Sunday, October 25, 2015

I Loved Them All, But Not Enough To Stay.


It was a damn good crew.

I'd been a Best Boy* a few times now and a juicer even more, and few shows ran as smoothly as this one.

Everyone was laid back and always jovial, trusting each other to do their jobs, and despite me and my compadres slipping in mid-season, we fit in like we were part of the family all along.

I'd go out for drinks with the Art Department and have coffee with the Accountant. Transpo practically used our truck as a clubhouse when we were on location and I often took naps on the couch in the Prop Office.

An the UPM** was a very understanding guy. Sure, he'd get squinty when you asked for special equipment and extra manpower, but he always heard you out and even if he didn't give you what you wanted, he'd work it out so we at least got what we needed.

The hours were great, too. Enough to make a living, but not enough that you couldn't have a life, and the ADs put together schedules that actually made sense.

It was a pretty sweet show to be on and the people there were great. I loved them all.

...But not enough to stay.

I never totally got along with my boss, and so when the next season of the show came around again, I was faced with a choice: return to the show with a boss I didn't love but a crew that I did, or start a new one with a nicer boss but a lower job title.

I chose the latter.

While I would have loved to stay with the cool crew and a keep the higher job title, I realized that every time I thought about returning to work for the more difficult boss, a small sense of dread would form in the pit of my stomach.

I figured that couldn't be a good sign.

I felt sad that I would no longer see those guys every day, and I'd have to work hard to prove myself on this new crew. But I feel like in the end, I made the right decision.

I may have lost one family, but I've slowly starting to gain a new one.





*Or more politically correct, ACLT, or "Assistant Chief Lighting Technician".
** Unit Production Manager. Aka: the guy that controlls the budget. His job is basically granting/denying you stuff.

1 comment :

Michael Taylor said...

It's so rare that everything lines up just right -- good show, great production staff, great boss, great crew -- that you have to savor the moment when it does. Usually there's a big fat fly buzzing away somewhere on the frosting of that cake, and if that fly happens to be your boss, it's a bitch. When your department is tight top to bottom, you can put up with a stupid show, crappy writers, a shitty director, lame producers, an asshole UPM, or a pack of grumpy grips… but when the cancer is your boss, that's a deal-breaker.

Sounds like you made the right call, but I'm sorry it had to come to this. Good luck on the new show...

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