This IS the Avid L2: Re: [Avid-L2] Standard Meal Policys?

Monday, February 22, 2016

Re: [Avid-L2] Standard Meal Policys?

Luxury.

When I was a lad launching mtv Asia we had to get up at 4am walk to and from work up hill both ways .... :)

And we were happy to do it! The difference in the 80s is I was making more than the british prime minister to deliver tvcs for airlines, Coke, Cadbury and Amex.

I was going to retire this year as I felt like 32 years was enough having gone from cutting reversal to Cmx then Harry, Henry and flame for the last 20 years with avid as my offline tool. But 3 months break convinced me it was a better idea to just open another branch in another country with new faces to work for. I'm currently shipping half my equipment and things half way round the world and actually totally revitalized at the prospect. Nuts but there you go. I've retired twice before once when I sold my first post house totally burnt out at 33 (I threw a stick for a dog for a year - then took a freelance flame job launching an Egyptian tv channel... 4 months later was head of flame in a Melbourne post house). This business is like the Godfather, every time I think I'm out it pulls me back in. Yeah I'm the guy who blew his heart up on a film but I chose to do it and other than the losing my chest bone in the process bit I regret nothing. It's been a great career - I've worked in about 20 countries and met so many cool talented people (and a few assholes) there is literally nothing else I can or want to do.

Missing your going away party made me laugh - I had a house warming party in Singapore where the whole company came - except me - I went in to make changes on a bmw tvc on a Sunday. I even loaded my own tapes as the tape op didn't want to miss the party - I never minded loading tapes I could run to the machine room and lace and line up a vpr3 while the tape op was still opening the box...

Sickness is an interesting one. I only ever had two times off work, once a week with typhoid after supervising a shoot in India and the month in hospital for the heart surgery and complications - interestingly I still went in to finish the last shot while my stitches were still leaking which admittedly made my wife very angry. But she gets it worse than me she's a film art director and did a year on a ten part series last year - up at 4 back at midnight for 10 months. The comedown from that is a month of the 'flu' at project end. She's two months in on an 8 parter this year so she doesn't learn either.

My son meanwhile, complains about being abused on features as a Nuke compositor yet he actually goes home every night and sleeps in his own bed. Every day.

Kids today - don't know they're born.

Mike

On Feb 23, 2016, at 3:44 AM, Sol Fischler sol.fischler@yahoo.com [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Jay:
I WAS being dismissive, but not maliciously so -- it was more about being realistic.

I do believe in what everyone is saying: of course no project is worth getting injured over (yes, I have lost a coworker to a late night drive home after work.) And yes, if you work 'til all hours, you should be properly compensated. Absolutely. Treated fairly and decently? I'd go so far as to add "respectfully." Most definitely.

And no, producers should not be shortening schedules and inducing what amounts to slave labor just to save a couple of (their own) bucks.

But at the other end of the spectrum is the reality that ours is not, in general, a career with regular hours.

I did think that the concept of "no project is worth getting in the way of family" is a fantasy. We all have to make that sacrifice every once in a while -- if it becomes a regularity, then there are personal decisions that need to be made.

The first 16 years of my career were spent in advertising. You got in at 9, and left when you were done.

When my daughter was born, I'd leave the office every night, go home & kiss her good night, and then go back to the office.

I missed basically my entire social life through my 20's & 30's -- plays, baseball games, concerts, and plenty more. I missed my own going away party the night before a vacation.

But it was the price of doing business -- the price of working in an industry -- the only industry -- that I was passionate about. ("It's only TV and movies everyone." That also hit a nerve -- I mean, what else IS there?) :-) To that point, if you want a chuckle, check out the cover photo on my Facebook page.

I worked at the top editorial boutique in New York. Every year we'd be the lead shop for the Pepsi Convention. 4 months of late nights, weekends, and marathon edits, mixes and tape sessions. And every year, when it was over, usually February or March, my boss would go on vacation -- and I'd come down with every cold and illness I'd fought off through the winter campaign. So yeah, it wasn't heart failure -- it was just the flu, but man was I sick. Every year.

For the record, the longest I've ever worked straight is 41 1/2 hours. A special for the Auto Show came in and needed to be done in a week. I pulled takes on Monday, got in at 9AM Tuesday and cut until 2:30 in the morning Thursday. 3 hours of sleep and then went to a 9:30AM film-to-tape and tape edit, into the wee hours Friday. 2 1/2 more hours of sleep and then to a 9:30AM mix, into the wee hours Saturday. Got home 7AM on Saturday. Luckily, I didn't have to drive.

A one-time thing, and a badge I wear proudly. But if it happened again, and then again, I'd have had a decision to make.

And although it may sound like it, I'm really not preaching. I'm just stating the obvious, and we all know it.

There will always be producers who are demanding, or morons altogether. There will always be deadlines, and revisions, and problems, and unexpected issues. (Me: Sorry honey, I'll be late -- the computer crashed. She: Aren't computers supposed to make your life EASIER…?)

It's the nature of the beast, and you deal with it, or you don't. I get the impression that, for better or worse, all of us here do.

-- Sol

-------------------------------------------------
Sol Fischler
Editor: Image & Sound
914-525-2579
www.solfischler.com

From: "Jay Mahavier jay_mahavier@earthlink.net [Avid-L2]" <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com>
To: john beck <jb30343@windstream.net>
Cc: Avid-L2 <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2016 1:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Avid-L2] Standard Meal Policys?

I totally agree. My comment was more in response to Sol. The attitude put forward in his statement felt very dismissive to me. Along the lines of how dare anyone even ask for meal compensation, if you can't work without meal breaks then get out of the business. I should have gone on to say that it's perfectly reasonable to expect to be treated in a fair and decent manner across the board. That as a employe or contractor your personal safety is respected. And respected at a fundamental level that shouldn't have to be dictated by regulations.

But, on those occasions that I have worked extended hours to meet a deadline, to the point that I've decided to just break out the cot and sleep at the studio, or have my wife come get me and drive me home, there is compensation in more than just gratitude. There is compensations in money. And it's earned. And it's deserved. And I have no shame in expecting it.

Jay

> On Feb 22, 2016, at 11:41 AM, john beck <jb30343@windstream.net> wrote:
>
> Absolutely right, Jay. But the hours should never reach the point where people are falling asleep and dying on their drive home. Our bodies are not designed to work 18+ hours and then operate a motor vehicle safely. Brent Hershman, Gary Joe Tuck and probably many others died died because of bad scheduling and productions trying to save money. Note that those men's deaths were 17 years apart. Our industry has learned nothing. --J.B.
>
> Jay Mahavier jay_mahavier@earthlink.net [Avid-L2] wrote:
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>> Correct, but being compensated for working long hours and through meal breaks isn't too much to expect and get.
>>
>> Jay
>>
>>> On Feb 22, 2016, at 8:22 AM, Sol Fischler sol.fischler@yahoo.com <mailto:sol.fischler@yahoo.com> [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com <mailto:Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ...but if you're looking for a 9-5 job, maybe filmmaking isn't for you.
>>> -------------------------------------------------
>>> Sol Fischler
>>> Editor: Image & Sound
>>> 914-525-2579
>>> _www.solfischler.com <http://www.solfischler.com/>_
>>>
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------
>>> *From:*"David Feingoldfeingod@gmail.com <mailto:feingod@gmail.com>[Avid-L2]" <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com <mailto:Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com>>
>>> *To:*"Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com <mailto:Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com>" <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com <mailto:Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com>>
>>> *Sent:*Monday, February 22, 2016 7:37 AM
>>> *Subject:*[Avid-L2] Re: Standard Meal Policys?
>>>
>>> Itsjust TV and Movies everyone. There is no production worthy of getting hurt, sick, or even in the way of family. My 2 cents.
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Sent from Gmail Mobile
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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