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Brian Dzyak

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I think it's a matter of numbers.

 

I was asked a few weeks ago about this by someone who was desperate to be a steadicam operator. I know one guy who is, first, an incredibly nice and genuine human being (rare among steadicam guys), an excellent operator, did big TV jobs and owned top end gear - you probably know who I'm talking about. And he's had to sell it all because there's no joy with it.

 

So, I ask you: how many really decent steadicam operators does the UK need? Three or four?

 

How many features/commercials camera departments do we need? Not more than a dozen on any one day, I suspect. How many grips, gaffers, FX techs do we need? Single digits or low teens.

 

Yes there are people working, mainly on huge commercials and American features which are inaccessible to most of us, but it's such a vanishingly small number it's fallacy to base your assumptions on it. I mean, Jesus, if people are desperate enough to ask me for advice...

 

P

 

 

Phil, you haven't really answered my question. why do YOU think the industry is in such a bad state? what's YOUR experience? forget the numbers, percentages, the rumours and the rest of it and give us the facts.

 

about the steadicam op, people as i said have good and bad years, which is very unfortunate, but it's part of the game. we work in the freelance world and there is no guarantee. i know a TV gaffer who used to be on 75 grand a year in the early naughties and then all of a sudden the phone stopped ringing and has been struggling since. but that's not because there have been less jobs, he simply lost two cameramen along the way. that's the other thing, you cant afford to be sloppy or make mistakes or behave stupidly (i learned the hard way myself) in this game, people wont bother calling you any more. there's very little room for error and misbehaviour

 

i don't know you mate, but the more i read your posts the more i think i understand why you talk the way you do. you don't really believe in yourself, never mind the industry. you said that just above: "huge commercials and american features are inaccessible". BOLLOCKS. they aren't. not if you WANT them. the gear is the same, a 2k Fresnel is exactly the same on a wee short film or on the biggest Pinewood stage. so are clapper boards and make up bags...and if you can use it and believe in yourself the transition isnt too difficult. it might be long and take forever, but it will happen

 

i know many BRITISH techs who started from the small jobs and got their way into the big gigs, mate. its not fantasy. it happens. i know a DOP who went to film school and got to shoot a feature in LA after his graduation (famous story you probably know who it is). But if it didn't happen for you, it doesn't mean you can bitch and moan and be so cynical about it all!

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Phil, you haven't really answered my question. why do YOU think the industry is in such a bad state? what's YOUR experience? forget the numbers, percentages, the rumours and the rest of it and give us the facts.

 

I think it's in a bad state because we're completely steamrollered by American product. The "money input" point of cinema is when people go to the movies and buy DVDs and tie-in products. Without that there is simply no business, no industry to join. The result of that is that there's a few people at the very top end working, effectively for Americans, and doing very nicely. But it can never become more than a few, it can never become a self-sustaining industry, because all of the money goes back to the states. This is so obvious that I'm constantly appalled that successive governments do nothing about it, but legislation is what it's going to take. We are not in a position to solve this through simple competition. We are so comprehensively beaten, so completely overpowered, that we are disenfranchised from making the attempt. The war is over. All we're doing now is fighting over the shattered ruins.

 

The upshot of this is that nobody outside China, India or the US should harbour any hope of working on material they'll be able to see on TV because that hope is completely futile. Maybe you know all of the couple of dozen full time working sparks in the UK; good for you, good for them, not much good for the rest of us.

 

you said that just above: "huge commercials and american features are inaccessible". BOLLOCKS. they aren't. not if you WANT them.

 

For the record - I don't, not anymore. I've been made acutely aware that working on upscale narrative productions is hell. Anyone who's seeking work on big American shows had better be careful what they wish for. Or even big BBC stuff - we've heard here recently that Lark Rise was miserable.

 

But that's not the point. The point is that all this "it's there if you want it" stuff is nothing more than wishful thinking. There is a point at which wanting it will not get it. There are circumstances in which persistence will not win out. There is the reality that while one may be talented, there are hundreds of others just as talented.

 

As I've said before, you might as well tell people that if they want to be an astronaut they can have it. We have no space program. We have no film industry.

 

the gear is the same, a 2k Fresnel is exactly the same on a wee short film or on the biggest Pinewood stage. so are clapper boards and make up bags...

 

You know that. I know that. I also know I won't get on the next $150million blockbuster at Pinewood on the basis of my now very extensive experience making no-budget indie crap. For the record, folks, working on indie crap is often more fun than working on Harry Potter 17. The indie crap experience is often much closer to the ideal you had when you thought filmmaking looked like fun.

 

Every once in a while we have someone who's done well in the UK come by here and try to tell us that everything's wonderful. It doesn't happen very often, because there aren't very many of you. Great, you've had a couple of good years, good for you. Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

It won't.

 

P

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I think it's in a bad state because we're completely steamrollered by American product. The "money input" point of cinema is when people go to the movies and buy DVDs and tie-in products. Without that there is simply no business, no industry to join. The result of that is that there's a few people at the very top end working, effectively for Americans, and doing very nicely. But it can never become more than a few, it can never become a self-sustaining industry, because all of the money goes back to the states. This is so obvious that I'm constantly appalled that successive governments do nothing about it, but legislation is what it's going to take.

 

 

Welcome to "globalization," what CONs like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan really wanted for the planet.

 

It reminds me of a great line in the movie "Gross Point Blanke."

 

MARTIN

I was, but no... yes... I was before,

but now I'm not. It's irrelevant,

really. The idea of governments,

nations, it's mostly a public

relations theory at this point,

anyway.

 

We're living in a Corporate world now. People are not allowed to cross borders for work, but Corporations and their money can with no boundaries. That's the unfair part and the lie of the so-called "Free Market." It's anything but "free" when Corporations are able to use national borders and currency differences to their advantage.

 

Anyway, that said, it's true that it may be more difficult for some people to "get into" the industry than others, but it certainly isn't impossible. An aspiring "filmmaker" just needs to learn what the parameters are and learn to work within them. So, yeah, maybe the indigenous film industry in any given nation isn't robust. So? You go work on productions from nations that ARE robust.

 

I don't know Phil, but in his recent post, a couple of key phrases stuck out which give some indication of his own prejudices which may be part of the issue he's discussing:

 

I've been made acutely aware that working on upscale narrative productions is hell. Anyone who's seeking work on big American shows had better be careful what they wish for. Or even big BBC stuff - we've heard here recently that Lark Rise was miserable.

 

 

For the record, folks, working on indie crap is often more fun than working on Harry Potter 17. The indie crap experience is often much closer to the ideal you had when you thought filmmaking looked like fun.

 

It's interesting in that while he seems to long for the opportunity to work on larger movies (because he calls indie and low-budget productions "crap"), he follows up by lambasting the large budget production as being "hell." I'm not sure what the "ideal" for Phil actually is, but a lot of people rather enjoy working on large budget productions and consider the low-budget experience to be the "hell." Are there some difficult days on large productions? OF COURSE! Nights aren't my favorite and I'm not sure that anyone enjoys working in the rain or cold. But that's filmmaking no matter what the budget is. If a person wants to do this for a living, then those are some of the things you deal with and they happen on both big and small budget productions. And for most people, they'd prefer to get paid a whole lot more for it on a big "American production" than slogging away for a flat rate on a small "intimate" indie film.

 

In any case, the movie industry is out there in many parts of the world. It just matters how much you really want it.

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I live in the UK. Working in the rain and cold is therefore an everyday occurrence, and if that's the worst a big show has done to you then you've been very lucky. Personally I find the high end to be a place of teflon-desked arse-covering, backbiting, selfishness and general looking out for number one, although my extremely slim experience of LA productions suggests that this may be mainly a UK problem borne of desperation at the paucity of available work. In short, everyone here knows what will happen if they get fired, they know they won't work for months, and this does not make for a contented and serene workforce. You will of course rejoin that this situation also pertains in other places, but I would submit that nowhere else has quite the same completely poisonous combination of no industry and yet a popular perception that one exists.

 

For what it's worth, for myself I use the term "indie crap" with a degree of endearment but the real core of the problem is expressed in that very definition. In this country we have people shooting on DSLRs and we have very occasional big features and TV stuff, and we have absolutely nothing inbetween. This means that you are either on 75,000 a year, as our previous correspondent boasted, or you are on state low income benefits, and while I've never quite fallen to that level it is not hard to understand why this is a barrier to progress to those who are willing to endure the sort of mistreatment that larger shows require.

 

And no, it doesn't matter how much you want it. This is the sort if childish language that gets people locked into a terrible, soul-destroying, dead-end career. If it isn't there, it isn't there. Pretending only makes it worse.

 

P

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The upshot of this is that nobody outside China, India or the US should harbour any hope of working on material they'll be able to see on TV because that hope is completely futile. Maybe you know all of the couple of dozen full time working sparks in the UK; good for you, good for them, not much good for the rest of us.

 

i feel for you, Phil. how can you make such an idiotic statement? so utterly wrong. again, im sorry it didnt work out for you and it did for many others i PERSONALLY know, not only sparks.

 

 

For the record - I don't, not anymore. I've been made acutely aware that working on upscale narrative productions is hell. Anyone who's seeking work on big American shows had better be careful what they wish for. Or even big BBC stuff - we've heard here recently that Lark Rise was miserable.

 

why is it hell? whats your experience? the big jobs are easier because there's plenty of people and gear, it's all big and fancy and you've got to be on your toes all the time. it's a great experience. but so is working on an indie, or a cool promo, or a challenging tv drama. hell is part of the game anyway, things will always go wrong at some point

 

But that's not the point. The point is that all this "it's there if you want it" stuff is nothing more than wishful thinking. There is a point at which wanting it will not get it. There are circumstances in which persistence will not win out. There is the reality that while one may be talented, there are hundreds of others just as talented.

 

well, Phil, it really is out there. it's about building contacts and a network, meeting people, going to the company rentals, film festivals, events. I agree, a lot of it it's luck, being at the right place at the right time. i always found folks give you at least one chance, then it's really up to you. but that's my experience as a lighting technician/gaffer. if then we are talking about CINEMATOGRAPHERS, that's a whole different story. But again, wanting it and being clever about it does half of the job

 

As I've said before, you might as well tell people that if they want to be an astronaut they can have it. We have no space program. We have no film industry.

 

we do, Phil. maybe it's not 100% there yet, and maybe we don't produce our own blockbusters, but British medium/low budget films are being produced, then the tv dramas, the promos, the commercials. there's work out there! Film industry is all that in my book

 

 

You know that. I know that. I also know I won't get on the next $150million blockbuster at Pinewood on the basis of my now very extensive experience making no-budget indie crap. For the record, folks, working on indie crap is often more fun than working on Harry Potter 17. The indie crap experience is often much closer to the ideal you had when you thought filmmaking looked like fun.

 

i've got a very extensive experience making no budget indie crap. i started off in Scotland working on zero money shorts in Edinburgh and Glasgow and i was in Leavesden last year on Sherlock Holmes 2. I'm starting a huge film in Sydney in august. I have no family in the industry, i built my contacts on my own. Im not alone: ive got a mate who was at film school last year, worked on a few shorts afterwards, got his Part 1 and now is working as a lighting tech on Tim Burton's Frankenweenie. he wants to be a dp. what do you call that? i'd say dedication and perseverance. there's ways to get to the top, mate

 

Every once in a while we have someone who's done well in the UK come by here and try to tell us that everything's wonderful. It doesn't happen very often, because there aren't very many of you. Great, you've had a couple of good years, good for you. Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

7 years actually, and counting. im loving it, Phil. i get to travel and learn and play and i'm having a ball. i'm not in a rush, i dont worry to much and im always learning. i'm a spark/gaffer, yes, which is probably not much in your book, but i proudly work in the FILM INDUSTRY (the Australian one this year) which is alive and kicking. there's plenty of others that do the same. a lot of clever people that never gave up and persevered and who are making a living of it.

 

BELIEVE!

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For what it's worth, for myself I use the term "indie crap" with a degree of endearment but the real core of the problem is expressed in that very definition. In this country we have people shooting on DSLRs and we have very occasional big features and TV stuff, and we have absolutely nothing inbetween. This means that you are either on 75,000 a year, as our previous correspondent boasted, or you are on state low income benefits, and while I've never quite fallen to that level it is not hard to understand why this is a barrier to progress to those who are willing to endure the sort of mistreatment that larger shows require.

 

i give up on this. you don't have a clue, obviously, because you don't really work in film and shouldn't talk as if you do. get informed, Phil, get your facts right. this is an offensive statement to the thousands crew working and making a living in the UK

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  • 8 months later...

I actually think British films in a great place now. There's a lot of work to do, but there are some excellent people coming up. When you say "I hate to think what it'll be like in ten years" well yeah, but surely that's reflective of how much more miserable a place 'Great' Britain will be on the whole in ten years.

 

However, things are happening. Attitudes are changing, and they don't really want that to be the case. In short, people are getting tired of it all. Look at what I talked about regarding the real reason Megaupload was taken down in the thread about SOPA and PIPA. We're starting to pull on the chains more. I guess what I'm saying is positive change is up to us, we shouldn't be relying on people with malign sudo-agendas to make the film industry better, because they're bought and paid for and their interests aren't with the struggling filmmaker.

 

"David Cameron gave a few people a chance but they're manifestly taking Britain into the relegation zone. It's time To give the real talent a chance to give Britain jobs, hope, inspiration, prosperity and security."

 

Well then possibly yes, if thats the case then it should tell you something. The idea is to destroy the above listed. Britain has been under attack from the inside for decades. The easiest way for people to get a handle on it all is to start thinking along the lines of - World War II never ended, it just got more sophisticated. Its more complicated than that but that's a good starting point to adapt through. In the UK the war is fought on the psychological and economic battlefields and so there are no Kalashnikov and AR15s being fired but make no mistake that there's a war going on.

 

Anyway it was good to see that someone recognised John Hemming's work emphasising child stealing by the state (just one of the many permutations of the war I highlight).

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