Alan H. Chang

Michael, I've stopped calling AD's for a few months already. I've been contacting the UPM and he doesn't reply my voicemails, e-mails, nor return a phone call. He's been good at it until after my part was done.

Hey Phil, I'm also glad you were already booked. At that time, Coffey didn't come in mind. The good thing is Coffey is in LA which definitely helps for very last minute things. I'm having mixed feelings. Good being some other crew members were also dealing with the same situation, bad being I got a good K.O. So hopefully this matter will settle.

So I got a call back from 1st unit (Dan) and he left a voicemail regarding compensations. He was there 2/3 of the way and 1/3 of it was due to time conflicts with schedule. He also mentioned that several other crew members had also encountered the same situation that I encountered and didn't know too much detail about it. He's out for lunch and will be back later.

Frank, Yup, months is correct. The chances are getting slimmer and slimmer by the day. What I did do was contact the UPM after my part was done and I got no luck of return calls after series of voicemails. Called 1st AD and 2nd AD, nobody would pickup my calls, but during the shoot they would. What I also found out was that another person had taken my place as 2nd unit after I had left. I wrapped up on Friday and was told that I might be needed for that coming Sunday's small scene, which is an INT/EXT shoot of a car. No big deal, but they suddenly changed their mind and told me that I wasn't needed any further. I do have the 1st unit's # but he get's quite busy. I'll give him a call again today. I'm not sure whether the other 2nd unit crew got paid, but I'm assuming he did. The impression I got was that the production needed a 2nd unit due to a 4 day leave from the 1st unit and they really hadn't budget it in to my guess, so they asked the UPM for any recommendations. Not sure if I was his first or not, but I've worked with this guy for a few times including the Script Supervisor (Joshua Knoles) who was on set and later another grip (Mike Jones) was called in need of extra help. All these guys were close to me and I'm in no doubt that they're trying to low ball me this much. I could have told him that I wasn't available, but I didn't have that gut feeling of wanting to say NO because I didn't know. Mike, Thanks for giving support. Yes, this is a real movie. I didn't wait longer than 45 days. I took the action of calling every person that I knew who had relations with this movie and people who knew these folks. No luck there as everyone on set ignored my calls and people who knew these folks were busy as well. What do you mean a "mechanic's lien?" Rob, The meals were provided and supposedly the mileage were to be covered. It seems if that the 1st unit couldn't make it to the set due to driving distances, vacation, sick leave, or part of the contract wasn't covered so he didn't show up. What he did do was tell the production that he wasn't going to be there for the next 4 days, so they panicked and asked for any recommendations to cover sound. The shoot schedule was well explained and the boarding was well discussed, but things changed last minute on set regarding those issues. I wouldn't have guessed this kind of catastrophe to happen, didn't expect it coming really as I knew several people from other past films/projects who had always recommended me. It's a shame. What's more depressing is that I work with a live sound company who does festivals and concerts around the Bay Area. One time while mixing for the band Stumpy Jones during the Fog Fest in Pacifica, CA, one of the band members had mentioned over the stage to the audience detailing about their presence in a film called "The Crate." I was standing there behind the board and was shocked at what I heard. I discussed the situation with the head engineer and he told me that it's very unethical for their actions. Everyone, I appreciate all your support in dealing with this kind of problem most have encountered within their life especially mine.

To start off, this movie is going to come out very soon within the next month or two. You can check it up on IMDB directed by Sam Burbank. Good news, all recorded dialogue on set were properly recorded. Did a great job and moved on. Bare with me, it's long. Bad news. Got called up on April 24, 2007 2:00PM by the Line Producer (Pete Paduano), who happens to be one of my 1st AD on previous project, and tells me that they are in need of a sound mixer to sub in for the 1st unit sound mixer (Dan Gleich). It's Tuesday afternoon here in the West Coast and I'm needed the next day afternoon at 1PM. 23hrs left on the clock. I asked him what's the project about and he told me they're shooting HD (HVX200) and the sound mixer is "da bomb!" Before I agreed, I told him that I've got some things to take care of before I can get back to him. I asked back about what sound gear the 1st unit was using, he doesn't know. So after an hour going back and forth with the 1st AD (Robyn) and 2nd AD (Ehren) about the audio equipment situation, I told them I will call them back and didn't gauranttee that I can do the gig. So I called Phil Talsky and asked if he was going to be available for those next few days. He was of course busy and it was a last minute gig, so it doesn't make sense because he was booked already. I called back the Line Producer and told him that I'll take the gig. After knowing that the 1st unit mixer used at least 4 wireless systems on set, I knew that things are looking rougher along the way. I called Trew and luckily Josh from rental waited patiently till 8:00PM EST to ship out my wireless overnight to get to me the next morning. I called back my Line Producer and he gave me the address of the set. Day ends. Next morning, I got the package and fired them up and tested to see how it'll work with my system. Checked Rx, Tx, mic, power, hooked up system and calibrated, bingo. I hurried and packed everything to the car and quickly drove to the set, which was about 70 miles away from my place. Heavy traffic, hot day. I got a call from Line Producer saying that they're carpooling over in Oakland, CA and wanted to see if I can go with them for convenience. WTH? I'm not sure if they knew but a sound mixer carries load of equipment to a big set. Told them I'll go alone. 30 minutes later, got a call back from Pete asking how long till I'll reach the set. I found out that they were in the same traffic as I was in, so I wasn't worried. By the time of arrival on set, I met almost the entire crew and was very lucky to have such a flexible team to work with. 5 minutes later, Pete walked up and introduced my boom op to me, who happens to be one of the main grips for the gaffer. Great to have 2 people on a team rather than 1. A few minutes later, the costume designer asked me if I had bandaids. I told her I didn't and she striked back "Well, the other sound guy had them." I would never want to approach that kind of attitidue ever again. We set up and rolled at 5PM. Short day, 12 midnight a wrap. The director told me that I can stay and share a room with someone. Who is someone? I replied with a generous No because I needed to head back to the city (San Francisco) due to a doctor's appointment the following morning. 1 of the grips needed a ride back to the city as well, so I took him along. End of day. Next day, April 26, arrived on set. This time, shoot was under heavy street traffic due to afternoon rush hour. Tough day, but I managed. Nothing exciting happened on this day, until after the wrap at around 10PM. I was invited to stay and I had told them the day before that I was going to stay due to driving distances and time lost. Things start to look very interesting. Most of the crew went on drinking, and I didn't want to join in becuase I can't drink alcohol due to Kidney Transplant. Time passed and finally my boom op told me to just relax. Took a bottle of beer and dranked half way. I asked the director if there was a room where I can stay in, he told me "The gaffer's room has a bed." I went in there and it was occupied already. Every room was occupied with 2 people already, what luck! Got a little pissed and just slept in my car for 4 hours till call time at 7AM Friday Apr.27. Friday morning and things started to look hazy due to lack of sleep in car. Things went as usual and by the end of the day, I went back home. Now, I've been promised to get pay and till this day on, nothing. Tried contacting everyone who was part of the crew, especially the directors and AD's, no answer and no call back after leaving voicemails months after months. You may think this was one hell of a nasty gig, but I'm getting very upset and dissappointed. People, what's your advice in handling this situation. There has been a lot of personal and rental expenses, which was promised to be covered by the producers. Nothing. Any advice? Alan Chang

Wow! 80Ah to 33Ah, you must have liked the weight change as well. Very convenient.

Alan, This is such a clean, basic setup. Love the Venue system! Do you have any kind of portable DC battery/power on the cart?