3/03/2010

I am the Screen, I Work at Night

Crew call was 18:00 hours and they will be working hard through the night, lunch at midnight, camera wrap sometime just after dawn, weary eyes and welcome beds come morning rush hour.

I'm not with them, as much as I would like to be. I've worked many such nights. I did one show that was nothing but. Since that time I've traded my career on location for the life of the production office.

The junior-most of administrators, I arrive shortly after my colleagues have had lunch and remain until the wee hours of the morning. Someone has to be here, you see. Like a flotilla upon the sea, the shooting company on location needs a connection to port, a single voice on a telephone waiting to take messages, deliver documents, record milestones and sometimes to extinguish fires.

I can't do much besides wait. All our vendors are closed on east coast and the west. No deliveries will arrive until morning. The accountants and gate keepers have all gone home to whatever semblance of a regular life this industry can offer.

And I am here, alone, a single sentry soul amidst a quarter million square feet of production space, left to stoke the braziers and email the wrap report.

It is the life I have chosen, and proudly so.




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6 comments:

peony said...

Remember, if no one is calling and you need a voice to tether you to the here and now...one person is awake and always happy to talk with you.

Beekeepers Apprentice said...

Sounds like more fun than my job! :)

Tom Harper said...

It's always good to live the life you've chosen.

waldo said...

Have you thought of taking up the saxophone?

peony said...

Your Aunt Judy has a saxophone you can borrow...it belonged to your Grandfather (and was played by Judy and your Mum for years, and years, and years...although never as well as he played it).

Unknown said...

Yep, it is a crazy lifestyle but rewarding. I have nothing but respect for the guys and girls in your end of the business.