Hollywood North Set Wars

I went to relax at my favorite Starbucks which is located at the Old Britnel Bookstore Store at Yonge and Bloor. One week earlier, they had a camera crew present available to interview customers for a training video, or so I was told. Then on a Tuesday afternoon, the VP of Starbucks Canada was the subject of a TV type interviews staged at the back of the store. There were four crew members present that day, operating two DSLR cameras, including two LED lighting systems. Yes, it is safe to say I enviously ogled and admired the equipment in their small, humble set up. Behind the VP, the entire store was the background. Looking at the scene unfold, I thought back to my days as a permitee grip for IATSE 873, a local film union hall. For thirteen years I eked out a living as a grip crew member. Such a position is highly competitive. In that field, one will see father working with his sons, mothers working with their daughters, all union members, of course. Sometimes one of the daughters were pregnant, all the way they would pride themselves on knowing their equipment and the duties that go with it. "It is in the family," they would say. Only I was one of those without family. Sadly, on October 2012, the VP of IASTE 873, Dan Ford, terminated my employment with the union hall, ending my career as a grip, citing too many complaints. Like I said, it is highly competitive in that industry. Period. I have lots of memories though of that thirteen year experience. Looking over the small shoot at Britnel Books, I can recall many experiences. One such experience comes to mind. In the last decade, I had a telephone call, the dispatch operator instructed me to go to a production office at 7am. This was not out of the ordinary at all. I made it to the production office at 645am. Being fifteen minutes early to a shooting call was expected. The production van picked up some waiting crew members and drove us out to Cambridge, Ontario.  When we arrived at the farm, I immediately reported to my department head at the grip truck, did the usual dozen page manifesto of paperwork. I then went to attend to my assigned duties. In time, the boss made me aware that there was three units shooting on the farm and I was to report to one of the units. So I strolled through the farmers' field, making my way to the Second Unit shooting crew. I then reported to my department head, explained the mix up, and then again went to attend to my duties. Yes, it did not take long for me to again to get noticed, and dispatched to Unit Three, where I again explained the mix up. At this juncture, I entered the shooting location which was a farm house. Between takes the British film director played a piano. As I examined the location further, I came across actress Sharon Stone, holding a baby boy.  In person, her hair was grayish, but she was still a beauty to behold. Since the location was remote, moving equipment around on carts proved to be a challenge. At the end of the night, I was at the grip truck. The man at the grip truck is always giving the moniker The Truck Boss. Whenever someone calls on the walkie talkie Grip Channel from set for a piece of equipment, the truck mate would find the equipment, give it to a waiting crew member, who would sail it onto set.  At the end of the night, more equipment then usual was outside in the coming rain, waiting to be stored on the Grip Truck.  Since the farm had endured three film units with different crews and equipment, our Grip Truck was last to close down for the night. All the other crews had closed down their vehicles and had gone home for the night. So it was 230am. The truck boss was at a low time in the day and in his life and indulging in recreational drug use.  Without warning, the other members of the department arrived back; saw all the extra equipment outside and the lack of space to put it away. When they met the truck boss, saw him in his sad state of mind, they all exploded on the hapless man. "I would expect this out of you!" one would rage.

"Look at you," another would add, "You are stoned!" The men raged, cursed, and threatened to expose the man in charge for his delinquency in his duties. It was at this moment, the truck boss broke down, cried, and his weeping went against the raging, red faced men. His weeping and their gnashing of teeth only added to the woe at such an hour. I was always a lowly permittee at IATSE 873, a non-member, never a member. I was stupefied with such a spectacle of witnessing a scene of self-pity and the rage that collided with it. It was humorous, yet sad, and oh the hour! Suddenly, I noticed the production van, waiting for anyone going back to Toronto. I looked at the raging men. "Am I call back?!" I begged. "No!" they fired back in unison. With that in mind, I thanked them for having me, which I always did, and I stumbled into the vehicle to be brought back to Toronto. When I got home at an ungodly hour, I listened to the voicemail, revealing a call steward requesting I return for a call back. So at the appointed time, I returned to the production office, boarded the production van to Cambridge, arrived at the location, reported to the Department boss. I then joined my co-workers to attend to our duties. Everyone had red eyes, but was ready for another day. The movie director was back behind the piano on the farm. And Sharon Stone still had it too! This whole way of life ended on October 2012 when Dan Ford, VP at IATSE 873, terminated my employment and association with the film union hall. The backstabbing, the office politics, and the nepotism, all led to a long list of complaints. Yes, it is highly competitive in the film industry. I survived it for thirteen years. Some can't endure a fourteen hour day and they have a film degree too. If they asked me to return, would I do it?! Absolutely! But they would never have me back. It's not in the family!

Paul Collins author of Mack Dunstan's Inferno/Mystery of Everyman's Way

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