How deep is rock bottom?
Haven't updated this in nearly 6 years. What a drastically different world since then.
This will be lengthy. I haven't worked 'regularly' in 2 years. The WGA and SAG Strikes are just the latest calamity, but my predicament is multi-faceted. Consider the following details:
1) The RTWA vaccine mandates, and sudden termination in the middle of a series with a direct loss of an estimated $90k gross from that job alone, and the resulting discrimination for everything else thereafter. I'm no longer getting referrals from peers like I used to. Labeled a 'plague rat' and much worse by supposed union 'kin.' Damaged reputation for nothing that has to do with the actual job duties or performance, and as time has passed, I've egregiously paid excessive penalties for being far more correct than I was mistaken.
2 ) A DP I've worked with most of my time here in ATL did an international gig for most of 2022, and it wasn't a gig I could globetrot along. 0% their doing - don't get that twisted, but I didn't realize I had been enjoying atypical repeat calls for work from a very busy DP for the previous 3 years, which became VERY apparent when that wasn’t there anymore.
3) The streaming production bubble bursting and the resulting huge drop in available production volume. This basically affects everyone, though the busiest will always remain busy when there's ANY work to be had. There's been a boom in production and crew over the last decade, and I don't know how over-inflated it was, but the longer this goes on, the clearer that picture will become.
4) Coupled with #3 above, there are nearly double the amount of union DITs in the ATL market compared to when I relocated here in 2017, and I'm further down the bench for calls, mainly because of #1 above, but not insignificantly because of #5 below…
5) Employment discrimination in the name of DIE. (Diversity, Inclusion, Equity) Last year I lost 2 features I had interviewed - THAT I KNOW OF - for being male. One of them actually admitted so much verbally, after the DP officially offered me the job, and informing production of their choice. Unfortunately I have no hard physical evidence with which I could potentially sue - like I have the money to do so anyway - or that it would go anywhere in the current climate. Stupid of me to not record the conversation though.
These significant factors set the stage, a survey of that part of my working world as of the start of 2023.
I was fortunate to start this year doing a 6-week 2nd unit gig for a BIG feature in January, but I didn't work a single day from the 2nd week of February until June, at which point I had about $2k dollars to my name. I went out of town for 6 weeks in JUN-JUL for a Tier 1 feature which allowed me to tread water for another 16 weeks.
The one bit of incredible good fortune is that with the spacing of thos two short jobs - about 13 weeks of total work on set in 2023 - is that I have been able to max out my healthcare hour bank. But, my qualifying period is about to reset, and I don’t expect to work a single day before it resets again in another 6 months. That’s March of 2024. So I'm qualified for healthcare until December of 2024, but may still lose it then since I'll have to re-qualify. My entire family would lose coverage, including my wife who has multiple auto-immune conditions and $20k/month prescriptions that go with them.
Haven't worked a day on set since the last couple weeks of July. Didn't expect to. From conversations with friends in smaller markets and primarily in the commercial and corporate video spaces, their production volume is at best 30% of typical too, and the race to the bottom has been severe on rates. A drone/specialty Operator I know told me drone gigs that would normally bill $8-12k per day are being requested at $2k, and they're losing work to SOMEBODY taking it for those prices. Unfortunately that's economics of supply and demand with the majority of the industry at idle, but the problem is that IF it corrects, it will never recover fully when you adjust for time and inflation, and it will be very slow to rise as the dust settles anyway.
I've just requested the max 20% IAP pension account hardship withdrawal. If I could take 80% right now, I would. I did one during the pandemic and even paid that back (which isn’t permitted this time) when I was busy up until October of 2021, but it's barely enough for a month's expenses, as I've been limping along and going into worse and worse consumer debt for the last 18 months straight. My consumer credit is maxed out now, and without that IAP money I can't even make minimums anymore. I have liquidated all the personal property of value I had left, including power tools, lawn equipment, furniture, collectible firearms, my motorcycle, etc... I’ve sold some of my production gear, albeit at grossly low prices due to nobody working. I’ve liquidated my crypto, retirement savings, and precious metals. Nearly everything of value I’ve worked a decade or more to acquire is on the chopping block if it’s not already gone, just to keep the lights on and service consumer debt - which also was keeping the lights on until now.
Once the IAP money hits I'm also going to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer to see if there's anything short of bankruptcy I can do, and if not, then bankruptcy it is, but that doesn’t take care of everything, as I have a $40k SBA pandemic loan I’ll have to pay back over the next 28 years - and it’s secured with my DIT gear, so if I want to be able to keep working, I can’t get rid of either of them - If I try to get rid of the loan, they take all my remaining gear, and without any credit, I can’t purchase replacements. After what ends up being 35-40% of my labor extorted through tax withholding, I can’t make enough money as a DIT even working 65-hours a week without the additional rental income from my gear.
At this point, I’m not considering abandoning the film industry entirely, only for the sunk costs so far in pursuit of retiree healthcare coverage. I’m looking into the particulars to find out how much more I have to go through to secure it, though I know that laws and policies can be changed or revoked at any time, leaving me up shit creek without a paddle yet again. I worked my first job as a camera trainee in 1999, first joined IATSE 600 in 2002 as an Assistant, so coming up on 25 years since I started in the film business. Overall, I feel like the juice hasn’t been worth the squeeze, especially when I’m pushing 50 years old, dead broke for the 3rd time in a decade, and no real hope for the future. I let a love of the craftsmanship of filmmaking perpetuate my participation in a toxic working environment for over 2 decades now. I still love it. I love color and being a DIT, and still love cinematography. I just HATE nearly EVERYTHING about the film business, and it’s only gotten worse over the course of my ‘career.’
I’ve come to the understanding that pursuing sustainable progress and success working as a freelancer in the film industry is like being Charlie Brown convinced THIS TIME he's really gonna kick that football. In reality he's never going to kick it, but he's gonna be a fool and keep trying, and he's gonna keep falling flat on his back and suffering the pain and humiliation of it being vindictively yanked away at the last moment. As long as he keeps trying to play the game, he's going to keep losing.
I'm on the verge of launching a desperate attempt at a side hustle with a service business I'm launching that has ZERO to do with the production/entertainment industry. It's a bit seasonal and I'm starting it at not the best time, but after being turned down for dozens of jobs including mowing grass at a golf course, changing tires at Costco, and packing boxes at warehouses for $12-15 per hour, this is the best potential option I've come up with, but even it has significant ongoing operational expenses that are several hundred dollars monthly. If I’m fortunate, it could be enough to sustain us long-term, but probably only after a massive debt reduction and/or bankruptcy, and a significant downgrade in lifestyle. I hate this, I hate myself, I hate the world for losing it’s mind repeatedly in the 21st century through overreactions, a lack of leadership, and an obsession with subjugation. It sucks to lose, and to keep losing, and getting harder and harder to accept the pain of mediocrity (at best) as bountiful blessings revered with due gratitude.