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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

How did feeding crew become a standard in the industry

Jack Shanahan said:
Also film crews are asked to go to remote locations or unfamililiar places all the time. Its faster and cheaper to just have the food ready to serve on the spot. Time is money.
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Your smack on Jack....

TIme is money... and it is cheaper to cater on site, than to give everyone per diems and send them off hunting for food.... and hour later the all filter back to set having spent 10, 20, 30 minutes looking for food, 10 -15 minutes for the cafe or restaurant to prepare the food, 15 to eat it... then drive back to set.
So much easier to have it prepared hot & fast... for less than 15 to 25 per head.

But I do agree, that sometimes it becomes quite a wank.

On small jobs, we sometimes get food delivered, pizza's, sandwiches, or hit a local fast food joint... etc, and get people to eat breakfast before they leave home...
And if anyone carries on like some sort of food prima-donna, that usually effects there long term employment.

Real world Electricians, riggers, carpenters, mechanics, steelworkers, fitters, boilermakers, bank tellers, lumber jacks, miners, truck drivers, limo drivers, pool cleaners... don't get 3 squares... breeky, lunch and dinner supplied by X time or the company gets penalised.... So why do we. ?

But the fact is, time is money on a fast moving expensive set, and if you have a $100,000, 100 crew shoot day (or less) its best to have food there ready and fast. Because shooting over time will cost you a lot more.

As an industry goes, we are quite spoilt compared to other industries, thats for sure.
 
Best catering/craft service I ever enjoyed was on Windtalkers. Filet Mignon, ribs, mahi-mahi, stir fry, white/dark chocolate dipped strawberries...never ate so well before (probably not since then either). With the outrageous amounts of food, I started to bring a suitcase to the set each day. I filled it up with Red Bull mostly...and candy, I don't know why. I was an extra for almost three months, and the food made up for the $48/day paycheck.

Too bad the movie sucked. Gotta blame that on Nick Cage, though.
 
Fashion jobs are the worst when they are small.

Had a whole crew get greeted by the producers/fashion type idea of a good lunch, ie rabbit food. My gaffer had a conniption. Needless to say for second meal we got ribs. Mmmm ribs.
 
probably on the first film set ever when someone said, "can we go home now, im hungry"
 
I imagine it probably started back in the early days when everything was shot in the studios. Everything was probably a bit far to go from the studios (and a bit too complicated getting in and out of the studio lots themselves) to make conventional lunch breaks workable.

Then over time it probably just got worked into union contracts and voila! A standard is born.
 
actually , it depends on if you are on the lot or not also , warner brothers for instance , does not allow " as a rule " catered lunches on the stage , so then we get a one hour walk away , most shows put out a "secret lunch" at craft service
then when we go out on location , we have a catered lunch that starts 6 hours after calltime but can be pushed by grace , meal penalty ,ect , those location are a 30 minute eating break that starts at "last man" when the last crew member
makes it through the food line . that usually takes 15 minutes .. so on those days you get a 45 min break or more , but only get deducted 30 minutes of hourly pay :)

some lots allow you to feed catering to the crew.. cbs radford , and i think universal does also . and some just do that hour walk away and people go to the commissary...

and on some very rare occasions , like" training day "when a show is shooting for daylight in the winter ... we do french hours which is no lunch break , but hot finger foods all day , and you can only shoot 10 or 12 hours , then meal penalties occur

the insurance is based on a 600 hour per quarter qualifier , then 400 hours per quarter after that to stay in , most crafts insurance , through motion picture health and welfare program , are paid by the directors cut of residuals of dvd vhs sales ....
thats why piracy is so hurtful to the crew , as well as the investors ... its a great service , we have our own hospital in woodland hills , and state of the art clinics in burbank hollywood santa monica , and other spots . which are just for movie carny folk ..lol

and as the other fella said, craft service original job was to open / close the stage doors , then service which ever craft was short handed .. ie craft service .. then they started selling coffee for 10 cents a cup , and then it spiraled with crafty guys/ gals outdoing one another , now its crazy
 
It's money, time and liability that has set the standard. It's nerve wrecking enough for a producer to wait and see if all of the crew shows up in the morning, then they rather buy breakfast for everyone and tell people if they come early then there is food. Having people taking off at mid day to fetch something to eat right when the light might be the best or when time is short is not vice. Then also they are actually liable for everyone on set so, if something goes bad when they are out getting food the production might take a lawsuit. And as said above, the cost for the food is very low compaired to every other cost.

But as mark wrote, when hiring a film crew there is usually some guys complaining over the food and asking for this and that like picky little girls, Then I try to remember who said what. So I can remember not hire them for the next round. Not that it matters to much, but the dinning table is a great place to judge peoples character, and guys that has specialized in food complaints are, from my experience, not the guys to rely on when shit hits the fan.
 
Robert Hart said:
If you are a no-low budget effort, if you don't feed your crew at least half decently, they'll start finding it elsewhere, your schedule will slip and you will be on your own next time.
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I heard that on "The canyons" they let Lindsay Lohan nip out for lunch. You can probably guess the rest.

Freya
 
Wil Wong said:
I agree craft services and catering is good for promoting positive attitude but it's funny that they don't have that for construction industry/workers. They too end up in remote places on big jobs and they're lucky to have a snack truck pull up with goodies to buy.

Otherwise they carry those 'big ass' lunch boxes...ha, ha. Mmmm, their lunch boxes make me crave a ham sandwich...
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Totally agree. My family has operated in the construction business for several generations -- most of the time as excavating and road and bridge contractors, lots of times in remote locations. Doesn't matter whether it's a state job, US government job, union job, independent, etc... The odds of having food brought in or a catered lunch is less likely than striking gold while clearing trees on the side of a mountain. I think I've seen more workers struck by lightning than catered lunches. Even if food is a couple hours away... 10-12 hour days? Yep, got those. Usually it's sun-up to sun-down, sometimes beyond if there's enough generator power to run adequate light. Or sometimes it's all night work so we can get road closures and proper traffic volume...

If the location is remote enough, then it can change where there are no other options. That's pretty rare these days. Not too many places left in this country where the closest WalMart, SubWay, or McDonald's, isn't within driving distance. Exception being stuck on reservation land.

Big lunch boxes... Yep. Usually personal coolers. Need ample drinks and food to feed and/ or occupy oneself for the next 10 to 24 hours and a way to keep it at the proper temperature. I usually had a small cooler with food in it and a larger cooler in the truck that was always stocked with beverages, plus a large 5+ gallon water jug. You can usually tell the new guy on the job, he's the one that's brown-bagging it. If you're driving a truck or operating a piece of machinery, especially if it's a repetitive task (and it usually is) with lots of starts and stops, you find that the contents of that brown bag begin to look terribly appealing at about 10:00am and are gone by 10:15...

Having started and operated businesses in other sectors, and worked in a few more, the only industry I consistently see that feeds the workers on a daily basis is the creative arts industry -- primarily film, video production, photography, fashion...

Only time it seems to happen in the corporate world is for special meetings, friday functions, or to put on a show for investors / clients. Burning the midnight oil usually involved having food brought in. It usually meant someone took it upon themselves to order pizza or sandwiches and we all pitch in.
 
As well as being efficient and keeping people on set and controlling the in/out points of their breaks, I think there is an esprit de corps factor for film. You are trying to build a well-oiled machine which has its shit together by day 3 of bringing it to life. Eating together is relational and helps lube things up a bit. Production is a little like boot camp, and you are trying to wire your employees together in a similar fashion, to work as a unit to bring something large to life. Food seems to function as one of those ties that bind.

Or has the opposite effect, when it is poorly presented or inadequate. Crews devolve into infancy quite quickly over food....
 
chad vachter said:
most crafts insurance , through motion picture health and welfare program , are paid by the directors cut of residuals of dvd vhs sales ....
thats why piracy is so hurtful to the crew , as well as the investors ...
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Interesting! I didn't know that.
 
Here in Hollywood back around 1970 several of the grip's wives started a catering service called "Movable Feast" which changed cuisine from coffee and doughnuts to healthy food. The producers caught on fast because crews and cast were more productive and did not have to leave the stage or location to get lunch or dinner. The food was better than most restraunts, fostered crew/cast unity and no one was late from returning from eating. Cheap money.
 
When we are shooting in Manhattan on "Smash" we don't have catering, we have to get our own meal. When we are on the stages (in Greenpoint and L.I.C.), we are catered. Rule is 1/2-hour lunch if catered (starting from the last man through the line, so really 45-minutes), 1-hour lunch if it's a walkaway (plus 15 minutes for walking time, so really 1:15), so catering is one way of keeping the day shorter.
 
I know one thing for sure... I'll absolutely will not have it any other way then feeding as good as I can my crews, as I will be most likely eating the very same food, and I am very picky, and also not well, so food must be fresh, well prepared, and of course TASTY!!


Plus catered on location with no less then ONE HOUR time to eat, I am Italian, and I sure don't enjoy shaving food down, neither would I expect any one working with me to do it... Plus since they'll all have to already put up with me, the list I can do is insuring that they eat well, and that they have time to do it... ;)
 
On my sets, I try to feed healthy.

I know how much it means to have chips and cookies and candy and other power boosters but I try to make sure that my cast and crew don't do much of the junk food route...cause it is tasty but can leave you feeling tired and less healthy later (even days later).

Fresh fruits and granola bars, a few pastries and bran muffins come to mind. It can be more expensive for less but I think it's better in the long run.

Mind you an occasional treat is fine too :-)
 
It's an interesting thing on a psychological level as well. You build up a nice comradery and team mentality by having meals on set. Helps people get to know each other and get a feel for their own individual experience. Which is nice if you're on a production for any given length of time. You work on things or with certain people for a while and that production experience slowly begins to transform into an almost family experience.

Good catering also really leaves a nice warm feeling in your mind and belly. Crews notice this. To this day the best chicken I ever ate was from Tony's back in 2004. Still remember and joke about that.
 
Cliff Hokanson said:
Its because the film crew works harder and longer than other jobs.
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erm... whatever. Keep telling yourself that, dude.... It's a common misconception or attitude with many in this industry, so you'll fit right in. Not to say film work isn't grueling, because it can be, but puh-leeze...
 
I agree with Phil , tony's catering is spot on , when the original csi was on the hill in santa clarita, "90210 stages" tony himself would come there on a regular basis , and the food was even better than usual when he would .

and teddy tanaka has my vote for craft service guy of the year , has several nice 5 ton crafty trucks , dialed out to the nines, and "sorry to be a pig " but he usually hires beautiful exotic women to run his jobs... just being honest beautiful women bringing you trays of smoothies after every big set up /change over, doesnt hurt ! lol

p.s.ive been mildly retired due to injury for 3 years... these guys might be old news
 
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