Tuesday, December 8, 2009

It's Shit Like This That Annoys Me.

The Gaffer calls over the radio that he needs all hands on deck. We're about to do a relight and he wants us to stand close by and wait for further instructions. There were as many lights on the ground as there were juicers, so my colleagues and I each position ourselves by a light, gloves on, ready to move and tweak it if necessary. My light just happens to be right next to a doorway.

AD: (to me) "Hey you, can you move this out of the way so people can use this doorway?"
Me: "Actually, this light might still be playing right now. Let me check with the Gaffer."
As I reach for the "talk" button on my walkie...
AD: (yelling across the room) "Hey Gaffer! Can this light move?"
The Gaffer nods his head. The AD grabs the stand, moves it to the side, gives me a look, and walks away.

Oh helllll no.

First off, unless you're a set electrician or there's some kind of emergency, keep your damn hands off any lights, cables and corresponding stands. I don't care if you're the all important AD.
Secondly, THERE'S A JUICER STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. Even more reason to not fuck with the lights.
Thirdly, no one knows more about how important it is to have clear doorways and pathways than a grip or electric. We move large/heavy/awkward shit in a hurry all the time and hate it when there are unnecessary obstacles in our way. So believe me when I say that if that light doesn't need to be in the middle of everything, I'll gladly move it.

And don't even get me started on how he went over my head and straight to the Gaffer. It's annoying and frustrating when that happens in general, but for Pete's sake, I was willing to work with him on this. Had he waited another millisecond, he'd hear me on my walkie asking for permission to move the light.

Lastly, that smug look he threw at me was totally uncalled for. The whole ordeal is evidence of how unprofessional he is and the "How do you like them apples?" glance just shows how he isn't even aware of that fact.

People like that piss me off.

6 comments :

Niall said...

Well that's a shit moment but assholes exist and they'll do crap like that. At times like that be the bigger person, you feel better in the long run I swear.

At least it wasn't a PA trying to remove the Neutral from the distro box with the three biggest HMI heads on the truck connected to it.

Unknown said...

At least if it was a new PA you could have assumed they didn't know any better... But an AD... he/she should know better than to do something as low as that.

Peggy Archer said...

Ugh. There's no excuse for behaving like that. And if you react to him being an ass, you're the one in the wrong.

A.J. said...

Niall - Yikes. I'm a firm believer that PAs shouldn't touch anything power related unless it's a stinger. And even then, it's a good idea to supervise them.

Chris - Yeah, I think if it was a PA, I'd be more annoyed and amused instead of pissed off.

Peggy - Exactly. There's just no good way to deal with a situation like that.

Anonymous said...

when people on set behave like that it's just a reflection of their unprofessionalism.

btw, what kind of productions are you working on? it's been a while since i've worked nonunion gigs. do they even still exist?

get in the union. work with better people.

A.J. said...

Anonymous - Yes, non-union gigs do exist. They're very much alive, in fact. And as much as I hate to admit, without them, many people (myself included) would starve.

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