"Canned" as in "Fired", not "Canned" as in "Film Stock"

[K Borowski]

I've found lies in NJ too. . and I feel that the dolphins out in the Atlantic lie about not being intelligent too. . . :ph34r:

 

fu**, your motto is a lie! "Garden State" my ass. It's as much a garden state as the site they beamed down to on Seti Alpha Six err Five was a "garden spot". Suburb state though, sure thing. :P

 

And, yeah, I know you're from Philly, but you all sound the same and act alike. One big conglomerated suburb for NYC. . .

Edited September 15, 2008 by Karl Borowski

[Saul Rodgar]

Maybe it's me and how I was raised, but on the east coast; when things are fu**ed, we tell you. On the west coast; people lie.

 

Of all the Hollywood features I have worked on, the above is true. They always want the "yes men" who never complain and keep their traps shut no matter how bad things are, including the people from NY -who may just be playing ball to keep their jobs.

[Brian Dzyak]

Of all the Hollywood features I have worked on, the above is true. They always want the "yes men" who never complain and keep their traps shut no matter how bad things are, including the people from NY -who may just be playing ball to keep their jobs.

 

Passive aggressiveness is certainly one way to deal with issues. However, it is generally better to keep emotions in check and handle situations as calmly and professionally as possible. The problem is that no matter what aggregious act was perpetrated against a person, if someone chooses to handle it with outbursts or other less than civil behavior, others may be wary of working with someone who has a less than gracious manner of dealing with conflict.

 

Granted, there are times when being adamant are called for, but so long as you are on the side of "right," then the other side of the argument will always be forced to scramble for excuses as they have to choose whether to become unprofessional or deal with the situation like an adult.

[Jayson Crothers]

These types of things are unfortunate, but as I've recently discovered, they do happen. I recently wrapped one of the worst productions I've been a part of - I very much wanted to quit, but am glad that ultimately I didn't - I've been offered two very good scripts from two very good people that I met as a result of the bad experience.

 

The best advice in these types of situations, in my opinion, is that the worse the experience is, the more pleasant you should be - the right people (ie, the type of people you want to work with) will notice and remember. The people who don't notice are likely the people making it a bad experience and you don't want to work with them again anyways.

[Saul Rodgar]

These types of things are unfortunate, but as I've recently discovered, they do happen. I recently wrapped one of the worst productions I've been a part of - I very much wanted to quit, but am glad that ultimately I didn't - I've been offered two very good scripts from two very good people that I met as a result of the bad experience.

 

The best advice in these types of situations, in my opinion, is that the worse the experience is, the more pleasant you should be - the right people (ie, the type of people you want to work with) will notice and remember. The people who don't notice are likely the people making it a bad experience and you don't want to work with them again anyways.

 

Good points!

[Saul Rodgar]

Passive aggressiveness is certainly one way to deal with issues. However, it is generally better to keep emotions in check and handle situations as calmly and professionally as possible. The problem is that no matter what aggregious act was perpetrated against a person, if someone chooses to handle it with outbursts or other less than civil behavior, others may be wary of working with someone who has a less than gracious manner of dealing with conflict.

 

Granted, there are times when being adamant are called for, but so long as you are on the side of "right," then the other side of the argument will always be forced to scramble for excuses as they have to choose whether to become unprofessional or deal with the situation like an adult.

 

Right. There is no need to be vociferously mad though -however right one may be, unless someone is in physical danger due to negligence or incompetence. That usually just makes things a lot worse 99% of the time. I favor waiting a little bit to calm things up a tad and calmly addressing the situation in question. The worst thing one can do is start a shouting match on or off set for that matter.

[Steve Kemp]

We're all friends here, right? I like to think of myself as a pretty open person. I always try to help other people on this board, especially fellow AC's. (Holla!)

 

That being said, I thought I would share an experience which happened to me recently on a low-budget feature a few weeks ago. There are many things to be learned from this and it would be interesting to hear how other people have coped with similar situations.

 

I got fired. It's the first time this has ever happened to me and because I know it happens to the best of us, I realized that the best thing I can do, instead of beating myself up about it and being like, "Oh My God I'll Never Work In This Town Again!", is to get back up again and learn from it. As lousy as I felt (and awkward) when I walked off the camera truck that night, I knew in the back of my mind that someday it would fall into place as a valuable experience. Most things do.

 

There were quite a few things that happened to me on this job, as far as mistakes that I made, that seemed totally out of left field for me....stuff I never would've done on better jobs where I felt more comfortable. It was almost scary how fast everything snowballed and how in the eyes of production, what I saw as a few separate issues (some of which were not necessarily my fault), became one BIG issue: me.

 

I don't think it's as simple as "poop rolls downhill". Although there was a fair amount of that going on at this job too. I was the third loader that this crew had hired- the other two had gotten canned as well. In fact, most of the CREW had gotten fired the first time around- so I was basically called in for re-shoots. The morale of the crew was pretty down...VERY negative. Lots of tension and fighting and really unnecessary pissing contests. Not much money either- I was only making 100 a day.

 

Usually I probably would've passed on a gig that low, but it was on location in Providence, which I thought would be fun, and since I just got back into the freelancing world, I figured it would be good to swing at every pitch until I'm back in the game and feeling solid again. It's too bad that I got off on the wrong foot! Every day on set I basically felt worse and worse. I would try to smile and be helpful and do the right thing, but the 1st AC and I clashed horribly (she was very interested in telling me how to do my job- I appreciate advice, but it was hard to believe that she trusted me to do things my way), I was very put off by how negative production was, and basically it just made me feel like I was back in high school or something. That same feeling of smiling in your English class and doing the same work as everyone else and somehow still only getting a C because everyone around you made you feel like you sucked at everything. It was pretty bad.

 

One of my common defense mechanisms is to try and make light of a situation and at least get people to laugh before they start screaming at me. When I feel uncomfortable around people, I turn into a smart-ass. Well on this job, I guess it got me. And that was when I realized, "I can't let a sh*tty crew get to me. I need to do my job to the best of my abilities no matter WHO I'm doing it for."

 

Next time you end up working with difficult people, try to rise above it as best as you can. Because if you don't, they'll send you home without your changing tent or paycheck, and they probably won't call you again. I know the gear, I love what I do, and I love helping people...but one of my biggest shortcomings as a PERSON not just an AC, is learning how to deal with people who DON'T like me. Well, it's gonna happen. Confrontation is not the way to go...limit yourself in your contact with people like this, and keep your mouth shut until it's over!

 

Such is my advice for today. Has anyone else ever had similar problems with a bad crew? What did you do about it? I was surprised to find that I hardly ever thought about the "playing well with others" side of the job until this happened. I get really caught up in working in a vacuum and trying to tune the bad stuff out, and I was surprised to find that it got to me. We're not working 9 to 5 with the same people every day- we don't have the luxury of Human Resources. What do you do when it's not the bad budget, bad gear, bad crafty, or bad location...but just a bad crew?

 

 

 

Happens to the best of us, Annie. When I first started out I got sacked by a first-time "director" for pointing out that he was supposed to say "Action!" and "Cut!" to let the actors on set know when to start and finish. Then, on the second day we had no power for the camera because he'd used up all the batteries the night before watching the previous day's takes. I would have happily left him to flounder, had not his producer rung me up ten minutes later and begged me to come back....

 

...A couple of weeks ago, I shot a showreel piece- as a 'favour' -for an "actress" who wants to be a TV presenter ('nuff said). For her piece(s) to camera, she chose the Life & Works of Bob Dylan. She kept referring to Dylan's "dee-butt"; "As opposed to Cee-butt? What do you mean?" I asked. "Oh, you know", she said, "When you first appear somewhere, you make your dee-butt". - I'm not making this up - Then she went on to refer to the French poet who influenced Dylan as being one Arthur "Rim-board", which, if nothing else, confirms that quote about the French being able to pronounce a lot better than they spell. I still haven't seen the material as, she said, I "made her sound confused and aggressive".

[Saul Rodgar]

Somewhat related to what we post here:

 

http://www.whatjusthappenedfilm.com/

[Serge Teulon]

Hi Annie,

 

Really sorry to hear that you went through that experience. It's not pleasant but it thickens your skin and makes you more astute in your future selections.

 

I was once told "Don't let the bastards get you down!"

[Phil Rhodes]

http://www.whatjusthappenedfilm.com/

 

I've got Linson's book by the same title; it's hilarious, and even more hilarious to see the changed-to-protect-the-innocent names (the beard-wearer was Alec Baldwin, apparently).

 

And considering half of it is about Linson's connections with De Niro, and his colleagues taking the piss out of him for overusing the contact, it's even more hilarious to see De Niro taking this role.

 

P

[Annie Wengenroth]

You guys are always so supportive and that's really cool, so thanks for that! I know that I made some considerable mistakes on this job and when I walked away from that truck, my first thought was, "If they lose my changing tent and forget to send it back to CSC, I'll kill em!" :P and my second thought was, "If I don't learn from this experience, I am going to be so mad at myself in 10 years!"

 

Today I day-played on a feature, first time pulling focus on anamorphic, D-21 gig after not having seen the D-20 in about a year, pretty established DP, small job with the potential to turn bigger...a good gig to be on, but a tough one. The morning was rough and I could feel my heart pounding...until we watched playback and I realized I had actually held it together pretty well. And I thought to myself, "I will smile through today, and work hard, and it will be great. And I'll keep doing that no matter how hard it gets. Because the bottom line, is that I absolutely can't see myself doing anything else with my life. So, f*ck it. Here I am."

 

So now I just have to rescue my changing tent from CSC and then I'm sure I'll be fine...it's one lousy job out of so many good ones. It always bums me out to feel like I've potentially burnt bridges, but I think one of the best things you can do in this industry is to just keep trying to build new ones, no matter what happens.

[K Borowski]

So now I just have to rescue my changing tent from CSC and then I'm sure I'll be fine...it's one lousy job out of so many good ones. It always bums me out to feel like I've potentially burnt bridges, but I think one of the best things you can do in this industry is to just keep trying to build new ones, no matter what happens.

 

Well, in the mean time, haha you are going to have to turn down every film shoot job opportunity you get! ;-)

 

Seriously though, you left it on the set after you got fired on your last job. I'd call them up and ask them to ship it back.

[Jesse Lee Cairnie]

Yeah.. I've had a similar experience.. I must say that looking back on it.. me getting fired was due to my inability to be a yes man.. I was working on a project as a boom op.. the camera op was an amateur E.N.G. operator making the transition to film.. so the concept of consistent frame lines and "cohesive working relationship" that boom and cam op must share.. was non existent.. therefore all MY fault.. after my mixer wouldn't back me up and everyone started to insult me cause "the boom is always in the shot".. I began to loose my cool and make snide remarks.. soon it lead to "frustrated discussions" on set.. which I must admit.. NOT professional.. therefore.. fired.. and thus my lesson learned.. turned out the sound mixer was a very well connected man and it was my last picture as a boom op with anyone he knew.. :(

 

There is a fine line with standing up for yourself. If your not careful it will be misconstrued.. keep the mouth closed and nod your head "Yes".. if that becomes difficult.. walk.. my pride cost me more work than if I would have walked.. but those are painful lessons we all learn..

 

needless to say.. my onset demeanor has forever been altered.. no problems since! hahaa