Idle Days

When you work on location the production company pays you "idle days". Basically it's a half day of pay each for Saturday and Sunday to compensate for any jobs you may have missed out on if you had been at home. It's in the union/guild contracts and most studios pay it to everyone who travels (except for the lowly production assistants).

Guess who doesn't pay idle days to accountants? The studio who wants to hire me to go to New Orleans. Umm, I don't think so. The whole point of going on location is to make extra money through idle days, housing, and per diem. Why go if there's no benefit?

I think I'm going to have to say no - just not worth it.

NOLA 2

I have officially turned down the WWE movie - just don't want to do an independent film on location with Renny Harlin.

As for the studio project, I called the accountant and told him I was interested, but needed more info before I made a decision. He doesn't have all the details yet so it may not happen anyway, but it's still a possibility.

NOLA

Is this a sign? I've gotten 2 calls today on shows going to New Orleans. One is with Sony (called Mardi Gras) and the other is a wrestling movie by the WWE.

I've never been to NO and I'm not sure I want to go. If I do, it would definitely be on someone else's dime.

I would like to work on location after this guinea pig movie is over. If the actors strike then I want to make as much money as possible. I'm just not sure I want it to be in NO.

Something Cute

1909-2007 JRT

Well, Granny passed away on Thursday morning and it's been non-stop since then. The husband called me around 9:15am and told me the news. I started looking for plane tickets, tried to find a dog-sitter (ended up calling the kennel), called the cat-sitter, called the funeral home, and found a replacement for myself at work. All this while trying to finish getting paychecks out. Thank dog my assistant is good at his job - I'd have never made it without him.

We took the red-eye back east and basically ended up being awake for over 24 hours. Took a short nap when we got in then drove down to the funeral home. It's a blessing she lived in a small Southern town because they did so much to help us out. We finally figured out where her first husband was buried (in her family plot since her parents outlived him). There was a spot left open for her so that's where she went. Otherwise she would have been buried head-to-head with her daughter which might not have gone over so well...

Anyway, we picked out a casket and a suit, wrote the obituary and arrainged for the service. It took less than an hour.

Time to go home and crash now - more tomorrow.

Bookworm

I've had a game of Bookworm going since Saturday or Sunday. I was over 500k points and still going strong. My stupid computer did an automatic update last night and restarted itself. Gone, it's all gone. Damn.

Clyde

Nothing new on Granny at the moment but with the help of my mom we've just about found out where her first husband Clyde Roberts (the husband's grandfather) is buried and whether there's a plot for her with him. He apparently died in 1966 and there's a good chance something was done then for her. Not a fun topic but there it is.

Write a will, keep it current, and let everybody know where the damn thing is.

Granny

The doctor from the nursing home called this morning to tell us Granny had a stroke over the weekend and it doesn't look good. Apparently she's been declining for the past week or so. Of course, the woman is around 100 so it's not surprising. We don't know how much longer she has but I do know Betty was called to her "deathbed" on a pretty regular basis and she pulled through.

I've been calling the nursing home and the funeral home, trying to find out if Granny had any arrangements set up and no one knows of anything. I've arranged it with the funeral home to get a plot (only $300 for the land and $500 for the digging and the tent/chairs, etc).

Now all we can do is wait for the call, get tickets, and fly east. We'll pick out a casket and schedule the service when we get there.

Strike Stuff

Whenever someone opens the door, I can hear the honking of car horns in support of the writer's picketing the studio. And I've been reading about several shows that are shutting down because the actor's won't cross the lines.

I wonder how long it'll last - the support, I mean. It's all good now because most people haven't had a chance to NOT get a paycheck...

Anyway. We got new script pages today but they're dated 11/3. I wonder how accurate that is.

Question for the Husband

Can I relate your tales from the picket line?

Writer's Strike

The husband is a member of the Writer's Guild and has been called to duty this week - he's picketing outside a studio during the afternoon shift. Therefore I feel I have the right to say something about what's going on...

Although my job hasn't been affected and probably won't be, there's no guarantee I'll be able to get work when it's wrapped. Come January, if the strike is still on, I may be out of luck. There are some people who are out of luck now and more who will get laid-off in the coming weeks and months. Despite all that, I think the writer's are doing the right thing.

I read a comment on a news site - the author compared selling s script to selling a painting. Basically, if they create a painting and sell it for $1000 that's all there is and they shouldn't expect any more. Fine, but what would happen if the buyer of that painting took that image and made postcards and magnets and coffee cups and mouse pads and umbrellas and t-shirts and tote bags and prints and anything else you can think of - and walked away with $1 million dollars? Would the painter still feel ok about it or would they want a piece of that pie?

The studios make money from the advertisers but the ads don't run by themselves. They are embedded into scripted content that someone created. That someone deserves a percentage of that profit. It's not like most of the people are millionaires. Yes, they make good money but they don't work 52 weeks a year and they aren't guaranteed to work from one year to the next.

Anyway, not many people read this blog and the ones who do already know what I think about the strike. I'mnot trying to change any minds, just clearing my own.

Scam Update

We finally heard back from the casting director about the background actor...

"ALSO, I spoke with our "friend" MS. It is a big long story, but bottom line is that he WAS a part of a scam (KS had to leave for another shoot, and supposedly called a friend who called MS to come and "replace" him). MS claims to be innocent in that he didn't know he was doing anything wrong, just trying to get work, needs money...etc... He claims that he can't even get in touch with KS. I yelled at him and told him, of course, that he will not be paid for that day, etc... I have also since had KS kicked out of his service for this. I told MS that if he needs money, he should get a job."

I do love it when people get busted.

Payday Surprise

Today is Thursday which is payday for the film industry. Our checks were ready early so I called the different off-production departments and told them to come and get 'em. The Special Effects department called back to ask if there was anything we needed from them and I said "roses, any color" then asked Colin what he wanted (fireworks). The SPFX Foreman joked about bringing Colin a 16lb bomb - I have no clue what that actually is but said we'd take it out into the parking lot and blow it up.

When the SPFX PA showed up, he had a dozen red carnations in a beautiful bouquet for me! Some people look down on carnations but to me, a flower is a flower and they are all pretty. I got a coffee can out of the trash (no vases) and cut the stems down. It's sitting on the file cabinet and it's really nice - makes me feel appreciated.

Now if I could just get that actor I helped on the phone to cough up...