Forty and rainy I love spring in Wisconsin! Glad I caught my phone typing error it almost plugged raping for spring. I really don't know how I would have been able to explain that one.
Cold here too, oh how I long for some warm summer days.
In other news...Some more TV shoots next week, Monday I will be sailing around in a Viking ship off the coast of Northern Ireland, Wednesday and Thursday playing a Norman Lord with a little stunt fighting. Usual rubbish pay, long days and hours of driving, but at least travel expenses covered and a nights accommodation for Wednesday night. Does irritate me that skills that have taken me years to learn are valued at no more than an extra with no skills at all. But need the cash so have to put up with it.
How do you think the typewriter repairmen feel? Most automotive mechanics wouldn't begin to know how to work on a carb these days and don't appreciate the effort/experience involved.
I assume you know what you know because you wanted to pursue it? And your first thought wasn't that it would make you rich, but maybe it's fun, interesting, uncommon, macho even, hehe? I knoiw how to tear down and rebuild motors on "old" cars, but it's just a hobby now. No one really wants to pay what it's wworth, hard to find a machine shop with any real skilled operators, and the few that will pay aren't aware I exist sooo...
Given that every other skill on set is paid way beyond what we specialists are, and our particular skills keep people safe and uninjured, I will be used as fight choreographer and expected to train in no time at all people who have never held a sword in their lives. I think I am worth paying the same here as I would be in any other country. In the states I would be paid as a stunt man, in fact almost anywhere other than Ireland this would be true. Here the usual rules of pay scales for specialist skills are flouted.
As a hobby it is fun, being on set is not fun, it is work. any ideas that you may have of the glamor of film and TV work are very misplaced. It is a job, like any other, but unlike any other we have no union, no protection from exploitation, no overtime. I will be up at 4am on set by 7:30 and the working day will end at 7:30 pm. I am not about being rich, I am simply fed up with being under paid and half my earnings going to an agency. I have years of experience in this work, but get paid no more than Joe Soap background guy on his first day on set...Sorry if that pisses me off, but it does.
Ha ha, that would be beyond cool. A break would be nice, but today got exactly the opposite, two days of shooting have now been compressed into one, so a 20 hour day and money cut by a third...Sigh. Wish I could tell 'em to feck off, but you do that and any chance of the decent jobs gets blown.
Yeah, my day job is in peril as well...apparently they want me to be nice to the customers and the people I work with. Fucking waste of time, if you ask me. I couldn't wait for the action figures to roll out so I made one out of a potato. It was his mission to traverse a lake of hot oil in order to slay the Viking King and restore order to the Emerald Isle. Unfortunately, he was thwarted by the Mighty Jones and a shaker of salt. We may have lost our heroic knight, but it was clearly a victory for snack time..
They want you to be nice?...NICE! Damn when did the goal posts shift? Were you ever nice? Did you have an off day and give them unreasonable expectations?
No, but I kind of eased my personality into the job after I was sure that my performance and capacity for awesomeness would compensate for my woefully inadequate interpersonal skills.
No, but I kind of eased my personality into the job after I was sure that my performance and capacity for awesomeness would compensate for my woefully inadequate interpersonal skills.
See, I tried this and I keep getting sent to "training" and promoted...
The training is usually targeted on how to "communicate" with fellow workers, suppliers, higher ups and such in a way that keeps everyone touchy feely warm n fuzzy BUT I've learned there's another aspect to these trainings that I think most are failing to take advantage of. I simply refer to it as "jedi mind control"...
I am steadily learning how to talk to people and get them to do what I want, and they walk away none the wiser...(cue maniacal laughter...)
Knight, the obvious (and admittedly Not easiest solution) is to start your own business up front as a consultant and cut out the middle man/agency (whatever the leech is taking half your pay). But that takes years of experience (which you have) contacts in the industry ( I'm guessing you have) and the gonads/desire to go it alone without blinking about the risk involved. (truly this is the scary part).
I tell people all the time in my "part time" retirement pursuit, IE when I'm talking to people one on one, that IF you work for someone else, whatever they are paying you, you are worth more, because most certainly they are making money off what you do. A simple thought that many people don't realize on their own because society trains everyone to work for someone else. And to think differently and even worse, act differently IS scary.
But here's two scenarios. You can continue what you're doing and reality is it won't change, OR you can change something AND it MIGHT change. Now, best case scenario is you end up living in California, with your own "consulting" business working in movies, commercials, hell, displays at casinos in Vegas, I dunno, or you could crash and burn and end up with nothing. But nothing changes direction without applied force/effort.
Okay, jeez, too preachy, and probably a bit personal, if so I apologize. Also, I don't know if in Ireland you "have" to go through an agency to do your line of work, I know locales are all different.
But this I wish for everyone, to do what you truly love and be well compensated for it.
A Knight action figure would rock.
Jones writing in a magazine full time would rock as well. Hell, dream big, Jones "having" his own magazine would rock.
One thing I have seen over the years is people, everywhere, seem to lose the ability to dream. We call it growing up. What a slap in the face I think.
Anyone, none of this is criticism directed at anyone, just a point of view, and a desire to see people do better, and be happier.
Won't work here Oldschool, tiny island, small population and it would step on the toes of people that could lock me and my crew out of 90% of the work available. I have been taken on more than once as a private contractor and taken on the responsibility of organizing the entire fight team, so it does happen, but not often enough. I did sign a contract to do this for a full budget Hollywood production...But like so many projects it never made it to pre production, but that is one production company that would use me again.
Still, back from the first days shooting. It was one of the rare fun ones, first half of the day spent sailing in a longboat and filming the invasion landings, now a free day before the next two days of filming that are going to involve a rain machine...Not so much fun. But ends with a wrap party where networking will be done, and that is the key, a good bit of networking and handing out of business cards could lead on to more work...
So to end, a shot of a quiet moment during filming.
I guess to sum up all the rambling above...simply put, don't lose your dreams and keep trying. Sounds like your options locally are a bit limited BUT one good one could lead to work elsewhere!
I guess to sum up all the rambling above...simply put, don't lose your dreams and keep trying. Sounds like your options locally are a bit limited BUT one good one could lead to work elsewhere!
Born dreamer mate, and note I did not turn down the work for the very reason, you never know who will be on set, or what may come of the worst jobs
Morning all! Took my car in yesterday for its first service/oil change. There was also a problem with the TPMS system. The service manager guy apparently believes boobs make you stupid, and unable to understand how cars work. I explained before handing over my keys that I knew the tires were fine, and had perfect factory suggested pressure. There was an obvious problem with the sensors or system programming. He proceeded to tell me they'd check the tire pressure, cos one tire is probably low. Boobs = don't know how to read a tire pressure gauge I guess. Then when he returned my car to me, instead of saying the TPMS program was hinky and had to be reset, he said: "so..did ya ever have a remote control suddenly stop working even though the batteries are good? Well THAT'S cos it lost its PROGRAMMING(said ridiculously slow). That's what happened to your TPMS. It lost its PROOOOGRAAAMIIING, so we had to reset its PROOOOGRAAAAM." I wanted to straight arm dick punch the guy.
Today, I'm going to lunch with my mom to talk shit about men in service departments who know less about cars than I do. (BTW, he said several things about said system that were flat out WRONG. Guess I should've corrected him instead of laughing internally about how little he knows about the cars his dealership sells.)
yeah, that's a little cold, I set ours at 68.
Forty and rainy I love spring in Wisconsin! Glad I caught my phone typing error it almost plugged raping for spring. I really don't know how I would have been able to explain that one.
Technology is evil!
Watch it, the phone police are everywhere...
LOL Free!!
Only you guys understand with your dark senses of humor.
Cold here too, oh how I long for some warm summer days.
In other news...Some more TV shoots next week, Monday I will be sailing around in a Viking ship off the coast of Northern Ireland, Wednesday and Thursday playing a Norman Lord with a little stunt fighting. Usual rubbish pay, long days and hours of driving, but at least travel expenses covered and a nights accommodation for Wednesday night. Does irritate me that skills that have taken me years to learn are valued at no more than an extra with no skills at all. But need the cash so have to put up with it.
Try to enjoy it Knight!
How do you think the typewriter repairmen feel?
Most automotive mechanics wouldn't begin to know how to work on a carb these days and don't appreciate the effort/experience involved.
I assume you know what you know because you wanted to pursue it? And your first thought wasn't that it would make you rich, but maybe it's fun, interesting, uncommon, macho even, hehe? I knoiw how to tear down and rebuild motors on "old" cars, but it's just a hobby now. No one really wants to pay what it's wworth, hard to find a machine shop with any real skilled operators, and the few that will pay aren't aware I exist sooo...
Given that every other skill on set is paid way beyond what we specialists are, and our particular skills keep people safe and uninjured, I will be used as fight choreographer and expected to train in no time at all people who have never held a sword in their lives. I think I am worth paying the same here as I would be in any other country. In the states I would be paid as a stunt man, in fact almost anywhere other than Ireland this would be true. Here the usual rules of pay scales for specialist skills are flouted.
As a hobby it is fun, being on set is not fun, it is work. any ideas that you may have of the glamor of film and TV work are very misplaced. It is a job, like any other, but unlike any other we have no union, no protection from exploitation, no overtime. I will be up at 4am on set by 7:30 and the working day will end at 7:30 pm. I am not about being rich, I am simply fed up with being under paid and half my earnings going to an agency. I have years of experience in this work, but get paid no more than Joe Soap background guy on his first day on set...Sorry if that pisses me off, but it does.
I hope you catch a bigger break soon, amigo. I look forward to playing with my Knight of Redemption action figure.
Ha ha, that would be beyond cool. A break would be nice, but today got exactly the opposite, two days of shooting have now been compressed into one, so a 20 hour day and money cut by a third...Sigh. Wish I could tell 'em to feck off, but you do that and any chance of the decent jobs gets blown.
Hi everyone! Been caught in MMO land. Figured I would stop by.
Sorry knight :(
Hiya Loc!
Yeah, my day job is in peril as well...apparently they want me to be nice to the customers and the people I work with. Fucking waste of time, if you ask me. I couldn't wait for the action figures to roll out so I made one out of a potato. It was his mission to traverse a lake of hot oil in order to slay the Viking King and restore order to the Emerald Isle. Unfortunately, he was thwarted by the Mighty Jones and a shaker of salt. We may have lost our heroic knight, but it was clearly a victory for snack time..
They want you to be nice?...NICE! Damn when did the goal posts shift? Were you ever nice? Did you have an off day and give them unreasonable expectations?
No, but I kind of eased my personality into the job after I was sure that my performance and capacity for awesomeness would compensate for my woefully inadequate interpersonal skills.
See, I tried this and I keep getting sent to "training" and promoted...
The training is usually targeted on how to "communicate" with fellow workers, suppliers, higher ups and such in a way that keeps everyone touchy feely warm n fuzzy BUT I've learned there's another aspect to these trainings that I think most are failing to take advantage of. I simply refer to it as "jedi mind control"...
I am steadily learning how to talk to people and get them to do what I want, and they walk away none the wiser...(cue maniacal laughter...)
Knight, the obvious (and admittedly Not easiest solution) is to start your own business up front as a consultant and cut out the middle man/agency (whatever the leech is taking half your pay). But that takes years of experience (which you have) contacts in the industry ( I'm guessing you have) and the gonads/desire to go it alone without blinking about the risk involved. (truly this is the scary part).
I tell people all the time in my "part time" retirement pursuit, IE when I'm talking to people one on one, that IF you work for someone else, whatever they are paying you, you are worth more, because most certainly they are making money off what you do. A simple thought that many people don't realize on their own because society trains everyone to work for someone else. And to think differently and even worse, act differently IS scary.
But here's two scenarios. You can continue what you're doing and reality is it won't change, OR you can change something AND it MIGHT change. Now, best case scenario is you end up living in California, with your own "consulting" business working in movies, commercials, hell, displays at casinos in Vegas, I dunno, or you could crash and burn and end up with nothing. But nothing changes direction without applied force/effort.
Okay, jeez, too preachy, and probably a bit personal, if so I apologize. Also, I don't know if in Ireland you "have" to go through an agency to do your line of work, I know locales are all different.
But this I wish for everyone, to do what you truly love and be well compensated for it.
A Knight action figure would rock.
Jones writing in a magazine full time would rock as well. Hell, dream big, Jones "having" his own magazine would rock.
One thing I have seen over the years is people, everywhere, seem to lose the ability to dream. We call it growing up. What a slap in the face I think.
Anyone, none of this is criticism directed at anyone, just a point of view, and a desire to see people do better, and be happier.
To quote a crazy Canadian, Serenity Now!
I thought anal beads was slang for hemmeroids, how do you spell that anyway?
hemorrhoids?
What's a hoid btw.
Won't work here Oldschool, tiny island, small population and it would step on the toes of people that could lock me and my crew out of 90% of the work available. I have been taken on more than once as a private contractor and taken on the responsibility of organizing the entire fight team, so it does happen, but not often enough. I did sign a contract to do this for a full budget Hollywood production...But like so many projects it never made it to pre production, but that is one production company that would use me again.
Still, back from the first days shooting. It was one of the rare fun ones, first half of the day spent sailing in a longboat and filming the invasion landings, now a free day before the next two days of filming that are going to involve a rain machine...Not so much fun. But ends with a wrap party where networking will be done, and that is the key, a good bit of networking and handing out of business cards could lead on to more work...
So to end, a shot of a quiet moment during filming.
I guess to sum up all the rambling above...simply put, don't lose your dreams and keep trying. Sounds like your options locally are a bit limited BUT one good one could lead to work elsewhere!
Born dreamer mate, and note I did not turn down the work for the very reason, you never know who will be on set, or what may come of the worst jobs
Arrrr de ferguson army were drenched the skillet waggy munchkin fellers!
That's what she said?
Oh well 5am start tomorrow, three hour drive to be on set for 08:30...then a day under a rain machine. Oh the glamor LOL
VERY cool pic Knight!! How's Mrs. Knight's arm??
Morning all! Took my car in yesterday for its first service/oil change. There was also a problem with the TPMS system. The service manager guy apparently believes boobs make you stupid, and unable to understand how cars work. I explained before handing over my keys that I knew the tires were fine, and had perfect factory suggested pressure. There was an obvious problem with the sensors or system programming. He proceeded to tell me they'd check the tire pressure, cos one tire is probably low. Boobs = don't know how to read a tire pressure gauge I guess. Then when he returned my car to me, instead of saying the TPMS program was hinky and had to be reset, he said: "so..did ya ever have a remote control suddenly stop working even though the batteries are good? Well THAT'S cos it lost its PROGRAMMING(said ridiculously slow). That's what happened to your TPMS. It lost its PROOOOGRAAAMIIING, so we had to reset its PROOOOGRAAAAM." I wanted to straight arm dick punch the guy.
Today, I'm going to lunch with my mom to talk shit about men in service departments who know less about cars than I do. (BTW, he said several things about said system that were flat out WRONG. Guess I should've corrected him instead of laughing internally about how little he knows about the cars his dealership sells.)
Hehe hehe, she said "Boobs".