Los Angeles now ranks as the sixth-best location for filming according to a survey of studio executives by ProdPro, which tracks production trends. Toronto, Britain, Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia are all more desirable, the survey said.
The fucking NYT blames workers.
The competition abroad is fierce. Labor costs in countries where the government pays for health care are often far lower than anywhere in the United States, particularly in California. And the disparity has only grown wider, some say, after the studios and the unions agreed in recent years to new contracts that included wage increases for workers.
One budget document viewed by The New York Times showed the cost of a seven-person set operations team — positions known as “grips” — to be roughly $59,000 for a 30-day shoot in Budapest.
Because of health care, pension and other expenses, it costs about $53,000 to employ just one senior-level grip in Los Angeles for the same time frame, according to a line producer who provided the budget documents.
Grips are some of the most important people in any film production because they’re the ones who have to coordinate every shot between the director, cinematographer, set designer, costume designer, sound designer, light technician, and camera operators. NYT is either downplaying their role deliberately or doesn’t know shit about shit or both.
For those who don’t know, grips are like engineers who build all the scaffolding and tracks used to keep cameras steady while filming. Doing a dolly zoom on an actor’s face when they’re standing in a narrow hallway is a serious undertaking. Not only do they have to build a track to fit in the hall, they frequently have to build custom cameras, remote controls or seating for the camera operator, custom lights so the camera’s shadow doesn’t appear in the shot, special sound setups so there’s no echo or inconsistencies, etc.
The key grip often has years of experience in multiple fields of film production. $280 per day is fucking cheap for construction workers or electricians. Grips are doing both those jobs and then more on top of that. This NYT fuck probably makes $600 a day writing bullshit.
The fucking NYT blames workers.
Grips are some of the most important people in any film production because they’re the ones who have to coordinate every shot between the director, cinematographer, set designer, costume designer, sound designer, light technician, and camera operators. NYT is either downplaying their role deliberately or doesn’t know shit about shit or both.
For those who don’t know, grips are like engineers who build all the scaffolding and tracks used to keep cameras steady while filming. Doing a dolly zoom on an actor’s face when they’re standing in a narrow hallway is a serious undertaking. Not only do they have to build a track to fit in the hall, they frequently have to build custom cameras, remote controls or seating for the camera operator, custom lights so the camera’s shadow doesn’t appear in the shot, special sound setups so there’s no echo or inconsistencies, etc.
The key grip often has years of experience in multiple fields of film production. $280 per day is fucking cheap for construction workers or electricians. Grips are doing both those jobs and then more on top of that. This NYT fuck probably makes $600 a day writing bullshit.
Why not have ‘the shadow cast by the Eiffel Tower’ and ‘countries that drive on the right’ while we’re at it?