Week 2 down 2 to go

It has gotten a little easier as things always do after the first week. The production manager is still a Class A d*** but I think I'm just used to it right now. I think he might be overwhelmed and so begins every discussion with 'no'. Anyway I'm just not used to it. I have to admit, the position the Lighting department occupies on a film set usually doesn't lend itself to hear many 'nos' and so it's always a surprise.

I don't mean to say we always get what we want, but most times, we get a large part of what we want. Denial of more manpower, equipment or logistics almost directly affects the set up time and so it's very obvious who can be blamed and it's usually whoever denied us that gets thrown under the bus. However, the gaffer on this one (a good friend of mine) is more often than not, quite over the top with his needs so I actually always secretly like it when they say we can't have more lights.

Anyway I'm learning quite a bit in terms of rigging and logistics and every job helps no matter what position I'm in so I never feel blase about situations. Next week the shooting best boy goes on vacation for a week and so my anchor and co-collaborator will be gone. It will be quite tricky then.
His main squeeze is coming from MN and they have a lot to talk about now that he has broken up with his girlfriend (remember him who told me about his adultery?) The saga continues I guess. I'm just relieved they broke up 'cos it was a bum deal for her to be with someone who didn't love her enough. She got custody of the cats and the Wie and he had to shell out vet fees and $1500 relocation fees for her to move. I thought it was fair. I was really pro-break up although he agonised over it for a while (the whole time he didn't want to cancel the other girl's visit from MN - can you believe the cheek of that?)

Which leads me to think about how I work with 99% men all the time and I have seen all types. We have the old men who talk about their health & prostate a lot, the older men who are happily married with 3 kids in Long Island, then we have the bitter divorced men who see their kids on the weekend, we have the mid-to late30s, early 40s men who are single and (a) loving it (very rare) and (b) getting very desperate and (c) almost given up and resigned to being bachelors. Then we have the young un's who think that the above will never happen to them but they are all on one of those paths.

The happily married men tend to clump in crews which is always the case anyway with anything - I also tend to hire a certain age group & attitude - I think they don't want to be infected with the bitter divorced man or there's just less in common. The rigging grip crew I am working closely with is like that, they love their wives and bitch about them rarely and are proud of their 20 years together and so on. The crew on 'Law & Order' is as famous for their longevity on the show (most of them have been with the show since it's inception 18 years ago) as they are for their alone-ness (none of them have stayed married past the 6th season) Everyone blames the show (long hours) but I think it's just a certain mentality of a group of men that reinforce each other as they work together 90 hours a week. You are who you work with. (For us anyway since we work such long hours)

Just a thought...I tend to hire younger, single-ish guys (they have girlfriends but in various stages of commitment) mostly because they are fun to work with and they also tend to work a lot harder. I'm also younger in the union and hence, they are easier to boss around than a jaded older guy although I will get one of those too occasionally.

What else?

Mike's gone to Baltimore for 2 weeks to get more footage for the doc he is currently working on - Heroes Among Us. They fired the DP (Director of Photography aka the cinematographer) for not having enough of a verite style of shooting. He thought it wasn't really fair since she was only executing the director's wishes but it's all politics and someone has to take the fall. Usually it is the DP or sometimes it is the AD (assistant director - who is responsible for the scheduling on a movie) but on a small job like Mike's there is no AD. He does it all. Since he's a staffer and a representative of the Executive Producer (aka the funder) he's not going to get the can - nor does he deserve to. Truthfully, he felt the director should have been fired. But this is a signal to her to shape up and I think she sees that.

Either way I am husband-less for 2 weeks but it's only 1 weekend so I won't notice as much. I have Zohra to keep me company (although she didn't come home last night...scandalous!) it's going to be a rainy weekend so I'm content to stay home and watch movies & football anyway. I'm tired of being outside and with people. If I never see another person all weekend I'm fine.