Today's (and tomorrow's) mission: some Nickelodeon promo for MI 3 (car drives real fast through warehouse ending in some sort of as-yet-to-be-revealed promotional tie-in featuring some kid who stars in some show on NickTeen, whatever the hell that is), which is shooting in a warehouse on the docks of the LA Harbor in San Pedro.
To get to San Pedro from my house, I have to travel down the Harbor Freeway - one of Los Angeles' more congested roadways. Add today's rain into the equation, and it's the commute from hell (when you move to Los Angeles, the knowledge of how to drive on a wet road is somehow sucked out of your brain).
It took me 40 minutes to get to work, and an hour and a half to get home. I thought if I left right at 5 pm, I'd beat the hopeless snarl of traffic that is LA during rush hour - how wrong I was.
Aside from the traffic, it was a very fun, easy (car stunts mean we light the scene and then sit there, shooting the shit and watching the stunt drivers rehearse everything for hours. Working in a warehouse means no stairs, so we don't have to do anything like picking up a 200 lb light and carrying it up three flights of steps because the elevator's too small to hold any of our gear), and aside from some really fucked up start paperwork*, uneventful day.
More of the same tomorrow.
Random Link:
LA Times Goldfish Cam
These guys have been living in LA River Water for over a month.
I'm really surprised they're still alive.
*The jist of the paperwork is this (I'm paraphrasing since I don't feel like typing the legalese): They're asking us to sign something that basically states that we're agreeing to work in a hazardous situation and we can't sue them EVER if we get hurt because of it.
5 comments:
Pretty soon you are going to have to sign paperwork like that to shop at Trader Joes (and possibly Whole Foods as well). Ever have to fight over a loaf of organic oat bread? I swear, these yuppy soccer moms climb out from their SUVs, and are LOOKING for a fight. I am positively terrified of having to go grocery shopping now-a-days. I'd rather drive a stunt car into a burning building than go shopping.
Hey, at least you got to shoot YOUR MI3 tie-in. We had a full cross-promotion shopped, locations booked in Los Olivos to substitute for the Italian countryside, FX mortars paid for and loaded, and I had two 5tons and a cube out to do pickups when, one hour into our day, the plug was pulled, purportedly by the scientific midget, and I had to return everything and run time cards for two hours worked on a ten hour guarantee.
The promo instead got sent to Singapore. Needless to say, we didn't go on THAT location shoot.
So isn't there a union rule that means you get paid more if you agree to work in these hazardous conditions?
It's not just that they forget how to drive, it's that they almost deliberately break every rule, like trying to cut you off and nearly T-bar(r?)ing you when you have the right of way, forgetting to stop when you're completely stopped (and blaming the weather even though there was plenty of opportunity not to ram into the back of you), and various other experiences with asshattery. I vote 90% of the city gets their license revoked.
Dave - just pretend you have bird flu! They'll jump to get out of your way.
Anon - that sucks. Sorry to hear it cancelled.
Justin - no, there isn't. I think hazard pay got negotiated away by our lovely IA overlords a few years ago.
Carly - I agree. One should have to demonstrate that one has half a brain or bye-bye DL.
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