keithjordan

This is not about our DPs. They make a great living and I'd be no where without them. Our problem is production deciding to take a collective postition that an AN OPERATOR IS AN OPERATOR REGARDLESS OF WHAT WE ARE OPERATING that is going to kills us. With that agenda in play, our minimum rate has already been set (like it or not) and it's roughly 43 bucks an hour, scale operators rate. Production is of a mind that if the union doesn't specifically recognize the specialty then they have no obligation to do so either. The networks/studios woke up one day and realized they where paying a high fee for our services but the only one holding the gun to their heads was us. So they found some "other talent " to work for less - and a lot less is what we are going to get until production is satisfied. Are we Okay with that? The big dollar steadicam guys are still going to get their rate on a big dollar projects just like their DPs do, whether the general industry is forced to repect a minimum or not. Production knows they can't really mess with those guys. They are trying to change the future and squash the second and third wave of us. The wolf is in the chicken coop friends, hoping we don't notice. I'm just not Okay with that.

I am a fellow Steadicam owner operator and have been in the local 659/600 nearly a decade. After doing the pilot for the CBS/Spelling/Icon show Clubhouse. I have just passed on an incredibly low ball offer to do the series as the B operator for scale with no bump to do Steadicam when it is called for. Even worse, I'm told the producers have this deal in place on another show and a list of Steadicam operators ready to jump in for this one. Evidently this is not a new trend. It is an obvious tactic to not only reduce but eliminate any finacial recognition for what we do because our union does not dictate this area of pay. With operators willing to undercut commonly accepted rate ajustments, the future looks dim. Once this precedent becomes policy in TV, feature production will aggressively jump on the bandwagon and in a few short years the specialty of Steadicam will no longer be acknowledged finacially beyond the rental of equipment--- soon to be undercut by some new short sighted member. We need a united front on this or we can expect our unique finacial compensation to be a thing of the past very soon!