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Low budget web series tomorrow in LA 6/28


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If you're available tomorrow and have 4 lavs, mixer/recorder, and can feed a red camera then call this producer tonight.

818-633-2146

The pay is low so this is for all those newbies out there. If you don't have a way to feed audio to the Red then it's probably no big deal considering the budget and last minute notice.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Michael,

I took the gig because there wasn't anything going on that day, but asked to be replaced after about an hour in. I stayed on until they found someone else but the floundering was sad to watch, guided by a complete moron for a director (Producer said he did commercials, don't you know) who took at least ten takes per camera angle with no request for anything different from the actors, just "take it again from the top". Far from Joe Pytka........

So far it's been a week since Joe Riley (the producer who hired me, same phone number you provided) said the check would go out right away, and somehow, there's been no check.

Fair warning to those who keep a list of deadbeats......

Jerry

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I'm confused. You took a last minute job. You got there and changed your mind about doing the job because the director didn't know what he was doing. What exactly did you expect?

So you left, after requiring they replace you, but you are expecting to get paid?

I'm not sure I would pay you if I were the producer. You're not entitled to get paid if you chose to walk away. They had to pay someone to replace you.

Am I wrong or just confused about the circumstances?

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I did a few days on this when I was between two gigs. Not sure how they got my number but they called me. I'm just seeing this post now.

The first day I was there I had to show up late because of a conflicting gig, and they couldn't find anyone else but me. I worked 10 hours, the rest of the crew worked 15 or so. Everybody was cool with me, and I was cool with everybody.

Day 2 Went long. another 15 hour day. I did not complain, but did say my next day I would have a hard out at 12 hrs. Production (joe) was cool with it.

Day 3 started off ok. At 10 hrs and no end in sight, I reminded them of my hard out. At 11hrs I reminded them again. At 11.5 I started packing my gear and getting ready to leave. At hour 13 I was handed a check. I then handed over my audio files and left.

That was it for me, I only worked three days then went back to my regular gig. It was in fact a very disorganized S.Show, but it wasn't too bad. I was told I would be given a boom op. I was given several people over the three days, none of which had ever touched a boom pole in their life.

"roll sound" was never called once. It was always something along the lines of "ok lets go", or an immediate "roll camera". I tried to rectify the situation, but my requests fell upon deaf ears. Thankfully the camera crew knew enough to wait for me to call "speed" before they slated. There may have been a few lost takes due to nobody ever telling me to roll, but i'm not sure.

Looking at my logs, the average shot lasted 15 minutes. whatever. I was on my cart drinking soda and eating chips the whole time. They were cool with me showing up late every day, I negotiated my rate to something we were both unhappy with, I just rolled with it. I told them I would not be keeping notes if that is how they wanted to do it, and they were fine with it. Also a lot of it was improve, with a minimum of direction.

The director, as stated above was pretty inexperienced. I did hear him talk about all the commercials he had directed, but he never mentioned anything specific. My guess was that if he had in fact done commercials, sound was probably never a part of them.

Overall, I showed up, hit record when I thought I should hit record, got paid, and then went home. I only did 3 days for them, which was short enough for me to keep my cool. I had a few audio issues, brought them up to production as usual, some of them got dealt with and some of them did not. Oh well, they got the best they could get with each situation.

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Also I should mention that I took the job because I thought the concept was actually pretty cool. For the most part I think it looked (and sounded) pretty good, and parts of it actually did have me laughing. The food was good, and I got along with people for the most part

I did ask what happened to their original guy. They said it was a guy named Jerry. (who I assume is the above poster). They said he didn't really know what he was doing and his equipment kept failing.

Judging from what they told me, and what you have posted here, I would not be checking your mailbox daily.

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" I was told I would be given a boom op. "

they didn't say an experienced boom op... shows they do not know what they are doing...

" I did hear him talk about all the commercials he had directed, "

pretend commercials, BTW, do not count!

he lied!

" Also a lot of it was improve, with a minimum of direction. "

so, what did the director contribute to this POS ??

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WOW...I'm really sorry fellas. I never worked with this guy before but figured someone here might want to take the job. I was called at 10:00pm, the day before shooting, and asked if I was available. I was already booked but figured I'd toss the job around here to see if anyone wanted to bite.

Jerry,

I'm with the fellas on this one. Unless we are not understanding you correctly, I wouldn't expect getting paid if you only stayed for an hour and demanded a replacement. I don't think I could ever do something like that unless the show promoted something that totally conflicted with my morals. I think what you did was a bad move and posting it here makes me not want to publicly announce these gigs anymore. Since they are low budget you kinda need to expect things to be chaotic yet still be able to keep your cool and do what you were hired to do.

If we are wrong about this, or the facts are different then what you stated, then now is the time to clear things up.

Thesoundguy,

They got your number because you hit me up with your contact info when I asked if anyone wanted low budget work. Thank you for handling the situation like a pro. I'll keep your name on file for the better gigs. Thanks.

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"roll sound" was never called once. It was always something along the lines of "ok lets go", or an immediate "roll camera". I tried to rectify the situation, but my requests fell upon deaf ears. Thankfully the camera crew knew enough to wait for me to call "speed" before they slated.

I have encountered this quite a few times, with crews who should know better, even on national shows (OK, basic cable). The sad thing I'm seeing is 30-something people still doing this, when they've been out of film school for 7-8 years and should have learned standard set protocol by now.

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