This is the standard paranoia of the self-employed, and I'll certainly take it as a trade-off for a job that I really, truly do love. Somehow, everything always works out in the end, and although I may yet end up shuffling down Hollywood Boulevard with all my possessions loaded into a shopping cart, I'm reasonably certain it won't happen this year.
As I was standing on set today (grateful for that last-minute call which got me a day's work since I'd been kind of panicked about my not working enough last week), waiting for the gaffer to release the rigging crew (we'd stayed on past our allowed 8 hours to help first unit move from one set to the other), the rigging best boy booked me for tomorrow's rig on this show (some forgettable mid-season replacement comedy).
Not five minutes after that, a friend who's pushing* a crew on a Paramount show called me and asked me if I could work Wednesday and Friday for him.
Four days this week, which covers my rent. Plus, Paramout is super-close to my house so I have a five minute commute time. Okay, ten since I bet my ID card's expired and that means a delay at the gate when I'm trying to get on the lot.
Back to the same old shit, and I'm very glad to be posting it.
* "Pushing" a crew means being the supervisor of that particular crew. Generally, when a show has more than one rig going in at the same time and the best boy can't supervise them all, he or she will appoint a "pusher" for each rig.
Couch of the Day:
4 comments:
Hmmmm ... something new for today, a rear view of the couch. Might make for some interesting variety.
Peter
Iron Rails & Iron Weights
My husband worked for many years at Paramount, on every one of the Star Trek shows (except the original, he was a mere tot then) and when he went back to pick up his credit union check, they wouldn't let him on the lot-what a load of crap he had to go through just to get through security. We used to live a half block from the studio, on Beachwood.
I am self-employed, but not in the film industry. The rules still apply. Business will pick up slowly in the summer months and you tend to wonder if you made the right decision to risk it.
Many night I have laid awake at night wondering if it would ever come back around.
That is the ultimate downside to self-employment. You can always see the hard times, nearly impossible to remember it always speeds back up.
Glad things seem to be picking up, hope it continues to go well for you
Post a Comment