Re: A&E Tesla coil, and Mind Freak. (fwd)

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Moderated and approved by: Gerry Reynolds <greynolds@xxxxxxxxxx>



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 09:45:26 -0800
From: Jim Lux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>, tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: A&E Tesla coil, and Mind Freak. (fwd)

At 05:23 AM 12/25/2006, Tesla list wrote:
>Moderated and approved by: Gerry Reynolds <greynolds@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 20:33:41 -0600
>From: Harold Weiss <hweiss@xxxxxxxxxx>
>To: Tesla list <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Re: A&E Tesla coil, and Mind Freak. (fwd)
>
>Better yet!!  Just tell them to talk to your local IATSE business
>administrator.  They rarely try to cross us.  If they do, more than likely
>they'll never work in the industry again.  It's nice to have a union to back
>you up.  We have left them to pack their own trucks in the past when they
>try to pull crap.(and where do those trucks have to be in the morning?)
>
>At least that works for me.
>
>David E Weiss


I'd venture that a good amount of this sort of work is non-union, and 
it's not clear that a one-off tesla coil exhibitor would get a lot of 
support from the folks at Local 44 (the IATSE local that deals with 
special effects here in Southern California).  When I was working in 
that business, I'd say about 1/3 of our work was on union shoots, and 
the rest not.  Commercials, music videos, trade shows, etc., tend to 
be non-union (at least for EFX work).  It's the regular series and 
feature films that are union.

But it's just this sort of shenanigan that is why unions are nice in 
entertainment.

Or, even better, someone like Jeff Parisse, who has toiled for years 
to convince producers that it's really worth it to hire a 
professional, rather than someone who does it on the side.  (Not that 
the coil performs any differently, it's all the *other stuff*.. 
insurance, supporting equipment, knowledge of how the shooting 
process works, heck, even knowledge of the trade jargon.)

An interesting look at the industry from the viewpoint of a union electrician:
http://filmhacks.wordpress.com/