This is a paper I wrote for a Digital Media class to make up for the month of school I missed for work- I kinda wrote it in half hour- so its sloppy, but I make some personal points in it.
Work on a Reality Show
This year has been an interesting one for me in the professional world. I went through a dry spell of almost 6 months without work. I had to get myself a ‘real’ job to pay the bills.
Then all of the sudden- I started getting hit with work left and right... ALL at the same time- First some really good friends of mine who had been working on a documentary were thrown the funding to shoot two infomercials, I was hired immediately as camera op. and editor- then, the owner of my job decided to start throwing me Assitant Director work on a couple of international commercial shoots he was doing... shortly after he was hired to head up production on the reality show- which, he almost immediately hired me to run camera on.
The point being- One of the main things I’ve noticed about the film/television industry is that- no matter what level you’re at- Work is sporadic. Work is hard to find, unless you know someone and is constantly changing: each of the jobs I had were completely different pay grades for almost the exact same amount of work.
“The Prodigy”
November 6, 2007, 5:00 am. I had been up the entire night working on the first cut of an infomercial in order to have it done before I hopped in a van that would drive me to the airport which would be departing from Salt Lake City and flying to San Diego with a layover in Vegas.
I finished the cut, burned it to DVD, dropped it into the producers mailbox and drove home to pack my bags for the 2 weeks to come. I was going on a cruise. This wasn’t any old cruise though, this was an all expense paid 8 day ride on a cramped boat with 300-400 drunk, rich, 20-30 year old’s, ‘celebrating’ the summer of work they had completed, selling door-to-door for an upstart security systems company... A company who also happened to be funding a ‘reality’ based television competition designed basically as a ‘publicity stunt’ to boost sales and more importantly- recruit salesman.
Things began as normal- as soon as we reached the Vegas airport I was handed an envelope with a per diem (which I later realized, was paid for out of the producers pocket, not the production budget)- we hopped on the plane and made it to San Diego where immediately off the plane the cameras were unloaded and filming had begun- B roll of the airport- contestants loading onto buses. etc.
The following 8 days consisted of a few things... Early mornings, long days, sunburns, late nights, early mornings, long days sunburns, etc. etc.
The boat was cramped and we had to keep all our equipment with us at all times. 6lbs camera (we shot on the Canon XH A1, perhaps the worst camera I have ever worked with) 30lbs of lenses, tape, batteries, lenses, tripod, etc. We would follow contestants from one end of the boat to the other, from the bottom to the top decks.
Crew wise we had: 3 production coordinators to keep track of what was being filmed, 4 camera operators to capture the image and 8 producers to make sure that all that work was actually getting done. Pretty much a normal production.
As for the production- that was a really interesting process... one of the most interesting I’ve been on: Diva attitudes would shift shooting schedules and cause drama- which although good for the screen, was hell for us as cameramen. For THREE days in a row we had early morning call, be set up for the big ‘welcome’ shoot and for THREE days in a row, contestants would flake out, assuming they were too good for the show.
With only one day off the entire time- I slowly came to a realization and vowed never to go on a cruise again.
But I digress, There were two days ashore- one of which was my day off, the other- which was supposed to actually be a second day off but at the last minute it was decided to be a shooting day- but a minimal one. One camera per group.
I drew the short straw.
Meanwhile, those 8 producers I was referred to had no idea which group of them were in charge- see, there were 3 production companies involved in the filming of this production, One, was the company that was hired out of Utah that hired the second company that hired me, the third company was a company out of New York (they did that reality show about putting pageant winners in the same house).
Now, they finally came together on the boat and they ALL assumed that the other company was in charge. So for an entire week, I sat and watched as each group waited to receive orders so I, in turn, could be told what to do.
For that first week- us camera men and our boss made the decisions- we’re the only reason anything got shot. The only reason.
Anyway, the cruise finally ended and we prepped for the elimination rounds, see- I found out part way through the cruise that the hours, literally HOURS of footage we had shot would be cut down to an entire half episode (the episodes were only going to be half hour episodes)... I don’t know about anyone else- but- there’s getting enough coverage- and there’s getting FAR FAR FAR too much coverage.
The cruise ended- we’re preparing for elimination rounds. This is the point that we brought Paul Varela on to shoot- and I know for a fact that he’s got his own unique take on the experience- the elimination rounds were 2 days, two different contests. The first was a door-to-door sales contest; The 3 contestants to sell the least product- were eliminated. This was the day that really brought a few things to head... for one, there was the moral issue that a number of us camera operators had with the concept of door-to-door sales. Its something that has always made me a bit uncomfortable, something I as a person would never do and have vowed never to do. But, I was hired to do a job- I couldn’t really take a moral look at it. I mean, I’M not the one driving a useless product on someone who doesn’t even need it in the first place. I’M not the one being pushy and rude and repetitive and an annoyance to people who are just trying to enjoy their afternoon. I’m not involved, I’m a fly on the wall, right?
“The Dilemma”
This was a good opportunity to see if I had it in me. Too see if I could do what it takes to be in this industry- I mean... its virtually impossible to keep 100% of your values in tact when wanting to be successful in this business. Okay, Okay... don’t read that wrong- there are things I will never take a part in, certain things I would make a stand on. Its the little things- i.e. door-to-door sales- something that isn’t going to tear and eat at my soul. But, it is something I’m morally opposed to... if that makes sense.So, the question was- would I be able to look past my little annoyances and do a job? How much do I care about success?
The answer? Not enough to break my values, but enough to choke down my complaints and whines and to just do it.
I love film too much to let stupid people ruin it for me.
The second contest was a philanthropy contest. THIS was considerably easier to do- we followed some of the best salesman in the world as they trod from their comfort zones and helped people in need- It was actually quite heart warming- quite amazing what they pulled off. I guess it goes to show that, if you weather the storm- you’re bound to see blue skies.
All in all it was a good experience. I learned a TON. I met good people. I made a connection that will turn out to be INVALUABLE in the future (all I can say is:”HBO television series”)- It was a job that has generated a numerous amount of other jobs. It was worth it.
Anyway, to make a long story short- The whole production, the whole process- it was controlled chaos. Pretty much a normal production.