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Ron Forsythe - Key Grip
Logic in Film Making: Fast, good or cheap, pick two.
Unlike most people in the film biz, (and most people in general), I have to tell the truth. I'm sure the makers of Project Greenlight, and this website don't want to hear what I have to say, but I have to be honest.
I didn't think too much about Project Greenlight once it was over. It was a gig. It was a fun gig, but it was a gig. I had a great crew, and co-workers. We had a ton of laughs, got wet, worked hard, got to hang out with Kevin Pollak (who is really funny, ALL the time) and when it was over, I moved on.
"Stolen Summer" was somewhere in the neighborhood of my 20th feature, and like all the others, they come and go, and you look for your next job.
Yeah, (and you saw this coming) until I started to get phone calls. Friends, mom, people-asking-me-about-it-on-some-other-set, etc. etc. I had no idea the show was even airing. I don't have cable, so I wasn't in the loop. Then I got a phone call from the web producer and she asked me to write an article about the beach day. This prompted me to actually go and surf the website and, dear god, I did not realize how MANY people are into watching this show. This thing is HUGE!
OK, so now I'm thinking about Project Greenlight again. I surfed the forums, I read all I could take in. There is so much rhetoric on simple subjects it's amazing. I know that a lot of people out there are not privy to the intricacies of filmmaking, but everyone LOVES to talk about it. People are very easy to criticize, (myself included,) and it's interesting to see what people have to say.
"You making a mooooovie?"
In defense of my crew, and any crew person anywhere, you people have to cut us some slack. I don't want to get all whiny and "poor me" but imagine this common scenario: You're sitting at your desk, (or wherever you spend most of your waking hours), and every thirty seconds some arbitrary, street urchin, wino, and/or stranger comes up to you and asks what you're doing (location shooting). Imagine doing your paperwork, or making your phone calls while standing in a foot of water and mud (grip department). Imagine having to stick your hand in an open fuse box, in the rain, every day (lighting equipment). Imagine having to move every single piece of furniture you own, and all your books and cds, in and out of your house, twice a day, every day (props). Oh, I could go on...but I won't. This is not whining, this is our job, and we love it. We really do love it. Every day is a challenge, and it is rarely boring. I was never bored on "Stolen Summer," and if there was down time, I'd just hang out with the crew and laugh.
In second defense of crews everywhere, EVERY aspect of a film is a social art and science. None of us can do it alone, and the amount of organization is astounding. I know this seems obvious, but when one minor aspect of the organization fails, and you don't make your day, you cannot walk around and just finger point, (which is easily done by our viewers). You just have to fix it and move on.
For example: I heard that Chris Moore was unhappy that the car rig took so long. There are two reasons for this. One: the camera we had to rig was in use in the house. Two: the wrong type of rigging material was delivered to us, that morning, which was not compatible with our other gear, and we had to wing it. Stuff like this happens on film sets every hour of every day. They got the shot, and everyone forgot about it by the end of the day. But now, through the magic of television, we get to all relive it and come off looking like idiots, because all the audience sees is the rig taking a long time.
OK. Thank you for the indulgence, I had to get that off my chest.
The beach, I was supposed to write about the beach, right...oh yeah.
YOU WANT THAT WHERE?? Hehe... yeah, right. Ahhh, OK......
My boss on this film, Pete Biagi, told me that he wanted a crane shot, in the water, about 120 feet from the shore. When he said that to me for the first time, it was one of those moments that rarely happen to me. I just said "yeah, OK" without even thinking. It was not an overwhelming request (it's the movie biz, we can do anything) and I love a good challenge. I just wasn't sure that this movie was up to that challenge. This is not the most expensive rig in the world, or the hardest thing to do, but there was very little spare money for things of this nature. I instantly knew that I needed more people on my crew, some special items that were going to cost a few bucks, and a big bunch of time to make it happen. None of these seemed to be in the production budget up to this point, so I was a little concerned. Any skimping on any of these things would have meant that it was not going to happen in the time allotted.
I needed, in no specific order, two boats, four extra grips, six wetsuits, two extra sets of scaffolding, lots of extra pipe, 20 chain vice grips, eight steel 2'x2' plates, a jib, a jib operator, and about six hours to make it happen. Constructing such a rig on dry land is nothing, but in 4-6 feet of water, 120 feet from shore just takes a bit longer. Not hard, just slow. (Grips do this stuff in their sleep.)
On the day of the beach, we got all we wanted, and we got it done in time. We were waiting around for everyone to finish another sequence, and it all worked out just fine. Everyone in the front office of this movie was so concerned about this day but, in all, I say it went off pretty well, and we just got lucky. The kids could handle the water, the crew was enjoying the decent weather, and the sunset was perfect for the magic hour shots that they wanted. Just goes to prove my motto, everything works if you let it.
I don't know if the jib shots in the water made the cut of the movie. It would be nice, but it is not going to change my life if they do or don't. Lots of effort goes into films just to have them end up in the garbage somewhere - nature of the biz. But I got to admit, it was a lot of fun to make it happen. In Chicago, we don't get a lot of opportunity to make water based rigs, so it was a little something different for the crew.
Lastly, given this forum, I'm going to yet again praise the people I worked with on this film. What HBO is not showing you is how funny the art department was on our down time, or how I never had to worry about stuff getting done in grip/electric because the crew was 100% reliable. These things make for boring TV, but good moments in life.
We all went in with some hesitancy of the "beast" but once we were there, we made the best of what we had. I have worked with some front office people who made it their mission try to make the people below them cry (mostly in music videos). People exist in every facet of life who use authority make up for their psychological misgiving. This wasn't that movie. If it became that movie, I would have walked away and taken my crew with me. These people were (and I'm not going to kiss any a** here, just being honest) NICE. I'll take personality over talent any day. Talent takes time to learn. IF a person is an a-hole, he/she is always going to be an a-hole. We had a lot of talented people on this film, and (dispite what the forum says about Pat Peach) NO a**holes.
The glory of being right has no merit when you're unemployed.
All this rhetoric about Biagi matters not to me. Not only was he my boss, I still will consider him a friend and a hell of a nice guy. I am honest in saying that I found some of his methods unsound, (I believe in shot lists) but it wasn't worth arguing with the boss.
Dear god people, relax. Just close your eyes and say over and over again....
"It's only a movie, it's only a movie, it's only a movie......."
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