Thursday, March 02, 2006

Hollywood Reality, Hollywood Gloss

Yeah, yeah, the whole world is anxiously awaiting Sunday's Oscar bash, or the day-before antipodal Independent Spirit Awards, but if you really want to learn about what's going on in Hollywood, skip the glossy, front-page of the daily paper, and take a look back in the Business Section of today's LA Times:

For 18 years, Mark Karen has worked behind the camera, carefully framing shots on movies and television shows from "Titanic" to "Star Trek: Voyager."

But the 45-year-old Los Angeles resident sees a bleak picture of his own future.

The reason: a proposed contract change that for the first time would remove a requirement that camera operators like Karen be used on feature films. Instead, the new contract would allow directors of photography, commonly known as "DPs," to operate cameras on features and episodic television shows.

The seemingly innocuous concession — contained in a draft contract for Hollywood's so-called below-the-line workers — has roiled the ranks of camera operators, who have worked hand in glove with DPs since the days of talkies."

It means I'm going to be out of a career," Karen predicted.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh oh, what's next, Directors writing their own scripts.. AIEEEEE!

Formosus said...

AIEEE is right! This topic is a bit dear to my heart since one of my now-dead cousins was a cameraman on John Ford's crew. I guess the next step is unlikely pairing of grip-actor.

Anonymous said...

saw you on tv last night... how many people are jealous of you manhandling Eva haha