When it came time to negotiate my day rate, I had no clue as
to what to ask for. I didn’t have an agent or management, so that didn’t help.
I eventually went into the office to sign the deal memo. To which Lizette told
me “you and Mark have your own deal. He wanted to speak to you directly about
it.” It occurred to me that we didn’t even speak about money.
It was like being called to the principal’s office. I sat
there wondering what a sensible rate was. I started calculating backwards. “If
a grip makes $75 on a low-no budget movie, then a cinematographer should get
five times that?” That sounded about right.
I met Mark in his office one afternoon. He leaned back in
his chair, clearly not one to waste formalities asked “How much you thinking?”
It occurred to me, HE didn’t know what a cinematographer day rate was either.
To not sound stupid, I threw out the easiest number I can think of (in order to
calculate with days). I blurted out “$1000 a day.” I thought he was going to
laugh me out of the office. He took a moment. Scribbled something on a piece of
paper and simply said “okay.” That was the end of the meeting. We were shooting
for 30 days, so that would be $30,000, see how easy it was. No wonder people
have managers to negotiate this very uncomfortable talk. I learned later that
Mark made triple that per day in stunt work or as a coordinator. But we were
talking about a studio movie. NOT low budget. There was just no bar set. Or he
just didn’t know how to do it any other way.
One thing I can say about the production side of movies, as
far as vendors go, they really like helping out up and coming talent. Why not?
If you make it, they make it and what they lose besides time. Their investment
in you is that if you found them, more than likely they will be considered for
future projects. I developed very close connections to the film lab and camera
rental house. These connections and “loyalties” are essential in support in
progressing. I know one cinematographer who has been shooting for over 30 years
using the same rental house. The longer you’re with them, the more they cater
to you. This extends to the crew you use too.
My gaffer and I would continue to show up to the Burbank
office checking in regularly to see the progress. Lizette looked so whacked.
She ended up bringing in another assistant to take over some of the Screen
Actor’s Guild paperwork. Everything submitted to anywhere in L.A. at that point
tended to costs an average of $300. Every time you filed anything, best have
$300 on hand. You wanna hear a nightmare?…insurance for a project like this
probably costs a quarter of the total budget. Every stunt you added, piece of
equipment, location, personnel, practical effects, etc…insurance companies bump
you into another bracket. If you don’t have a track record with a specific
insurance agent, then your deductible will be enormous.
Boring shit aside, I dug up a storyboard artist in hopes of
showing the director Herman what we intended to do. The guy was just starting
out, so he got paid per page. He made some great stuff, but it just took too
long to map out. We were shooting in about a month. We eventually dropped him,
unfortunately, since Herman had no clue as to how to establish the “look” of
the movie. A month turned to a few weeks. That’s when I started to feel ill…
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