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Brad Grimmett

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Everything posted by Brad Grimmett

  1. What kind of work are you trying to get? PA work doesn't require a reel. If you're trying to get DP or operator (since you've listed yourself as an operator) work then they'd want a reel. It's very nearly impossible to get DP or operator work without professional experience. It shouldn't be too hard to get some work as a PA, especially if you're willing to work for free for a couple days.
  2. We had that monitor on a movie I did last year. The AC seemed to like it. I do remember that it was pretty big and heavy though. Just a thought...
  3. We recently tested a handful of monitors to find which was best. It was aimed at steadicam operators, but there are plenty that would be good as onboards. Check out the thread here: The Great Daylight Monitor Shootout
  4. Since when? I've never once heard of any director, first time or not, who wasn't involved in post. As for our director, well, you're in a tough spot. Do you have any allies in this situation? If so, try to use them as a mediator to the more hostile parties. If possible, emphasize that you want the project to be successful for everyone and not just yourself. Try to find some of the ideas they have and agree with them. Let them know that they have some good ideas and that you want the chance to implement and improve on those ideas. It's late and I've worked all day, so these off the cuff thoughts may be worthless, but maybe through small steps you can find a way to get back in and work on the project. I doubt any big moves by you at this point will be thought well taken. And bringing in an attorney too early may spell disaster. One last thought. If this film was produced with government or state money, maybe the governing body of that fund could be of help. Surely they were supportive of you and your vision when they originally gave you the money to make the film, and they may be the last word on who gets to control the final outcome of the film. Test the waters with them and see if that could be a good inroad. Good luck! Keep fighting!
  5. I know this is a tempting idea, but it is theft, and you have a good chance of landing yourself in jail. On the feature I mentioned above, people were grabbing all kinds of things off the truck. The 2nd AC took a Primo zoom and some of the shot footage off the truck. The police were at his hotel room less than an hour after he left set, and he of course had to return the stuff or go to jail. I know it sucks to get cheated and lied to, but try not to make it worse on yourself.
  6. Speaking of Twitter....I'm currently trying to find out how many Twitter followers you can get without ever sending a tweet. So far I have 14 followers, but hopefully that will grow fast. Follow me! I promise you'll never hear from me.
  7. I'm still out $7500 from a UNION movie two summers ago. I'm sure that doesn't make you feel better, but it could be worse.... We all get screwed now and again. Unfortunately, it's become part of the business. Hopefully it will be a learning experience and you'll find a way to not let it happen again. Oh, and when you figure out how to not get screwed, please let me know how you did it.
  8. Oh really? Where is the proof of that? And where is your proof of that? I know! That would be like trusting the government to put out a fire at your house in the middle of the night, or trusting the government to catch criminals! That would just be irresponsible! It would be much better and cheaper to do through the private sector. Right? We're all aware of that, which is why we need to fix healthcare, which will quickly take us from "all but bankrupt" to "completely bankrupt" very quickly. I guess you're into conspiracy theories? Who's conspiracy is this anyway? The US was bankrupted during the last administration, not during this one. As Scott already mentioned, this is already happening. I suspect there will be much less of this if the government does run healthcare. Oh, and it will be much cheaper and much better care for all of us. But yeah, I TOTALLY understand why you hate the idea. Those crazy liberals are always thinking about ways to help everyone....nutty.
  9. No, it IS their responsibility if they've agreed to do that, which they have. No one "demanded" anything. They negotiate the terms of a contract. One of those terms is healthcare. Calling it socialism is just laughable and out of left field.
  10. In your case Annie, it's the "good ol' girls" club.
  11. Agreed. I, and every other member I've met I think, wishes that it wasn't so expensive. I guess for some people that may keep them from joining, but I think that would be a very small amount of people. The film unions really don't narrow the labor pool. Like I said in another post, they really are letting lots and lots of people in and have been for years. Whether that makes them pointless or not, I'm not sure. I never met an operator who was happy about having to sit on the truck while the DP operated, and I certainly never heard anyone "crowing" about it. I'm sure there are exceptions, but most of us love what we do and think we actually bring something to the job and want to actually do it. We disagree with the notion that we're just "the monkey with the camera" which is how we're sometimes treated. Taking away the mandatory operator position was a way to force DP's to operate on certain shows, which in general takes more time and costs more money. I think the general consensus is that that particular move was bad for everyone, producers included.
  12. No, but since you're uninformed you shouldn't claim that certain things are "facts" when they're clearly not. But if YOU think what you wrote above is true, then maybe you should listen to yourself. Why would you be afraid of me? Actually, I get the feeling you're taking it personally, and so you assume I must be too. I assure you, I'm not. In my personal experience, and the experiences of most of the people I know in this business, it's not hard to get in at all. 100 days in three years isn't exactly a lot. Black listed? What a strange comment.
  13. Yeah Phil, it goes back to the comment you made saying that the bigger jerk you are the more respect you get. I agree with that in most cases. Unfortunately, I can't bring myself to be a big enough jerk to really make may career go through the roof.
  14. He's not both right and wrong, he's just right. You're wrong. You're obviously not in a union and know very little about what is actually going on within them. If you did, you would know that the rates have basically stayed the same for a long time, but they continue to take away benefits one by one. The union loses in every contract negotiation. And they're doing the exact opposite of keeping people out of the union. They're bringing in as many new members as they can, as fast as they can, in order to get the initiation money. Really Karl, if you don't know what you're talking about, you shouldn't pretend to be an expert. Where do you get these ridiculous ideas? Like I said above, this is just patently untrue. How can you be a loader and not know that? Don't you talk to other people at work?
  15. I've heard many people say, "If you work for nothing, that's what you're worth" a lot in the past. There are exceptions of course, but that's basically true. Those people who get you to work for free or almost free for them almost never call you when they have a paid gig. They call the person who wouldn't do it for the rate when they were called about the freebie. That's standard operating procedure.
  16. That's the crux of the argument. They don't say it, but their actions make it pretty clear.
  17. You implied that I had said those things in your post. If that was unintentional, then there's no problem. See, you're insinuating that I'm taking this discussion personally, which I'm not. Be careful about the assumptions you make. I don't think this is an argument, more of a discussion, but either way, I agree. But I don't agree that each side must acknowledge that the other person's points are valid. That's just counter-intuitive. I will very happily acknowledge that you have your own opinion, and are entitled to it, but not that the argument itself has any validity, because I don't believe it does...at least not the whole argument. I'm not sure what being an independent has to do with it....I'm not a member of either party either, nor would I be. I'm tired of people ignoring the fact that it IS a battle by the rich against the poor a lot of the time in this country. Of course it's complicated, but some things are very simple and easy to see. Even if the job itself takes no skill, the challenge of actually showing up and doing that (most likely horrible) job every day is a skill in itself. I can't argue about the pay rates, because I don't know enough about it, but I do think people should make a fair wage for the work they do. Most people's degrees mean absolutely nothing when it relates to their job, especially when we're talking about "white collar" workers. Many of these people are more clueless than the "un-skilled" worker that sweats all day. No one in the film business cares one bit about what kind of degree you have. They care if you can actually do your job and be a positive influence on the job. Hand some genius with 5 degrees a C-stand and he would probably hurt himself. Put him on a drill press and he would probably kill himself. Give the grip or drill press operator some papers to push around and a phone and I think he could get along, regardless of what degree he may or may not have. Some people, myself included, still think having an actual tangible skill is a good thing. If the nuclear holocaust happened tomorrow, you wouldn't see many middle managers or salesman surviving for very long. The mechanics, grips and drill press operators would be in charge.
  18. I think there are quite a few people who would disagree with you about this. And there are plenty of examples that support that feeling. I read that article, which also noted that it's the first time in twenty years this has happened. You keep writing "greed" with the quotes around it, as if I had ever used the word in any of my posts in this thread. I haven't. I also wrote "the man" when quoting YOU, yet you act as if I used the term first. Please don't quote me incorrectly.
  19. My comments were very obviously an exaggeration. Not a big exaggeration though. To these people, "it's just business, it's not personal". A company cannot grow it's profits quarter after quarter and year after year in perpetuity, it's impossible, but they're expected to by their investors. So they cut costs as much as they can get away with as often as possible. And the first to get those cuts are the staff. The bosses sure as hell aren't gonna take a pay cut! This happens every single day of the year. It's not exactly a secret. You like to read my statements and take what you want from them, but when you're questioned the person doing the questioning "would most likely be in error". I guess you just want to make comments and never have anyone disagree.
  20. Was there any reason given for why they shot both simultaneously? Seems like a huge waste to me.
  21. You politicized this first, and then people responded. Playing coy doesn't hide that fact. You're wrong yet again about the days getting longer since the inception of overtime for film workers. Do a very quick and simple google search and you'll see how wrong you are. To this day people in all different types of businesses are having to come together and sue or organize in order to be treated like human beings. This is no different than it was 100 years ago. "The Man", as you put it, DOES want his cake and he wants to eat it too. He wants to pay every employee he has $0 a year, have them work 168 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. And they sure as hell better be the best in the business! If you think that's not true, then you live on a different planet than the rest of us.
  22. Apparently Panavision Woodland Hills and Panavision Hollywood will both be located together in Burbank soon. Imagine moving all the stuff in a building this size... Panavision How many goodies will be left behind?
  23. Thanks for the tips guys. I think she just ended up using a monitor.
  24. This just isn't true. There are plenty of union members not working every day, and this is especially true for this past year. I've fallen asleep while driving home quite a few times after really long days that followed other really long days that followed other really long days.... People do die because of these hours that we do. Unfortunately, it is a fact of this business. Hopefully someday soon that will change....
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