I Lit The Bathroom In "Saw" - Yeah, right.

If you got into the movie business to get recognition in anything...forget it. I guess, unless you're an actor. But even then...it's "you know...what's his name?" For the longest time I couldn't remember that one actor in that one movie. It hit me in the middle of the night, Stellan Skarsgard. Which could be more of a tribute to his talent, then his face.

Usually, when I run into people who work in the movie business. I tell them the high profiled named movies I've worked on, because it's dumb to mention the crap that no one's heard of. It makes it really uncomfortable too. When people do ask, it goes something like this (in my earlier days):

Random film industry person (RFIP): Oh hey man.
Me: yo.
RFIP: What do you do?
Me (at the time): I do electric work
RFIP: Oh?
Me: Yep.
RFIP: What movie?
Me: Like "Saw"
RFIP: Like "Saw" the horror movie, I saw that (heh-heh).
Me: Cool, yeah, I lit that bathroom.
RFIP: Oh, you were there?
Me: Yeah.
RFIP: So you ran electric on it?
Me: No. The bathroom, that was my design. I lit that bathroom. It was a blanket wash of fluorescent light. They had to shoot in every direction.
RFIP: So you turned on a light.
Me: I rigged the light banks above the soundstage. Told them this is the most efficient way to go.
RFIP: How do you get to do something like that?
Me: I was friends with the best boy electric from film school. He use to be my gaffer on student films.
RFIP: That's cool.

It's not. In their brains, I'm still basically the craft services person. In fact, more than likely, lower than them. Because if you're not directing, you're the "rest of us." Stupid, I know. But human. It also seems to be a testament to how we view ourselves too. Like, someone supposedly high up on the food chain would never slum to talk to the pleebs. Probably more accurately, and humorously, if you're speaking to them, they like to remind you how you are no better than them. East coasters love this.

Little do we all realize how close the most experienced person is to being a job below the radar, even on a financial level. I recall the director of photography made less than me on that job (if we're going per day). Why? Because there is no electric person's reel. He did it for peanuts to get something on his reel. Me? It's a job.

I have a friend who thought I worked at Panavision, even though I repeated told her I worked in post production. Very little of the people I supposedly know know what I actually do. My guess, they couldn't care less. Those who've worked in the movie industry, ask the people in your lives what they think you do at work. I think you'd be surprised. That's the business people.