The Editor - Labor Day… and Unions

It’s Labor Day in the United States this coming Monday and it seemed a natural time for me to talk about what film unions have done in the scope of my career.

I remember, one day when I was working as an assistant editor on a documentary that was struggling to meet a crazy and imminent deadline, its producer pulled me aside and complained that the overtime pay that I was going to make working that weekend was going to make it difficult for his company to turn a profit on the program. Now, let’s leave aside the reality that he was probably making about 25 times what I was making on the film. And let’s also leave aside the reality that I didn’t create his schedule or his lateness with “locking the picture” (this means finishing the editing so you can hand it over to the sound editing team and the composer).

Nope, what galled me about his attitude was that he felt that he had every right to suck away my weekend so that he could finish his film. Without so much as a thank you.

Late nights, weekend work, and crazed deadlines are (unfortunately) a reality in the film business. There never seems to be enough money to do a film right until there’s not enough time to do it at all. And then all of the stops are pulled out — mixing stages are kept open on Saturday and Sundays, extra visual effects houses are added, and more studio executives tend to show up at all hours to “help solve problems.”

So I’m not complaining about the hours and the overtime. That’s just a part of life.

What I do object to — then and now — is that this producer felt that we should be invested enough in that film to add extra work into the project without any extra compensation whatsoever.  It wasn’t in my original contract discussions with him and it had never occurred to him to mention it until the day before that weekend.

On that film, however, we had a union contract and I was able to tell him — “If you want to take away my weekend, you can. But that’s why the extra overtime pay is called ‘penalty time.’”  On a film without a contract, I wouldn’t have been so lucky.

I’m not blind.  I know that large unions can become as oppressive as large companies. I also have heard the cliché of on-set regulations so restrictive that tables couldn’t be moved because the crew was waiting for a grip to come back from the bathroom.  I’ve heard about those situations, but I’ve never actually been on one like that. But I’m sure they exist — on very rare occasions.

But I know that the constant struggle between those who get paid and those who pay us is often won by the people with the most clout, and that is rarely the workers. Most of us are normal people who are trying to make enough money to support families and take them out to eat once every few weeks or so. (There’s actually a great blog, written by a woman who writes under the pen name Peggy Archer, called Totally Unauthorized, which documents her life  as a set lighting technician, and it’s a great read for everyone who thinks that filmmaking is all about glamour and lush parties.) If we often feel that we could use some help, every now and then, at getting a tiny bit more leverage in that struggle, who can blame us?

So, I’ve always been a fan of unions, even when they get too excessive. There are people on both coasts who feel, for instance, that the Screen Actors Guild has gotten entirely too caught up in its own politics to see the overall industry picture. They feel that SAG would rather bring everyone else in the industry down with them, in order to make their own points. Frankly, I am not one of those people, but that’s not really my point at all. My point is that the excesses of a union are usually a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the excesses of the studios.

So, on this Labor Day weekend, when the Democratic nominee for President makes a speech about working people’s struggles, it’s helpful to remember that film unions are neither pro-film or anti-film. They were formed originally to be pro-people-who-work-in-film.

For all of you who want to be good editors and good filmmakers, we want to ally ourselves with good producers, good studio people and good and healthy business practices. And, sometimes, a little help from our unions is vastly appreciated.

Next week, I’ll get off of my soapbox and back to things that are more about editing as an art.

===>    ADDED NOTE <===

For those of you who don’t live in the Labor Day oriented United States, but live in Europe instead, here’s a tip for you.

What do you get when you combine the Los Angeles Final Cut Pro Users Group (the largest group of FCP users in the world, with really great monthly meetings in Los Angeles, and members around the world) with IBC, the media technology industry’s biggest international marketplace in the Netherlands? You get the First Annual IBC FCPUG SuperMeet.  What is a supermeet? Simply, it is a gathering of FCP fans, who listen to a group of fantastic speakers, and compete for raffle prizes.

There is an annual supermeet at NAB in Las Vegas every year. But this year, organizer Michael Horton is taking the Supermeet on the road to Amsterdam.  On September 14 the inaugral edition of the IBC FCPUG Supermeet will debut. If you’re anywhere in the neighborhood you should, without a doubt, drop in and listen to some great speakers (such as Paul Saccone from Apple and TRAITOR editor Billy Fox) and put your tickets in for a raffle to win a bunch of prizes.

I’ve got no dog in the race. I’m not speaking there and I won’t make a penny from your attendance. But Michael Horton is a great and giving guy and, for anyone interested in editing, this is a great place to spend some time, meet some new friends, and learn learn learn.

Go to the LAFCPUG IBC Supermeet page for more details.

Tags: Filmmaker, Film Industry, Film, Television, Film Blog