Top Cinematographers Demand More Rest on Film Sets

[rand thompson]

Top Cinematographers Demand More Rest on Film Sets


By YOSSY MENDELOVICH


Article
https://ymcinema.com/2021/08/26/top-cinematographers-demand-more-rest-on-film-sets/

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

For big budget productions, can they not just pay a driver to take them home? Having said that, yes, long hours are no good. I worked a retail job where I got up at 6, left home at 7, got to work at 8, and opened up at 9. Then I'd leave after 6 and get home after 7. and that was "only" a 12 hour day.

It was actually a great job but on one occasion I did fall asleep at the wheel on the way home, even though I knew that I should have taken a 15 minute power nap before leaving.

 

[Jamie A]

For big budget productions, can they not just pay a driver to take them home? Having said that, yes, long hours are no good. I worked a retail job where I got up at 6, left home at 7, got to work at 8, and opened up at 9. Then I'd leave after 6 and get home after 7. and that was "only" a 12 hour day.

It was actually a great job but on one occasion I did fall asleep at the wheel on the way home, even though I knew that I should have taken a 15 minute power nap before leaving.

From your first comment I'll assume you've never worked on a long term show, and don't know how grueling it is.

Your retail work day was only 10 hours from your description, which is a short day in the production world.

Crews here in LA almost always do a 12 hour day as minimum, plus travel time. If they break for lunch in addition to the 12 hours, then that means they get even less sleep since the 12 hour day now becomes 13 hours, plus travel time.

On numerous shows which I've worked on, it's not uncommon to work:

Monday 7am to 8pm
Tuesday 8am to 9pm
Wednesday 9am to 10pm
Thursday 11am to midnight
Friday 2pm to 4am (Saturday morning)
If you work Saturday, 5pm to 5am (Sunday morning)
Then start it all again on Monday, after your sleep schedule is not only deprived, but also shifted.

Plus driving to and from set, which many crew members have a 30-60 minute commute each way.

You generally spend 14-15 hours a day away from home for a 12 hour shoot day.
Do a 14 hour day (which isn't as uncommon as you'd think) and you're away from home 16-17 hours a day.

Then do it for a 6-10 month season and tell me how you feel.

Humane working hours on sets are long overdue and hopefully this changes sooner rather than later.

 

[rand thompson]

Jamie A.


Thanks for adding your own personal experience to this thread, you explained it in a way that the article couldn't really convey. Maybe more Cinematographers and other intricate members of a film set will make their grievances known more publicly.

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

A footnote: you'd think that digital cameras and LED lights (especially wireless lights) would have helped in reducing work days, while retaining efficiency. Not having a go at the tech (I love it all) but I am having a go at the way we sometimes use it. Just a thought.

 

[Nick Morrison]

A footnote: you'd think that digital cameras and LED lights (especially wireless lights) would have helped in reducing work days, while retaining efficiency. Not having a go at the tech (I love it all) but I am having a go at the way we sometimes use it. Just a thought.

LED lighting is great, but they also allow for more creativity which takes time.

The time saving your talking about I think is more common on smaller, repeatable projects.

 

[John Brawley]

A footnote: you'd think that digital cameras and LED lights (especially wireless lights) would have helped in reducing work days, while retaining efficiency. Not having a go at the tech (I love it all) but I am having a go at the way we sometimes use it. Just a thought.

I don’t see the link.

Producers want to extract the maximum efficiency.

Why would any “savings” in efficiency flow to more time off. If there was more efficiency then it turns into more setups per day. Not a shorter day.

The massive problem here is that in the US, there’s a cultural love of overtime.

It’s partially about making more money. It’s also a little to do with having healthcare tied to hours worked / having a job. You need to continue to work a number of hours per quarter to continue to qualify for your healthcare.

In Australia, where I came up, the normal workday was 10 hours on set. In order to go past that the crew had to be asked and the majority had to say yes. If it was a Friday, it almost would never get a yes majority.

In the US, it’s routine to schedule 12 hour days and do 14 hours. But the time you add travel time, and for some departments required to be there before call and after wrap it’s suddenly more like 16 hour days. And they then have this evil thing called a Fraturday. Because you’re doing such consistently long days, the start time is based on turnaround and inevitably gets later each day of the week. And then you’re starting in the PM by friday and finishing sometime early AM on Saturday. And then because it’s a weekend they start again at 6AM on Monday. Which screws your weekend because your Saturday is now a write off and you’re trying to pull your body clock back on Sunday.

When I’e asked line producers why 14 hour days are considered normal even when paying overtime they usually tell me that it’s cheaper than adding days to a schedule.

In-demand actors have a limited window of availability. It’s cheaper to do overtime every day than add on days to the overall schedule. Because most of these actors are on weekly rates and most of the gear and plant is weekly. So adding days apparently costs a lot more than simply doing OT every day and doing less days.

And a lot of crew like OT even if it’s not good for them.

I have been berated by my own crew for working too fast and not doing enough of overtime. Crew complaining to me that they’re not doing overtime !!!?

I think for this culture to change it has to come from actors. The only ones producers actually listen to.

Making a guaranteed weekend turnaround would be the quickest way to change things. In Australia it is 48 hours PLUS 10. So for 58 hours you can’t work from when you wrap.

In the US there’s no weekend turnaround. Making that simple change would at least stop the insanity of fraturdays.

One of the pros of Covid is that it forced US shows to 10 hour continuous days, and has shown that we can still work efficiently in these conditions, but I can see that’s starting to skip again. The show I’m on now is already scheduling some 12 hour days again.

It’s very clear that after 10 hours you have diminishing returns in terms of efficiency and making good decisions.

JB

 

[Michael Tiemann]

I support the demands of Local 600 for more humane working hours in the interest of crew safety.

 

[Jamie A]

A footnote: you'd think that digital cameras and LED lights (especially wireless lights) would have helped in reducing work days, while retaining efficiency.

Choosing a digital camera & LED lighting have absolutely NOTHING to do with the long days worked on set. I've recently worked on different shows which have shot Venice, Alexa or 35mm, it's still the same long hours.

There are many more reasons well beyond camera dept decisions as to why we constantly work 12+hour days.

 

[Bruce Allen]

A footnote: you'd think that digital cameras and LED lights (especially wireless lights) would have helped in reducing work days, while retaining efficiency. Not having a go at the tech (I love it all) but I am having a go at the way we sometimes use it. Just a thought.

This is a very naive viewpoint...

Today one VFX artist can do work in 1 hour that used to take multiple artists DAYS to do.
I haven't seen hours massively improve for VFX artists though!

I'm a pretty free market capitalist chap - but things as they stand aren't really a free market.

If the producers and corporations are coordinating to improve things for themselves, the workers should also be able to coordinate to improve things for themselves, no?

All that's being asked for is really basic human stuff.

Bruce Allen
www.bruceallen.tv

 

[Jamie A]

In-demand actors have a limited window of availability. It’s cheaper to do overtime every day than add on days to the overall schedule.

THIS is the main reason for working long hours on set, not because a DP chose to light with a Skypanel over a HMI.

And a lot of crew like OT even if it’s not good for them.

Unfortunately this is true, mostly due to the relatively low regular hourly rates for many crew.

Making a guaranteed weekend turnaround would be the quickest way to change things. In Australia it is 48 hours PLUS 10. So for 58 hours you can’t work from when you wrap.
In the US there’s no weekend turnaround. Making that simple change would at least stop the insanity of fraturdays.

I'm glad you mentioned this as a proper weekend turnaround would help immensely. As you know, Fraturdays are pretty much the norm on many episodic shows.

One of the pros of Covid is that it forced US shows to 10 hour continuous days, and has shown that we can still work efficiently in these conditions, but I can see that’s starting to skip again. The show I’m on now is already scheduling some 12 hour days again.

Unfortunately just like your show, most other shows that I know of here in LA have gone back to the usual 12+ hour days already. It was great whilst it lasted...

 

[Tim Bradley]

In Australia, you have to have, by law, a 10 hour turn around from leaving the loaction to arriving the next day. This is for health and safety and works to help prevent accidents on set as well as between locations.

It even aplies when working for different productions.

 

[rand thompson]

Here's an older video by the International Cinematographers Guild Local 600


The Human Face of Unsafe Hours


By ICG Local 600

 

[Dominik Muench]

In Australia, you have to have, by law, a 10 hour turn around from leaving the loaction to arriving the next day. This is for health and safety and works to help prevent accidents on set as well as between locations.

It even aplies when working for different productions.

that's true, but unfortunately a lot of producers still don't give a damn in the first place and even then they often don't consider the travel time either.
I've worked on shoots in Queensland where we had 1 1/2h of travel time each way after wrap.
I've done shoots for a big national production company with offices in 3 major cities where we had 12-14h days and then they would let their crew drive another 2h to get home.

these laws cant come soon and strict enough !

 

[John Brawley]

In Australia, you have to have, by law, a 10 hour turn around from leaving the loaction to arriving the next day. This is for health and safety and works to help prevent accidents on set as well as between locations.

It even aplies when working for different productions.

There are laws in the US for turnaround that are similar. These laws created the fraturday. Usually the actors will often have a longer 12 hour turnaround and they are the ones they try to back on turnaround and their times drive the rest of the company’s hours.

The biggest difference is the lack of weekend turnaround, which IS required in Australia, but not in the US.

JB

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

As crews get fatigued, they slow down. This should be obvious to anyone in this industry.

Perhaps the producers are too busy on their phones to notice.

Cheers - #19

 

[John Brawley]

As crews get fatigued, they slow down. This should be obvious to anyone in this industry.

Perhaps the producers are too busy on their phones to notice.

Cheers - #19

I think it’s because it’s cheaper. Pure and simple.

It’s cheaper to grind the crews than it is to extend the shoot duration, typically because high profile cast have a weekly cost that’s higher than the overtime bill. And so….

JB

 

[rand thompson]

An Instagram Account Highlights On-Set Overtime Horror Stories


By Nofilmschool


Article
https://nofilmschool.com/long-set-hours


IAStories Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/IAStories/?utm_source=ig_embed



IASolidarity Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/IASolidarity/?utm_source=ig_embed

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

I think it’s because it’s cheaper. Pure and simple.
It’s cheaper to grind the crews than it is to extend the shoot duration, typically because high profile cast have a weekly cost that’s higher than the overtime bill. And so…. JB

The macro economics of production JB and others cite are key drivers of scheduling choices. Our industry is hardly alone in treating rank and file workers as poorly as they can get by with. Is there a realistic way to push back against the economic forces in play? Particularly since OT heavy paychecks tend to keep blowback under control.

Producers are unlikely to agree to any policy that significantly impacts their ability to get maximum use out of expensive above the line talent. With that in mind, there are some reasonable, humane solutions that are essentially non-starters. So what might be viable? IMO, Australia's mandated weekend turnaround that JB noted might be the best we can hope for. (I'd also advocate for triple rate after 12 hours.)

It's one thing to expect people to work long hours, but there have to be opportunities to rest up.

Cheers - #19

(BTW, today's LA Times ran an article on this subject.)

 

[John Brawley]

The macro economics of production JB and others cite are key drivers of scheduling choices. Our industry is hardly alone in treating rank and file workers as poorly as they can get by with. Is there a realistic way to push back against the economic forces in play? Particularly since OT heavy paychecks tend to keep blowback under control.

Producers are unlikely to agree to any policy that significantly impacts their ability to get maximum use out of expensive above the line talent. With that in mind, there are some reasonable, humane solutions that are essentially non-starters. So what might be viable? IMO, Australia's mandated weekend turnaround that JB noted might be the best we can hope for. (I'd also advocate for triple rate after 12 hours.)

It's one thing to expect people to work long hours, but there have to be opportunities to rest up.

Cheers - #19

(BTW, today's LA Times ran an article on this subject.)

Yeah I think the change has to come from above the line making it part of *their* deal that the crew aren’t worked like this.

It used to also be in Oz that after 10 hours it was time and half and I think after 12 it was double AND you also had night penalties, an extra loading if you worked late. I’m pretty sure the penalties and night loading don’t exist anymore.

There has to be more of a penalty for overtime, rather than just a pro rata per hour rate.

Overtime is really just consciously bad production management.

JB