A Threat to Steadicam operators

[mattmarek]

cheers rob. :-)

[ChadPersons]

The way I see this Canada vs. USA thing is that it does exist but not so much in the Steadicam world. Productions certainly don't go to Canada because their Steadicam Ops are cheaper? Do they? We are all aware of the Canadian governments incentives to gain film production and our unions creation of lower rates to compete. Canada isn't alone though in this tactic. We have Arizona and New Mexico doing the same thing plus a number of "right to work states". Personally I think our government should step in not our union but thats a bigger issue.

 

Lost my point for a minute there...Ohh, I remember. Isn't the real problem with the consistant issue of Ops undercutting each other and UPMs pitting us against each other OUR lack of communication? I have to believe that in most cases Ops are not puposely undercutting each other. If so there isn't much hope for us. If we just had a way of talking to each other when a production is looking for an operator at an unfair rate. Who wouldn't love having a network of information at their finger tips from all the other operators. A couple of weeks ago Paul Sommers and myself arranged a get together here in LA for Steadicam Operators with the purpose of creating an open community for us all so we can share the information that is usually so hush-hush. Eleven very good and established operators showed with four others that couldn't make it but wanted updates and to be a part of the new mailing list. We only invited twenty two ops total as to keep the meeting quant but we hope this will grow now that we realize its potential. The stories that we all shared for four hours was so enlightening for all of us. I could write pages of the positive things that came of the meeting but I'll refrain for now. I just think that everyone in our relatively small Steadicam world CAN ban together to create a healthy community if we just put the effort forward.

 

Chad Persons

[Brad Grimmett]

Who wouldn't love having a network of information at their finger tips from all the other operators.

 

A couple of weeks ago Paul Sommers and myself arranged a get together here in LA for Steadicam Operators with the purpose of creating an open community for us all so we can share the information that is usually so hush-hush. We only invited twenty two ops total as to keep the meeting quant but we hope this will grow now that we realize its potential.

Chad Persons

Well, as far as having a network of information at your fingertips....what's wrong with this forum?

 

Why would you only invite 22 operators to that meeting? Seems to me like you would want as many there as you could get, but maybe I'm missing something. Was this the same meeting that you posted about on the forum that took place at Dalt's? I guess I'm glad I didn't show up since I wasn't invited.

[RonBaldwin]

Everyone was invited to this informal meeting, that's why it was posted here on the forum. If you couldn't make, come to the next one. It was a great get-together -- I'm very happy I went. Thanks to Chad and Paul.

 

I'll go out on a limb and say that this forum may not be the best place to really start talking dollars and cents. This is an international forum, not a Los Angeles forum -- or a Vancouver forum -- or a New York forum...every market is different. We should all be meeting at our local haunts discussing this issue.

 

Ron B

[ChadPersons]

What's with the pissy attitude grimmet?

 

First, you ask "what's wrong with this forum?". I think the forum is great and I visit it everyday. The problem is that it is a puplic forum and people are not comfortable talking rates in public. Maybe I'm wrong. What do you make? Have you ever undercut someone? What's the lowest rate you have ever worked for? Did you get that same call I got last week for the show in Hawaii? What did they offer you? Do you really want to answer questions like these on the forum? These are the things we spoke openly about at our get together and like I said it was enlightening.

 

Second, you ask "why did you only invite twenty-two ops?". Sorry if that sounds misleading. I personally invited twenty-two operators AND made a post on the forum. My intention was to keep it small so that people would be comfortable and we could talk rates openly but at the same time try not to exclude anyone. It's impossible. I did the best I could. I really do hope that no one was insulted by my method.

 

I posted about the get together after the initial invites went out because Paul and I had no good system for including everyone and given the responses posted about the Alien Revolution and the insult people took to not being invited to see it I thought it wise to not go there and seem elitist. Unfortunately only two responses came from that posting. Why, if you read my post, didn't you respond? I also did write in my last post, which you quoted, that we hope this will grow(meaning our network of operators).

 

Thanks Ron for jumping in on this and helping to clarify. I'm going to try to organize another get together at my house in Studio City when the Alien Revolution I bought comes in so everyone who is interested can give it a try. This includes you grimmett. I think you would really enjoy this group of guys.

 

All the Best,

 

Chad Persons

[Brad Grimmett]

What's with the pissy attitude grimmet?

Sorry, I didn't mean for my post to sound pissy. Honesetly, I think I misunderstood your post. I thought you meant only 22 ops were welcome at the meeting, which sounded counter-intuitive to me, and didn't seem to make sense since you made a post about it on the forum. My mistake for misreading. I jumped to the conclusion that there was some kind of exclusion going on, and that bothered me.

As far as communicating about rates on this forum.....you and Ron make very good points. People ARE very hesitant to discuss rates in a public forum, and the differences in rates between different cities and countries is definately something to consider. I think having informal gatherings is a great way to keep informed about what's going on.

Hopefully I'll be able to make it to the next one.

Again, sorry for my confusion.