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Production Rantahan June10 by Tim Ranahan
Gratitude and a Rant
We’ve been slammed here at Ranahan’s for the last two months. My longtime amazing niece and office manager Erika Ranahan is moving to Colorado. Thanks a million for everything you’ve done for the industry and me, I love ya Erika.
How is it that folks in the film business are allowed to spend hundreds to millions of dollars without any business qualifications to back it up? I have one possible theory about this. Maybe the people who run large film or commercial production companies want it this way. Maybe the Big Chiefs at the top want production personnel without a business education running their jobs.
First of all, we work in the entertainment business, and people are awestruck and will do almost anything to get in and get ahead. This gives the Chiefs an advantage; they can get production people for little or no money and work them into the ground. And as the production personnel move from PA to Coordinator to Production Manager and occasionally to Producer, the Chiefs dangle just enough carrots in front of them to keep them coming back for more.
The Chiefs take advantage of their production people by presenting budgets that are underbid or not indicative of the market place. Producers and Managers are forced to ask for deals from crew and vendors that are often unrealistic. Either that or production teams are compelled to hire less experienced, cheaper labor from a younger generation eager to join the “the biz.”
Making matters worse, Coordinators and Managers work their tails off – for less money per hour then almost anyone, excluding PAs (don’t get me started on their plight). Aside from the money, production folks are asked to compromise their morals for the greater good of the company hierarchy. OUCH!
Which takes me to how I truly feel about local production folks: Thank goodness they didn’t go to business school, or we could have ended up like all the failed corporations, countries, and continents in the world.
To the readers: I won’t rant any more if I’m the only one. I find it hard to believe you’re all “Happy Campers” out there. If that’s the case, I won’t rant anymore. So, speak up, send me a rant, it can be anonymous… CHEERSPosted on Jun 04, 2010 - 10:33 PM