The ‘Lower Class’ of Filmdom

After reflecting on “Carrey! Schwarzenegger! Stallone! Silverstone?” (Calendar, Aug. 12) and Eugene Boggs’ “Actors Also Pay Price for Star Salaries” (Sept. 4), I had to mention what happens on the other side of the camera.

After paying millions of dollars to the stars, millions of dollars to the director and half a million or more to each producer (there are usually five or six), film production has not even started. Each actor must have a dressing room. Each star receives an expandable 40-foot-plus motor home or two and maybe a private workout trailer the size of a large furniture moving van. For some stars there is the usual paid entourage of gurus, dialect coaches, masseuses, Tarot-card readers, computer instructors, personal trainers and the like. In addition, on distant locations there are the exquisite rented homes, cars with drivers and company jets to whisk their weary bones wherever they want to go between days they are needed on the set.

These people are catered to day and night. The stars, actors, directors and producers all receive handsome residual checks for years if the film is a success. Yes, the stars, the actors, the directors and sometimes even the producers draw people to the theater to watch movies, but they are not the only draw.

There are death-defying stunts, spectacular special effects, computer-generated visual effects, brilliant camera moves, lighting effects, sound effects and spellbinding musical scores. Sometimes, there is even a great story.

All of these are put together by dedicated men and women who have devoted their lives to their crafts and work as a team for hourly wages (much less than Screen Actors Guild scale plus 10% for an agent’s fee). They have little to do with stars and other actors. Many times, they put films together in spite of the stars. They represent the “lower class” of the motion picture business. They are the labor. They are on the set at call time and do not leave, except for lunch, until “Wrap!” is called 12 to 18 or more hours later, every day for months at a time. Ninety-hour workweeks are common. They work without masseuses or coaches and they produce the magic that people have come to expect when they go to the theater. Not everybody has what it takes to be a crew member.

*

Increasingly, there are projects on which crews are subjected to harassment, belittlement, chastisement and are under additional pressures to make up for the poor planning and insufficient preparation by their superiors.

In order to bring the dreams of writers and directors to film reality, crew members work on dark, dreary stages or in the blazing sun. They work in the dirt, in the rain, in the snow, under water, in smoke and on fire. They work 90 feet above the ground without a net and in the exhaust blast of jet engine wind machines blowing dirt and debris. Crew members go anywhere, do anything and love it. Without great crews, movies could never be as spectacular as they are today.

Unlike the stars, crew members must work on three or more films a year to raise their families, pay their mortgages, save for their retirements and be responsible citizens. They will not be receiving fat residual checks. Crew members are the real magicians of Hollywood.

Ironically, most audiences walk out during the credits of the crew. The next time you go to a movie, give some respect and a standing ovation to the crews that actually labor to make film the art form we all love to see.