skip to main |
skip to sidebar
All DPs have to look forward to on this "CL crew gigs section" is
having complete irresponsible, wannabe filmmakers posting for
highly-skilled DPs with their own gear, or worse yet, using their 7Ds
with no professional lighting gear, or sound gear and offering
a whopping $40.00 a day.. Now that's a big whopper!!!
Hell, you can make $8.00 bucks an hour at Burger King.
This forum and gig section has been dragged completely into the dirt!
The days of making $300.00 a day and shooting a great script
are long gone!
Long live the wannabes who have ruined it for everyone!
Congratulations! Your selfishness has conquered the film industry
and destroyed any hope for real filmmakers who care.
Sound mixers get a bum deal. We have to invest over $10k to get
decent gear and enough of it to be able to handle the demands of what
production wants. We provide a valuable service that is even more
important than your picture. Your film has dialogue, people want to
hear it and hear it clearly. We try to do that for you despite poor
locations, poor wardrobe choices, and sometimes, ridiculous shot
composition. A camera crew is exactly that, a crew. Operator, 1st AC,
2nd AC. If there's no 2nd AC then there's damn sure a 1st. Sound
mixers are apparently expected to do the job of two people and get paid
peanuts for it. In the LA area, the absolute minimum for our services
should be $350 per 12 hour day with $250 for a kit fee. Base minimum.
Any asshole with a DSLR can call themselves a DP and show up on set and
get paid decently because they have a camera. A 744t recorder is nearly
twice the cost of a 5d markIII and a 788 is more so. On top of that,
producers want at least 2 wireless, a shotgun mic with great rejection,
and comteks so they can hear and complain. Cameras have gotten cheaper
but sound equipment hasn't. Don't pay less than minimum wage. $100 a
day or $150 a day is garbage. If you have name talent you can afford a
rate. You don't go into a store and say, "I want to buy this pair of
pants that costs $40 bucks but I've only got $10 so thats what I'm gonna
pay you." You want good sound? We are an investment. We buy more
equipment so your movie can sound better and we'll work with you often
if you do shit right. We can't do that if we're not even making our
rent. Everyone has to eat and have a place to stay and have gas to put
in our car.
We help people want to watch your movie. A film with terrible sound and
a gorgeous picture is still unwatchable, a film with mediocre picture
and excellent sound will be watched in its entirety (provided the story
is worth it).
Don't insult production sound mixers or boom operators (two separate
jobs, by the way) by wanting to pay $150 for a 12 hour day, subway for
lunch, and no equipment fee. $350 +$250 kit fee is minimum. If we
really really like you, we might do it for less if we're bored. But
don't insult us by calling it a job.
