A production crew member at work on the Rocky Balboa spinoff 'CREED' filming on Temple University's campus.After much procrastination on a growing to-do list for the A to Z Challenge (we're at 1,000 participants and counting! Yay!), I'm supposed to be catching up on editing videos for an upcoming surprise you'll see soon enough. So how did I find myself on here blogging today? For starters, I know it's about time since there hasn't been a new post in a few days.
So I figured this is a good day to discuss how much we take our jobs for granted, or rather, how we sometimes fail to recognize the perks of whatever field we find ourselves working in. Sure there are stressful times and annoyances that are part of a job we don't particularly care for, but who can name any field that doesn't come with its own set of challenges, right?! Unfortunately, filmmaking hasn’t contributed to the bulk of any money I earn.
Making less than $400 in the last year alone, which turns out to be around -700 or so, at minimum, when factoring in the expenses I racked up (in other words, no profit equals no revenue, but I digress…) tells me I have a lot of work to do in the motion picture arena if this thing is going to pan out for me. So anyone able to make a comfortable living – or even enough to pay a bill or buy groceries for the month -- by landing jobs on productions with some kind of budget that makes these things possible, are lucky to work in an environment where there is no stringent dress code and you can be anyone or do anything that you wouldn’t normally do in the real world.
This weekend I was watching an actress's vlog where she and the crew of an action webseries, about espionage, were on set wrapping a 20-day shoot. As she filmed her last scenes as a femme fatalle, teased the cinematographer and exchanged jokes with the sound guy during lunch breaks, it dawned on me how much of a blessing it is to be able to work in an industry where you get to play make believe all day.
Sylvester Stallone's Rocky franchise continues with 'CREED' starring Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station).Depending on what role or position you're in on any given production, you can dress up, perform stunts, travel, play with gadgets and basically run around town acting like a fool while meeting new people and forming relationships (albeit brief) with these strangers -- many of whom you may never run into again. It’s like a never-ending celebration of Halloween, Mardi Gras and the Fourth of July on steroids.
Making movies, television, commercials, music videos, or other content in the audiovisual medium brings with it a set of crazy responsibilities while also putting you through a roller coaster of emotions. When you step away from it for a minute and view it from another side, however, it's kinda awesome.
The stress for, say, a production sound guy is different than that of someone working on an assembly line at an automobile manufacturing plant, or even a doctor performing open heart surgery. Each person involved in the assembling of cars has challenges of making sure all the parts on the finished product is working. If there is a recall or people stop purchasing them, then the company doesn't make money, people start getting laid off and then there is no fun in a situation like that. In the surgeon's case, his (or her) stress and challenges carry a whole other level of importance because it's a life or death situation with the patient's future literally in his hands.
Heart surgeon's get to be heroes who make it possible for people to have a chance at a better, and longer, quality of life. Those working on airplanes, trains, automobiles, bicycles, etc. are helping other people get to their jobs -- or to the hospital for that surgery -- faster than they would on foot. All in all, this stuff makes the world go 'round in the sense that they aid, in one way or another, our ability to carry on with our day-to-day existence as efficiently as possible. These things are awesome, making the medical and manufacturing industries just as cool as many other fields.
Since I'm no expert engineer and would probably faint at the mere thought of rearranging a person's internal organs, I think I'll stay in my lane for now and remember to appreciate the privilege of playing pretend, when and where I can.
No matter whether YOU work full-time, part-time or seasonally, what are some awesome aspects of YOUR industry (or industries)?
*Note: Just a quick heads up…the Monday Movie Meme will likely go up late tomorrow now that I’m going to have to make up for lost time on those video editing tasks ;)