Phil Rhodes

Hi, > People have the right to speak their minds Yeah, yeah, that's really the vibe I'm getting. Cough. Phil

Hi, > That is a very nice upgrade from flying video on flyer to full 35mm.. For certain value of "nice", I guess. Because let's face it, over here, first 35 job, it's gonna be a BL4, you can see it coming over the horizon... Phil

Hi, Oh, I'm bored. > that the mandatory operator position is crass and stupid That can't reasonably be implied from what I said. The definite "that" in the second sentence refers to the situation described in the first, which is most certainly crass and stupid. I think you're inferring what you want to be true because you have a psychological need to attack something. I understand the feeling, but really, don't shoot the messenger. Perhaps I don't pull any punches, but this is not local 600's private forum and you can expect to see posts representing a wide variety of real-life opinion. Phil

Hi, > If you don't see the value of an operator on the set... Which I do. > stop making our legitimate issue about yourself. I'm not (although I can't stop Fletcher going ad hominem). My point - my only point, the only issue I'm arguing here - is that forcing productions to pay an operator to sit on the truck only gives the producers ammunition in this sort of situation. In case anyone hadn't noticed, that means I'm not disagreeing with you. Oh-fricken-kay? Phil

Hi, > as for your state of affairs, i don't think all the folks in the u.k. working away making movies big and small > agree with you at all Oh well, if it's only the "big" UK film crews who disagree with me, at least I'm not that seriously outnumbered... Phil

Hi, > I have been reading your posts for a number of years and would have to say that unless you work in the > union system this would be a good time to keep your opinions to yourself. Why? Fair practice is fair practice, unless you're taking the position that unionisation is an excuse for institutionalising unfair practice. Which, as I think I've shown, has recently been the case. - Phil

You are making people pay for services they don't need. At the very least it makes you look like workshy agitators. I don't need to be a member of your union local - in fact, I don't need to be working in the film industry - to understand this situation. In fact, it seems like I explicitly need to not be a member of your union local to understand that. Phil

Hi, I'm not quite sure what point you're trying to make there, I found it rather confused, but to restate, I completely agree that the US/UK situations are not comparable. That was my entire point, in objection to someone earlier on trying to do exactly that. Yes it is unfortunate that the union here is rubbish, but then two things occur: - If it was any good, I wouldn't be in it, and; - There's no point in having a union to support an industry that doesn't exist. However, I stand by the assertion that making people pay for things they don't need does nothing but give the producers ammunition. Doing things that are that stupid doesn't make the IA look like anything other than moneygrubbing idiots. That's the only point I'm trying to make. It should be practically axiomatic anyway. Phil

It's not about letting anyone "break" a union. If the money isn't there, the money isn't there. If we had a union like IATSE in the UK, then what you'd have would be an awful lot of union crews not getting employed because there's no films being made (incidentally exactly the situation that now exists anyway). You are being slapped because you forced people to do something completely indefensible. The situations are not even nearly comparable. Phil

I was once proudly told how the union had mandatory camera operators sitting in the truck reading the newspaper because of this rule. I don't see how that kind of crass stupidity is in any way defensible. You brought this on yourselves. - Phil

Hi, Nice to see you guys are still arguing about this - I thought it was just me! I've never been paid anything extra to do Steadicam, normally I end up doing it alongside doing something else (lighting camera most often) and it ends up sitting on the stand most of the day anyway. Phil

Hi, Does anyone have the wiring schematic for a J7 zoom controller? I have one here that was bust, and has since been rewired in a rather, um, cough, manner, and I need to fix it. Thanks, Phil

Hi, >Go build one and sell it. What would the point be? Bartell's already done it. P

Hi, > This is why on my invoices I always state "Payment due 30 days Net." Yeah, so do I, but it never works. If they don't want to pay you, they can usually get away with it. Phil

Hi, I still wear that fleece when operating. Shows how much operating I do, that it's still in one piece... Phil