pshap Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 This happened a few months back and hopefully others can learn from what happened here. On a remote location in the Hills of California, our production did not have a full time caterer to handle the craft services / meals portion of our shooting day. Production assistants were utilized to set up the tables and chairs for meals and the caterer simply dropped off the pans of food to be distributed.. Sterno cans were used to heat the food and when breaks were called, crew members would get their food, sit and eat. One day after breakfast, the production assistants were wrapping up the eating area and the hot, used sterno cans were placed into a cardboard box and packed away into the back of a production trailer that was being used as the makeup artists studio. A nice production vehicle it was!!! 10 minutes after clean up, our make up artist was inside the front of the trailer when she smelt something burning and saw smoke... she looked towards the back of the trailer and saw flames... she screamed "fire" and jumped outside the front door.... The back slider of the trailer was opened and the contents quickly yanked outside.....A cardboard box had ignited into flames and two 6 foot plastic tables started to catch on fire. The interior fiberglass wall of the trailer started to melt as well and cracked due to the heat produced by the flames. A powder type of extinguisher was used and black smoke / suit / powder were everywhere... Luckily no one was hurt. I heard that the damage to the trailer was estimated at $16,000 to repair and an insurance claim was filed. I understand production is expensive and cutting costs is important. In this case, our Production got hit hard for not having a full time caterer / person on set. The insurance rates for this production company just went up, up, up.... This disaster got pinned on a Production Assistant who did not know that you should not store hot, caustic sterno cans with other flammable materials...... Lesson learned and shared.... The owner of the trailer was pretty upset too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BobD Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 Catering is simply not the job of our hard working PA's..... Thats why we have professionals doing this job, or SHOULD... A lesson learned indeed... Will THEY learn though? Probably not. Glad nobody was injured.. Poor PA for having to take the blame for productions failure to properly crew their job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ken Mantlo Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 Did the PA get fired? Hope not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lightstone, CAS Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 The PA was probably asked to mix the next job - save those dollars. Heavy sarcasm intended. RL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Waelder Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 The PA was probably asked to mix the next job Not likely. After he nearly burned down the project, who in his right mind would entrust a PA with responsibilities that involved electrical equipment, wires, antenna masts and other potentially dangerous articles? That PA will be assigned to a role where he can't do any physical harm. He'll be producing the next project. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPSharman Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 A similar fire happened a couple of years ago, but this started in a box of disposed of 9V batteries in the back of a sound trailer. It just goes to show you, accidents can happen, even when you are doing the job assigned. I sincerely hope the PA was not fired and not really "blamed" for the damage. While it was pretty stupid to put hot stuff in a cardboard box, I bet he was also thinking of all the other responsibilities he was given. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lightstone, CAS Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 David, Heavy sarcasm intended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPSharman Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 David's "misunderstanding" of the sarcasm was a set-up for his own sarcasm. If I had half of David's brain, I would be smart enough to not be starting a career as a sound mixer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lightstone, CAS Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 You are correct and I stand corrected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergio Sanmiguel Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 LMAO... Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek H Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 PA's make me nervous... Recently I was in a 15-pass van being driven by a pa who was driving so recklessly I hit my head on the roof after we cruised over a speed bump like it wasn't even there. What's worse is that the producers never seem to care until its too late.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 A few summers ago I worked on a multiple day Discovery Channel gig during which we traveled a good bit around Indiana. The producer drove and the three of us who were passengers cringed the whole time. He didn't seem to be paying much attention to the driving part -- sometimes he'd be looking at something else and the right tire would wander just off the road, etc. The irony of the story is that, in a city in Southern Indiana, we got into an accident. Well, that's not exactly the ironic part. The ironic part is that it was ENTIRELY the other person's fault -- and the producer maneuvered with skill to minimize the damage. John B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 They always blame the PA's which is a shame IMO. The Producer should look in the mirror and yell at him/her self. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Waelder Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 You are correct and I stand corrected. Just having some fun. I don't really disrespect producers. Mostly, anyway. If I had half of David's brain, I would be smart enough to not be starting a career as a sound mixer! Well, look at all the good it's done me so far. I think we all tend to overestimate ourselves a bit. Malcolm Gladwell probably had it about right when he said, in "Outliers" that there is no real advantage to intelligence past a certain point. He pegged that point as an IQ around 130, a score not all that high. Certainly, everyone posting to this group would meet that cut-off. I know that my father concurred with Gladwell's thinking. He had me tested when I was an adolescent and told me that he was quite relieved to learn that I was of very ordinary but capable intelligence. In the Malcolm Gladwell range. He felt that was good enough. He always thought there was a high correlation between unusually high intelligence and schizophrenia. And, maybe that says something about producers as well. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ken Mantlo Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Dunt bee suw shore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergio Sanmiguel Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Dunt bee suw shore. Hehehe :^) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason porter Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 I call it "full-circle effect" This is just a theory... A person's brain can only hold a finite amount of retrievable information. After the tank is full, the person "unlearns" basic skills that the brain first learned...such as social interaction, common sense, how to drive (lol) etc... Example- **this is not my story, but a good friends actual experience.** While spending the morning in the emergency room after cutting my hand while trying to half a bagel (which was at the time, the no. 1 Saturday morning injury that the emergency room dealt with!!!), I spoke to a Doctor (surgeon), who was also a patient. His hands were all bandaged up. He was mowing the lawn and for some reason felt the need to check the fuel level of the lawnmower. So, he reached for either side of the mower, his idea was to lift and tip the mower to one side, so see if he could visually confirm how much gas was left in the tank. He lost all 8 finger tips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 " Production got hit hard for not having a full time caterer / person on set. " tripping over dollars to pick up pennies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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