Anxiety on Dream Factory Assembly Line

By CLAUDIA ELLER and JAMES BATES

Feb. 4, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

The looming threat of a strike this summer by Hollywood’s writers and actors is already forcing many of the approximately 175,000 workers who toil behind the scenes making movies and TV shows to slash expenses, sock away savings, sift through other job prospects and scout out health insurance alternatives.

Blue-collar Hollywood--the often overlooked army of laborers who build sets, design costumes, move equipment and perform the myriad tasks that make the dream factory run--is likely to suffer collateral damage should Hollywood go dark. Fearful of losing jobs, homes and health benefits, these people are preparing for the worst.

“There’s an old expression,” said Norman Glasser, business agent of the local studio lighting technicians union. “When two elephants fight, only the grass gets hurt. We have no control over it, and it’s very frustrating.”

With the writers and studios far apart, the likelihood of a walkout still looms. Talks adjourned late Saturday, with the two sides agreeing to resume discussions Monday as they head toward a May 2 expiration of the existing contract. Although the talks are considered a hopeful sign, negotiations remain delicate.

Writers want big increases in the residuals they are paid when their work airs on foreign TV, cable TV and via the Internet and when videocassettes and DVDs are sold. Studios say an explosion in costs has squeezed their profits. Besides financial issues, writers also want expanded “creative rights,” such as more access to film sets and editing sessions, as well as a curbing of the use of “A film by” credits that are routinely given to movie directors.

But even if writers settle, studios and actors have yet to even schedule bargaining sessions to replace a deal that will expire July 1.

The lack of progress is frustrating workers on the sidelines--the so-called below-the-line workers.

“One has to wonder whether those who have the destiny of the industry in their hands understand the magnitude of what’s going on,” said Thomas Short, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, or IATSE, which represents 50,000 skilled workers in film and television in Los Angeles.

Exactly how many workers in Southern California are affected isn’t clear because comprehensive statistics are lacking on the nomadic, often freelance work force making up the entertainment economy. But the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. estimates that about two-thirds of the 270,000 local people who work in entertainment are in the blue-collar ranks, which include the scores of support service workers who rent props, costumes and equipment to productions, the caterers who provide food and the janitors who sweep sets and fix toilets and air conditioners.

In all, the economic group estimates the direct economic effect of a strike would be $250 million a week, with an additional $257 million in indirect effect weekly as cutbacks in spending ripple through the local economy to the stores, car dealers and dry cleaners that the entertainment workers patronize.

“If there is a strike, I will go broke,” said Mike Moyer, a veteran gaffer, or chief lighting technician. “We’re just working stiffs . . . paycheck-to-paycheck employees, and the average guy who makes his living on movies has no more than a month’s padding.”

For thousands of workers who joined Hollywood’s ranks during the work explosion and labor peace of the 1990s, a strike is something altogether new. As a result, union leaders for the last six months have been sounding alarms in words that sometimes resemble warnings of natural disaster.

“Be prudent, assume the worst, hope for the best, bank as much as you can, avoid purchasing the next car, batten down the hatches and pay attention to the news reports,” said Scott Roth, executive director of the Art Directors Guild, which represents workers who make sets.

For veteran workers, this year is shaping up as eerily reminiscent of 1988, the last time writers struck, and 1980, when actors last walked out. Only this time, both the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America could out at once.

Glasser, of the lighting technicians union, recalls how the 22-week strike in 1988 “devastated us and every other craft local. . . . It cost a lot of our members their homes and their families--there were divorces because there was no income.”

Glasser, a former 27-year gaffer who worked on such movies as “Animal House” and the celebrated 1983 miniseries “The Winds of War,” has warned members to “save as much as possible and do not buy big-ticket items. . . . We don’t want to be put in a situation like 1988.”

Strike Threat Propels Production

Ironically, workers at this moment couldn’t be busier. That’s because studios, in anticipation of a strike, are trying to squeeze in as many films and TV episodes as possible. In January, the number of total days that producers spent shooting on the streets of Los Angeles soared to 1,118, more than double what it was a year earlier, according to the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. permit agency.

But the temporary prosperity is expected to give way to a slowdown. New projects that need substantial time to prepare are already being canceled, a move that will probably accelerate in coming weeks.

Strikes by both groups, or even serious threats, will bring film and television production to a dead stop. The studios do not want to launch any production unless they are certain that it can be completed before a strike.

A strike would come on top of other factors that are already hurting Hollywood’s rank and file. The growth in foreign productions, especially in Canada, has siphoned off large chunks of work. Workers are also threatened by the proliferation of TV news, reality and sports programs, which don’t need their production skills.

Last year’s six-month strike against the advertising industry cost Southern California about $125 million in lost commercial production. Short, of the stage workers union, estimates that his members lost 1 million hours of work as a result of that strike.

Combined actors’ and writers’ strikes would be far more damaging.

“If there’s a strike, it will likely cripple Hollywood,” said Tom May, whose North Hollywood company TM Motion Picture Equipment Rentals is a major supplier of grip and lighting equipment.

Costume supervisor Jim Tyson, who like some others was lucky enough to work through the 1988 strike but wants to take no chances this time around, said he is stashing away as much money as he can.

“I’ve cut way back. I’m not getting new furniture or new carpet for my house,” said Tyson, who lives in Anaheim. “The lease on my car is up soon, and I’m not going to roll it over until I know what’s happening with the strike.”

Tyson said that, given the grueling 15- to 18-hour days that he and his peers often work, “all of us in the business spoil ourselves. We drive nice cars, live in nice homes and eat at the best restaurants.”

But belt tightening has become the rule. Oscar-winning sound mixer Lee Orloff, who, as an independent contractor, owns his equipment and has a two-man staff, said he usually budgets as much as $40,000 a year for buying new equipment. But this year, the La Canada resident said, he’s replacing only crucial items.

“I’ve got kids. I’ve got a big mortgage. I’ve got big overhead,” Orloff said.

Industry veteran James D. Brubaker, who began in the business as a driver for MGM in 1957 and has long been considered the godfather of physical production, believes that is precisely why saving money could be very difficult for some.

“Most people in our business live week to week. And, they all overspend. They get so caught up with the money that they don’t look far enough ahead. But, how much can people put away with the bills they have and the lifestyles they maintain?” he asked.

Adding to the anxiety are the rumors that flow through the sets, chow lines and union halls. Thom Davis, Local 80 business agent representing Hollywood grips, said one recent rumor he had to quash had the studios packing up and moving everything to Australia because of the strike threat.

“The biggest problem we have is that rumors are so rampant, and the facts are so few,” Davis said.

Brubaker, a perpetually busy producer, partner of comedy director Tom Shadyac (“Nutty Professor,” “Liar, Liar”), stressed that, in the event of a strike, it’s not the stars, directors and producers who get hurt most, but the “below-the-line” working class.

“What happens to the caterers, the lumberyards, the beauty supply houses, the wig makers--all the support services?” Brubaker asked.

Businesses Make Plans to Cope

In fact, the vendors whose businesses depend on consistent work from the hundreds of movies, TV shows and commercials made each year are nervous.

“We’re extremely worried about a strike,” conceded Eddie Marks, president of Western Costume, the nearly 90-year-old company that is the top supplier to Hollywood.

“For us, it looks like it’s going to be a long, hot summer. We’re beyond the point of hoping there is no strike. We’re preparing ourselves. . . . There are going to have to be layoffs,” said Marks, whose North Hollywood company employs 63 people and houses 3 million costume pieces.

Marks is weighing various ancillary businesses that could help bring in additional revenue during a strike. For example, the costume rental house also manufactures clothes and shoes and provides custom tailoring, which Marks said he might offer to the public. Another possibility is selling off tired merchandise in an outlet store.

“The sad thing is, not only are we a support company for the studios, but for fabric companies, dry cleaners, embroidery companies. Lots of people depend on us for business,” he said.

Marks is not alone in his concern about the potentially damaging effect a strike could have on business.

“It could be devastating,” lamented Monty Pollack, a partner in the Hand Prop Room on Venice Boulevard. “Any one of us who is a vendor and provides a service to the studios definitely risks losing their business in a prolonged strike.”

Bob Harvey, vice president of sales at camera rental giant Panavision, in Woodland Hills, has a different take. “You can’t run scared. We have no plans to change our method of doing business. No plans to lay anyone off or stop designing and manufacturing.”

However, Harvey acknowledged, if a strike were to happen and last six months or more, “It would be a different ballgame.”

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Film Credits

Here are a few Hollywood jobs and their responsibilities and pay scales, which are contract minimums.

Best boy: The gaffer’s assistant

$27.46/hour

Boom operator: A technician who holds a microphone attached to a long arm

$37.69/hour

Dolly grip: Worker who pushes the dolly that a camera rests on during filming

$28.45/hour

Gaffer: The main electrician in a film, maintaining the lights

$30.35/hour