Michele Peterson

Backstage equipment sell carts as well. Their magliners are usually the same price as filmtools. Magliner's are VERY popular. That one is the same style as magliner's brand. I found a magliner used for $100, being sold by a plumber. Since it was form a different industry it did not have the immediate mark-up that anything film related usually does. I then bough the nose extension and shelf to add on

It would help if you told us how your contract was worded. Does it say you are financially responsible for loss and damage? Does it was you are responsible in whole or in part? Someone from the production should have signed a form at the rental house that they are responsible for loss and damage. If you can get a copy of that form, that may aide you if you have to prove that production knew they were financially responsible. Hopefully, you did not sign your name to anything at the rental house if you did the pick-up. Never sign anything like that, even if you think you are a "representative of the company", independent contractors are not representatives legally. Always have forms faxed over to production to sign and have production put the credit card down. Never spot or cover them. If production rented the gear in their company's name, it will help you legally, because it shows they controlled the equipment, you were just the employee and it is the employer's responsibility to train employees properly on equipment. If you were contracted as an Independent contractor, this will not be as clear, however if you have to go to court, your IC status probably won't hold up. Film crews rarely meet the qualifications of an IC. I've won that fight in court before. Call the state labor board first and find out if this is legal. I serious doubt it is. It's like trying to with hold wages of an employee you thought did not do a good enough job, the law still requires you to pay them for the time they put in before being fired. Then seriously consider consulting an attorney. Some attorney's will give you a consult for free to tell you if you have a case or not.

I second this. The original poster came off as arrogant by repeatedly arguing why he has to to do anything for his crew who will be working hard, doing manual labor for HIS project. If you really don't have a penny to your name, then save some money up first or find some friends who owe you a favor, like someone you helped move or helped on their project. After all, lets be realistic, deferred payment never really pans out for crew and how important is this experience going to be on their resume? Is this really going to get someone else their next paying job by being on their resume? I highly doubt it. Your first, no budget project is not likely to win at sundance (they charge a fee too) or get an amazing distribution deal and make money. PA's, Grips, AC's, etc don't have reels, so that doesn't work either. Show the crew who is there to help you some respect by getting them some decent food. Otherwise, don't be surprised when they walk off in the middle of the shoot because they get hungry, you're leaving them no other choice but to leave and get their own food.

I second the military surplus stores. It's easy to find one no matter where in the country you live and they have many pouches and belts to choose from. They are also very cheap. I've gotten new pouches for as little as $5, so they are great when first starting out, especially if you haven't yet had a chance to figure out what exactly you'll like and use most. I use their canteen pouch for my canned air and also my water bottle.

If the dolly grip is not the most experienced, make sure they mark the front tires not the back. Otherwise they'll be swearing they hit their mark and the back wheel will be on the mark, but the front wheel, where your lens is, could be pivoted from that back mark to the left or right. Even with a good dolly grip, you've got to communicate with each other. Make sure to work out between the DP/Op you and the dolly grip how you want to handle the free roaming. Should the dolly grip follow the actors or stick to his dolly marks when the actor's don't hit their marks? Does he stay at a fixed distance from the actor at all times, no matter where the actor goes? If you don't know if the dolly grip will be compensating for an actor missing marks, you won't know how much to compensate for yourself. You can get the dolly grip to work with you to make your job easier much more than you can an actor. If you need a dolly grip, let me know.

It can be scare how people become so passive and wait for other to take care of a problem. I worked on a set where a bates connector overheated and burst into flames. Other people saw it first, and yelled out fire, but did nothing to put it out. Only 2 people on the set of several dozens nearby did anything; the 1st AD and myself. He was across the warehouse, so I got to the extinguisher first. It's better to have a hundred people on set bug you about the gas smell than for no one to say anything because they think no one else is mentioning it. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

I have found that the "sign" to look for is that they are willing to take advantage of you in the first place and have you work without fair compensation. Although a few seem to have had luck with getting good work out of doing favors, but I never had. I learned quickly that once they know you'll work for little pay, they'll never pay you more. I don't work for free or next to nothing unless it's a friend I would do any other favor for, or I get something I want/need out of it, like specific experience I want on some new piece of gear I don't want to have to pay to rent myself.

I just bought a magliner jr cart. Right now it is stock, so no shelves or nose extensions etc. I'm planning on using it mostly for corporate video shoots right now, so I don't need a mitchell plate at this point. I am looking for any suggestions anyone has about modifications they have done to theirs that are beneficial. My main issue that I have with equipment is carrying C-stands. I usually have about 4-6 c-stands on a shoot, so I don't need a whole c-stand cart, and have used magliners in the past with shelves, but the c-stands never fit very well. I've considered the c-stand holder that is sold at filmtools, but that is pretty expensive for only holding 4. Has anyone else come up with a solution for this? Thanks in advance.

It's hard to have to step back when doing B camera and let A cam take the best shot & or angle. I remember a show I used to do where I shot B camera on a 2 camera shoot. I regularly found myself immediately spoting a great angle to shoot from, but the DP saw it too and since he was A cam, he got it. Always keep your ego in check, and don't argue when you get kicked out of the best spot to get the shot. It's going ot happen a lot. It's an up hill battle sometimes because some producers don't want to spend time lighting for the second camera, but then expect it to look just as good as A cam. I always found it best in that situations to get a similar angle, but frame the shot wider or tighter than A cam (when A was a static shot), but sometimes was forced (by the producer) to shoot at a different angle, like profile, even though it made an inferior shot that ended up never being used.

First off, Never give gear for free. Yo are paying to work. The money you spent in gear, you are giving away to someone else. Not only do they get free labor, but free gear, come on now, don't set the stardard too low, or you'll only ruin the industry for yourself int he future. If you have gear, go make your own stuff. Do no undercut professional who you are going to want to hire you next month. I realize that many people are desperate to do any work, even free work in film and all of us have done it once, but I'll warn you that I have never gotten a well paid job from someone I worked for free with. There are producers out there that are decent human beings and will pay you for your manual labor hauling stuff around while you learn the rest and then there are those that take advantage of you and want you to do it for free. Those cheap producers will never want to pay you down the road once they get it for free. They tend to not see that YOU did them a favor by working cheap on their little spec project and that THEY owe you back on the next bigger budget, instead, my experience is that they question why your rate went up.

I've had LASIK 5 years ago and would do it again in a heart beat! I love not being tied to glasses and contacts anymore. The only side effect I have is dry eyes and I use eye drops to solve that. To me that is no big deal because I regularly used eye drops when I wore contacts before anyway. I found a very good Dr that had been doing laser eye surgery for 15 years at the time of my procedure. I didn't even know it had been around for that long (20 years now)! I felt very confident because my regular optometrist had his eyes done by him. He was more expensive than most, but I was shopping for the best Dr not the best price. It's several thousand dollars upfront, but has completely paid for itself in the years since by saving me money on no longer paying for Dr visits for new prescriptions, getting new glasses every year, new contacts and buying contact solution.

The clapper is just another name for the 2nd AC, just as the focus puller is another name for the 1st AC.

There are a few companies that broker short term insurance. If you are coming to the US, try LA411, even if you aren't going to be in LA, you can get insurance from companies in LA. Just be very careful about people who try to sell you their insurance and call it a co-production. If it is not legally a co-production, the backing insurance company can use that to get out of paying any claims. You can always contact the backing insurance company to find out if it is in fact valid.

Unless I am wrong, the initiation fee for 600 is different for depending upon which position you are. A DP's is higher because a DP makes substantially more than an AC. The fee is designer to increase regularly, just like the wages are designed to increase 3%. It is supposed to be a portion of your income and that portion is based off of the person having been working in the capacity they are applying for on union features to get their 30 days. There is a psychological aspect to why initiations into a group is beneficial to the group structure. There is a term for it that I learned when taking psy courses in college, but I don't remember it. Basically the idea is if you have to invest something of yourself into a group before joining you are more likely to value that group. Either you value the group enough to begin with to go through it. Or in the opposite, if it wasn't worth it to begin with but you go through it, you have to justify it in your mind, so you convince yourself the group is worth it, thus making you value the group more after the fact. I'm not trying to say that makes anything right, but that explains a lot in my opinion. Insurance in dependent upon hours worked because the production company that employs a union crew member pays into motion picture tv fund per hour. If you don't work, they don't contribute. It's not the union paying for healthcare, it's still the employer. The union just makes it possible to combine all the employers that one freelancer works for together. The union also fights to get and keep healthcare in the first place.

I've heard a lot of random urban legends from non-union people who have gotten the wrong idea that union people are out get non-union people. I even worked with a producer of a very small non-union cable show when I first started and was very niave, who was convinced that the unions would hunt her down, stop the show and put us all out of work. The show's budget for a whole season was $50k. From the union business agents I have met since then, I have learned that they wouldn't even waste much time going after a show like that because the crew didn't want to turn, the producers didn't want to turn, there was not enough money to turn. Yet, she helped propelled these misconceptions to us newbies working on the show (and a show with that budget only had newbies) that we all had to be afraid of the unions. I have no idea whom she learned that from. Some people who don't understand it are afraid or maybe even jealous of it.

Unless you have the means/connections to be hired for a union job, then you will be wasting the money. It's like buying gear in the hopes of it getting you a job instead of waiting until you have a job that will pay for that gear. Once you have the union opportunities, you can join then. Even if you end up paying more in initiation fees, I think it is better to pay the full price when you have the union job that will earn your money back than to buy into it now just because it is 50% and end up wasting that 50% + quarterly dues with no return at all.

A rolling bag is a popular option for when you have to carry your tools a long way, like from parking to set. You'll probably have more options and can even get something at your local hardware store.

The freedom to assemble allows people to protest (peacefully) if they desire to. Protesting is not the same as extorting or intimidating. No one here has shown proof of extortion or intimidation or disruption of the production in question. From what has been said, they are continuing to shoot. They are protesting to show their disagreement and make their opinion obvious to others. There is a reason the union members protesting have NOT been arrested.

An Employer, or producer in the case of LLP, does have the legal freedom to not pay higher wages, but the employees also have the right to boycott and protest what they find unacceptable. Free speech and the right to protest. The producer can try to keep all the profit to himself, and the employees can try to get more wages (by banding together in a union), it leads to negotiations between the two so they can each can get some of what they want.

LOL, There are always the guys that forget to lift carefully at the end of a long day when loading the truck up or the ones that try to do everything with brute strength. Extra leverage and using extra available manpower (meaning the guy in the corner not doing anything) can make the work load a lot easier. Simple things like bringing the work up to you, not you bending down to it, make a big difference.

Amen!

Yes, you have to be paid for the non-union days to count. Last I heard it was a min of $50 a day. Since I'm not in 600 as stills, I can't say what the initiation fee is, but usually it is a few thousand, then quarterly dues are usually a couple hundred, but again I don't know 600 specifically. The initiation fee sounds high, but if you have been working your 30 union days or 100 non-union, you shouldn't have a problem saving up the money, since you've been working and getting paid. Many locals will allow you to pay that over one year. Health benefits are something you have to qualify with a minimum amount of hours worked on union projects. Just getting in doesn't qualify you. In IATSE you have to qualify for each craft. AD's are DGA and totally seperate, but even in IA, you can't switch crafts. I am in Local 80 as a grip, but I cannot works as as an AC and call myself union, until I get my days in that role and then join 600. As far as moving up the ladder from say 2nd AC to 1st AC within 600, I am not sure. For Local 80, I am a company grip, but I can work as a dolly grip without having to re-qualify with 30 days as a dolly grip. They are all considers grip duties, but pay rates are different. I could be wrong, but I believe 600 is more divided between positions though.

They now even post ads that don't say anything about that in the ad, but once I applied to what seemed like a real ad, they flat out ask if I'm on procrewbook. No real producer would care about that. They are trying to trick people into thinking that producers really care if they are on there to convince niave people to pay for their service.

If you are going to work for free, be careful who you work for. Freebies often don't lead to well paying jobs. Sometimes they do, but often producers who have no money this time, often don't the next either. Here's my experiences with different types of people to work for free: Working with students (other than on your own school projects) may be less intimidating, but will they really know much more than you or be in a better position than you are next month to hire you for a paid job? The pros are that you get hands-on time with gear you don't have to pay. The small companies that hire unpaid PA's or any other job unpaid are often exploitive. They don't have a lot of money, and likely won't any time soon or worse do have money and just take advantage of you. Once they know you are willing to work for free, don't expect much more to ever come from it. Those jobs are good for short-term and just to move up to a new position. They can't afford to hire a veteran, so you can get your first credit in the job you want. Often they will give you a higher credit to appease you and get you to take less money. I've never had a freebie from a small company turn into anything more than $50/day. Large companies hire interns all the time. They require school credit if they are worth their salt because otherwise it is illegal. You don't get to do a whole lot (like touch equipment), but that is because they have the money to actually pay to fill all the roles. They are the ones that will actually have a fulled paid PA job for you to move up to if timing is right and you are there when a position opens up. I had an opportunity when I interned at a major talk show to move up to a full-time PA job from a connection there, but silly me thought I need to stay in school because that's what my family expected. Hind sight is always 20-20.

Those are really just rolling spreaders, not a true dolly in the traditional sense. They will not absorb any bumbs you go over, so unless you are on a blemish-free studio floor, it will not be smooth. Think of how rolling stands go over ground. Rolling makes it easier to get around, but can be very bumby, jerky. If you really want a smooth shot and are shooting on uneven or bumby ground you need to have dolly track. You can rent a doorway dolly and a few sections of track for less than $100/day, or less if you rent for a week. You can then put your tripod directly on the dolly (sideboards and sandbags ought to be used).