No Pessimist Ever Discovered the Secret of the Stars

So if you haven't noticed, I decided a month or two ago that I was going to try to come up with clever blog titles.  The generic "update on my life" ones were lame and boring.  So now it's something random, a quote, or a lyric from a song.  I like it better that way. :P

In other news, I have paid work again already!  This time it's a 5-day gig and it also pays $100 a day.  I'm hoping that from here on out it will be uphill.  Another reason I have decided why it is good to do sound is that you don't have to go through the painful period of PAing.  PAing is a hellish job that I try to avoid at all costs.  For most other departments, it is one of those necessary evils that you must succumb to in order to begin your climb on the hierarchal ladder of film production.  Oftentimes, people move out here with plans to work in the business and in order to get their foot in any door, they have to work (for free) on an entire feature!  Granted, they do get credit, the money is nonexistent and in the meantime, I have absolutely no idea how they survive in this city without a source of income.  Thank goodness sound doesn't work that way!  

Sound is one of the smallest departments of film production: 1-3.  On a regular feature you will have 3 people on the sound team: the mixer, the boom operator, and the sound utility.  Sound utility is the closest thing (in my opinion) to PA as you can get, but it is still no where near as bad... and sound utes still get paid... same rate as boom, actually.  If the budget isn't as high, you just have the mixer and boom op, and when it's a lo-no budget project, the mixer IS the boom op.  Those ones suck.  I've done that before - trust me, it's not fun. 

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I also have a couple of secret tactics that have worked incredibly well for me when it comes to ultimately getting paid work.  It's a secret that I actually discovered by accident, but works nonetheless.  Last year, I had the opportunity to work on High School Musical 3.  Now, saying that makes it sound like I was there for the entire 42 days of filming, correct?  Wrong!  Contrary to popular belief, I was only there for the last 4 days.  The first day I went as an extra and got paid $100.  Being an extra sucks.  It consists of sitting around all day waiting for them to maybe use you for half a second in one scene.  Most people don't realize what they're signing up for when they agree to it.  However, when I was invited to be an extra on it, I went with the sole intention of getting in with the sound crew.  I wanted to do film - and I wanted to do sound.  Who better to make friends with than people already well established in location sound?  So that was my goal: by the end of the day, be invited back to help with sound.  And guess what, it worked.  I started talking with the boom operator and he realized I knew my stuff and by the end of the day he'd invited me back (no pay, of course).  And the next 3 days I was there from call until wrap (roughly, 4pm-6am days...or, nights).  I impressed the boom op and sound mixer, they got my contact info, and for the next year I got a good deal of work opportunities from them (one being "Frozen").  Through that is how I've got the tentative spot on the HSM4 crew (and this one will be paid!).

Also, Heroes was somewhat the same sort of thing.  The mixer invited me to come to set.  I went, and stayed for the full day (2pm-2am).  He was impressed that I stayed the whole time and was so eager to help.  The next week, a friend of his needed a boom operator.  He gave him my name.  The job I just finished working was that very job.  That being said:

Secret #1: Work for free, but only for 1-5 days.  You can make the same connections in 5 days as you can in 50, and can actually afford 1-5 days of unpaid work.  

Secret #2: Work as an extra and get to know your department of interest while on set.  If you act like an extra, you won't get to talk to anyone, but if you act like you belong there, are supposed to be there, and know what you're doing, you can easily bypass the label of 'extra.' 

Secret #3: Start from the top.  This is my newest discovered secret.  If you start with 'bottom feeders', it's going to take a lot longer to climb up because you're all fighting for the same thing.  You need someone who can pull you up.  If you go straight to the top, work for that person for a day or two (for free) and prove to him your diligence and your work ethic, he'll start recommending you to already-established friends of his who are higher up on the ladder than you... and those gigs are almost always paid.

Well there you have it.  My 3 "Secrets to Success" in doing location sound for film.  Tomorrow: Magic Mountain!

Post title: quote by Helen Keller