textbook ("Cinematography", Third Edition) I can tell you that I wasn't paid anything for writing it, I only get a share of the royalties. Getting royalties taken from the profit earned by your creative ideas/work is not unheard of in the world of writing (or songwriting). It ensures that if your creative idea generates an unexpectedly huge amount of revenue, you will be benefit from the success, not be cut-out.

Thank you David, Thats basicly the point I was making, you were not paid up front (the risk) and get royaties from the profits (reward) As far as I know screen-script writers are getting paid up front for their services (no risk) and want more royaties then they are already getting. If they want bigger royaties then they should assume more of the risk and not get paid up front, and then get royaties "if" it turns a profit.

The screenplay was bought on its own merits. if someone else's fingerprints make the movie awful (like a guy in a suit with an MBA from Yale), then the writer shouldn't have to pay back money.

 

By your logic, the guy who designs cars for GM (and the workers) should give back all profits as they just suffered billions in losses. Does that make sense?

 

and lest we forget, no one in Hollywood wants net profits b/c studios show most movies as having lost money. that sinks the whole idea right there.

The writers were paid for their service when they wrote the script, screen play ect. Plus they already get royalities, What financial risk do they take in the DVD release, none. The Sudios and Distributors do. If they want more money from dvd sales then they should have to come up with some of the cost to produce the dvds. Equal risk for equal reward. That sounds fair.

What they could do is not pay out anything unless the movie makes a profit then give every one a percentage, if the movie tanks then every one shares in the loss as well.

reposted from thewritersbuilding, re: the WGA viewpoint

 

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Some of us have been screwed for a while now, and not in the pleasant sense. The below is an email post from Micah Wright, posted on the WriterAction (WGA-only board). I requested and have his written permission to spread it like the plague. ~ Tina

 

(FYI, to set the scene, the tone of Micah?s intro is in response to another WA poster unhappy with our leadership).

 

Well this is ONE angry Horad that?s confused about your stance. The AMPTP clearly never intends to pay us one single cent for internet delivery. The music business model clearly indicates that internet delivery for most, if not all content is the future. What then were we supposed to do when faced with rollbacks and refusals to bargain in good faith? Pray? Or just swallow the bullshit they were trying to shove down our throats, and forget about not only what we?re making, but also what every person who ever follows us into this union will ever make?

 

People like you keep bitching about the DVD negotiating point, and yeah, you?re right: DVD was lost 20 years ago, but there?s no magic rule which says we can?t reopen that topic. More importantly, though, DVD didn?t take off for almost a decade after the ?88 strike? the Internet is here NOW, and it?s here FOREVER, and if we give in and allow them to pay us ZERO on Internet delivery, we can just kiss the idea of ever getting paid residuals goodbye forever.

 

It?s not self-righteousness which is driving this negotiation? it?s quite simply the greed of the AMPTP, which clearly sees this as the year in which they intend to break the WGA on the rack once and for all. But you don?t see that? you seem unable to get it through your head that the AMPTP doesn?t want to ever pay us anything. If you think these people are so reasonable and that they deal in good faith, then try talking to writers who work in Animation and Reality? THAT is the future that the AMPTP has in store for EVERY WRITER IN THE WGA. Because if they don?t have to pay residuals to the woman who wrote The Lion King, then why should they ever have to pay one to YOU? Or anyone else?

 

Oh, and before you give me some fu**ing sob story about the disastrous strike of 1988, let me bring you up to date with a more RECENT story: mine.

 

I came to this guild having had a ?successful? career writing Animation for $1400/week for five years. During that time, I wrote on several of Nickelodeon?s highest-rated shows. My writing partner wrote and directed 1/4 of the episodes of ?SpongeBob SquarePants? and I was responsible for 1/5 of the episodes of ?The Angry Beavers.? The current value that those shows have generated for Viacom? $12 Billion dollars. My writing partner topped out at $2100/week. In the year 2001, tired of not receiving residuals for my endlessly- repeating work (even though the actors and composers for my episodes do), I joined with 28 other writers and we signed our WGA cards.

 

So, Nickelodeon quickly filed suit against our petition for an election, and set about trying to ferret out who the ?ringleaders? were. In the meantime, they canceled the show that I had created 4 episodes into an order of 26. Then they fired the 3 writers who?d been working on my show. Then they fired 20 more of my fellow writers and shut down three more shows, kicking almost their entire primetime lineup for 2002 to the curb, and laying off 250 artists.

 

Then, once the WGA?s petition for election was tied up in court over our illegal firings, Nickelodeon called in the IATSE Local 839 ?Cartoonists Guild? ? a racket union which exists only the screw the WGA and its own members ? and they signed a deal which forever locks the WGA out of Nickelodeon, even though we were there first. Neato!

 

Then Nickelodeon?s brass decided ?out of thin fu**ing air? that myself and two other writers had been ?the ringleaders? of this organizing effort, so they called around to Warner Bros. Animation, the Cartoon Network, Disney Animation, and Fox Kids, effectively blacklisting the three of us out of animation permanently.

 

And why did Nickelodeon do this? Why were they so eager to decimate their own 2002 schedule, fire 24 writers, break multiple federal labor laws, sign a union deal, and to even bring back the fu**ing blacklist? They did all of that to prevent us from getting the same whopping $5 residual that the actors & composers of our shows get.

 

For five lousy fu**ing bucks, they destroyed three people?s careers and put 250 artists out of work and fu**ed up their own channel for a year.

 

Ahh, but my episodes run about 400 times a year worldwide, though, so obviously Sumner Redstone (Salary in 2001: $65 million dollars) and Tom Freston (2001 salary: $55 million) were right to do what they did? myself and those other 23 writers might have broken the bank, what with each of us going to cost them another TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS each! OH NO! That? that?s? FORTY EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS!

 

A YEAR!

 

So don?t come crying to those of us who have EXPERIENCED what the AMPTP plans for all of the rest of you, that people who are deciding to stand up to bully-boy tactics like that are the crazy bunch of ?horads? lustily marching ?throught? the streets searching for blood. The AMPTP are the barbarians sacking Rome in this scenario.

 

The AMPTP and their glittering-eyed weasel lawyers are a bunch of lying, blacklisting, law-breaking scumbags, and the fact that they haven?t budged off of ANY of their proposals in the last three months proves that what they have in store for EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU is exactly what they did to us at Nickelodeon, and what they can do any day of the week in daytime animation. Or reality.

 

Strike or no strike. That?s their plan: to winnow down your membership, to snip away at your MBA, to chew away at your health & pension plans until there?s just nothing left of the WGA. Why? Because they?ve had a good strong drink of how much money they make off of animation when they don?t have to cut the creators in for any of the cash, and now they want to extend that free ride to all of live action as well. THAT is why they have pushed for this strike at every step, with their insulting press releases, with their refusals to negotiate, etc. ? because they?re HOPING we go on strike, and that enough cowards and Quislings come crawling out of the woodwork after six weeks that they can force us to accept the same deal that Reality TV show writers have.

 

If you doubt me, go read their contract proposals again? there?s not ONE of them which isn?t an insult and a deal-breaking non-starter.

 

So can we PLEASE stop hearing about how it?s the current WGA management which is the fu**ing problem here? Because, frankly, that canard is getting a little stale.

 

Or perhaps you prefer presidents like the President of the Guild back in 2001 who just threw up her hands when we were fired and blacklisted out of our careers and said, and I quote, ?oh well, it was a good try??

I'm not tring to start a fight, but what if the dvd release or a movie ect fails and loses money? Is the WGA or SAG ect going to give money back.? I dout it. The writers get paid regardless if the production makes a profit, if it dosen't studios take the loss. The productions that make it big covers the ones that don't.

I need a "military" humvee for a film, not a H3 or civilian model. I live in Seattle, can I rent them from a nearby army or air force base?

Check with Ft Lewis, the old commander used to allow it but he's over seas now. I don't know if the new commander still allows it or not.

Heres the website http://www.lewis.army.mil/index.asp

Not to mention that Netflix downloads don't support anything except windows. :angry:

That will probaly change with time as well

I used to rent from Hollywood Video, except from the new releases they don't get anything new. I still rent from them when I get the free coupon in the mail, otherwise I just use netflix. I live so close to the warehouse I get them the next day.

From what I understand the film and tv writers go on strike at midnight Sunday, dose anyone know if this is true?

It was Filemaker I think, but it's been awhile, I haven't opened up the file in a long time, I just flip though my print-out. It's alphabetical by title of movie or subject, and the DP is the next column.

Thanks again David you have been a big help, Have a great Weekend!!