I believe the intent was to create something for the AFM. I wish them well too, maybe I can get paid!

Jim

Hi Jim: I enjoyed following your experiences very much. Thanks for posting this...

A bit of a departure from what I'm used to seeing you do, heh.

Jim,

I also enjoyed the day-in-the-life-on-a-set story. Makes me feel like I'm not the only inexperienced @#$%^& director out there. I can identify with a grumbly crew at odds with great artistic vision... :)

But I am glad to have made the move behind the camera. That method acting was tough. Sometimes I'd get stuck for days "in character" wrecking my home life and professional career. Never come straight from an all night gig playing a mobster into a work review covering your C++ coding accomplishments...

Dick

Jim, very many thanks for a fascinating insight into movie making as it is now. It's a long time since I was on a feature film set (4 Weddings & a Funeral...14 years ago!) and I'm wondering whether things have changed in the relationships within the crew. Bickering between the sound crew and the camera crew, sometimes surly electricians, lordly contempt from the shooting technicians for the 'armchair army' (make up, hairdressing etc). All these were by no means common in the films I worked on, but were still discernible.

Nick

Fortunately we were not that big a crew. The electricians did camera, camera did lights and so on. There were 10 people at all times + or - a couple of PAs. Over 6 weeks of working and living together it got pretty stinky, in both ways, at times.

Looking back on it now there were some slackers and some guys that really busted butt. The work was hard but I really learned a lot and made some great friends.

Glad to hear that your crew pulled together. That was the big difference I noticed moving from feature films into regional television. The TV film cameramen looked out for us sound guys and vice versa...I would also carry lamps for the sparks, something at least two unions would have crucified me for in films! I expect that it's different in features now. Thanks again for your diary.
Nick.

Jim,
Thanks for the running diary. I was a gaffer (or juicer) in a feature film, and I can sympathize with the way you felt. Try moving 12K lamps in the middle of August in Florida -yecch! That experience turned me away from feature films. I prefer smaller productions now.

Nick, I love Four Weddings and a Funeral! One of my favorite flicks.

great stuff Jim. Thanks for taking the time to write all this.