Have I said "Brutal" yet?

Week 2 wasn't much better. We did another 70 hour week and not all 70 hours are the same. A shift from 11am - 2am is totally different from 8am - 10pm. Then throw in New Jersey and you've got a pretty unattractive shoot. I arrived home this Saturday morning at 7am and slept in till noon.

I have been elected Shop Steward (which is just a designation for one union member to represent the others on the job) and dealing with Production hasn't been unpleasant, merely time consuming. The producer is sorta a friend. Well at least he's friendly. That's more than you can expect these days. I don't want to diss producers, seeing as my husband is one. But on these jobs, they only care about the bottom line and if they have to work you in the ground to get what they want, then they will.

First thing I did when I was Shop Steward was read the contract. Of course, this led me to realise that they had invaded our turnaround. It is 10 hours from when we arrive back in the city and not when we wrap on location (unless it is 30 miles outside the city - but that's another story). I won't get deep into contractual stuff but I didn't have 2 lawyer parents for nothing.

Anyway all week, I was embroiled in this turnaround issue of penalties and double time and triple time. The union was no help to me, they said they would support whatever I said. So i negotiated 2 extra days pay for everyone up front and the extra overtime could be paid at the back end when the Production made money (IF they make money, ha!). Most of the crew seemed pleased although a few hardliners made my life difficult. It's a tough position to be in but I guess it's a good learning experience if I ever want to be a union rep. It's definitely elevated my profile in the eyes of the Hall.

Other than the Shop Steward work, I have to also manage the department too. My rigging gaffer left for a better job and I was left holding the bag and scrambling. This is a rock n roll themed movie, we have countless clubs and bars to shoot in and a rigging crew (which comes in before we get there) is essential. Of course Production was pissed at me, since I had forced them to put her on to scout those locations and now after paying her 2 days worth of work, she's gone after 2 weeks. It's beyond my control, I wouldn't leave but that's me. Not everyone in this business is as loyal. She is also my friend which makes it harder for me to be angry.

Next week should be miles better. I will get parts of my regular crew back and I won't feel so alone. Sometimes, although I love the guys I have assembled for this job, I feel like I do everything in terms of thinking ahead and hence, I slip up and forget things in front of me. I need them to step in and be more proactive and they aren't. Understandably this is week 2 and new crews don't gel for a while and when you get good chemistry it's great. It's not just your normal work colleagues, we spend over 15 hours a day together sometimes under great time demands and sometimes under absolute mind-wrenching boredom. It takes a specific type of person so be able to ramp up to 100% from 0 just a second ago. At any given work day, you will interact with over 50 people. It's a very strange business.

I re-connected with a guy who was Best Boy on one of my very first jobs in the biz about 10 years ago. In fact, I hired him for yesterday and at the end of the day he said to me "I hope it doesn't sound weird but I'm really proud of you". I was very touched. I always cringe with embarrassment when I think of how little I knew when I first started and how patient everyone I came into contact with was with me.