Thursday, March 29, 2007

Update - Sorry

No Pictures but I did get to do a commercial a few weekends ago. I answered a crew call for grip/lighting types for a commercial being shot on a weekend. And they were offering 75 dollars. I volunteer on the right projects but when they are offering money then I jump on board.
Now this was a low budget local commercial for Northwest Handyman Services and the script is a couple steps above the Car Salesman standing in the lot or the local appliance guy that is Cra Cra Crazeeee about prices but it was still local so we shot on DV and the theme was your old style Batman ala Adam West. I won’t go into the story too deeply.
So they contact me and being a cell phone call and the fact I hate talking on the phone, I gave him my email and asked him to send me the details of the show. After a day and no contact, I called Benny and he said they had already found a lighting guy so I told him no worries.
The following Monday Benny called again and asked if I was still available. I said sure if he needed me and we agreed to meet later in the week to discuss. (Read Job interview)
We met and talked about the show and here's the thing. in the small pond a medium sized fish can be the big fish.
If I were to rate my skills compared to some of the true professionals that I have had the pleasure to work with, I would say that I am a low end journeyman. I know the gear and have not electrocuted anyone to my knowledge. I know how to load a grip/lighting truck and am fairly adept at all the skills involved in lighting a show. But I get uncomfortable working as a gaffer cause I know how much I do not know. Work with a good one and you learn their style and will wind up emulating it. This is not to say I will not take the challenge, it is just to say that I really would rather not have the responsibility. One that makes me more aggressive on the set. I prefer others to be responsible and to tell me what to do. Less stress and any mistakes are theirs not mine.
Regardless it became clear they needed me to be a bigger fish and I wanted to do a show so I came aboard. Benny wanted a Grip and lighting list and showed me the storyboards of what we were going to do and asked if I could look at the locations on Wednesday and Thursday. After some around and around about how I said I was available for the weekend and not the work week as I had a job and all that he further explained that It was in the evening and about a 15 minute drive from my home. I agreed.
So Wed I arrive about 10 minutes early to the location and give Benny a call to see where they were. He said that he just tried to get me and told me we did not have access to that particular location that night but we needed to meet at the other one which was about 45 minutes away and about 1.5 hours later then agreed upon. I told him that I was not driving out there tonight and that I was sorry but I had to get up at O’dark thirty. I went home and wrote him an email saying that I was sorry and if they did not want to use me then that was fine and that I understood. I also gave him an off the cuff order for PGL that would give them enough to shoot the show.
As it turned out they still wanted me and I wound up gaffing the commercial. I have not seen any dailies so I have no idea how it turned out. We got it done in a day and we scheduled for two. And best of all, the producer/director, Sebastian actually gave me 300 bucks for my trouble.
I took the money and bought myself some new electrical meters and built what is known as a Coop Light and bought some Photo flood bulbs, Gaffer tape and a replacement bulb for one of my lights. I have pix of the coop light construction process and that will be my next couple of posts.
On another note, Fortune Hunters had a screening last weekend here in Seattle for cast and crew. It turned out really great and I strongly recommend anyone who gets the opportunity to see it to do so. It is very sweet and amusing. Good to see the Thom, Mike and Neil again. And Lorraine even got an autograph from Jessica for the kid. She was actually surprised by the request.

2 Comments:

At 2:44 AM, Blogger Grish said...

Hey all good news! What was the commercial for again...

 
At 7:25 AM, Blogger Eric said...

A local handyman service.

 

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