I think I’m now unemployable

I recently finished on another film. This one was actually a television series called Terra Nova . The first four episodes are approved to go ahead and if successful they’ll continue to produce an entire series. It’s a sci-fi about a dystopian future that is dangerous to live in so they transport (time travel) some people to the past. Basically it’s cars, guns and dinosaurs. Plenty of action but no real substance and I think it’ll probably be a success for many reasons. One of them is the production that I saw happening and what I’ve continued to realise from my previous post about the addiction of work.

As usual the standard of work that we were all doing was outstanding. I mean everyone, all the technicians on the ground and what they were managing to achieve says a great deal about the professionalism and expertise of the person on the shop floor who puts all the stuff together for the shoot crew to work with. It’s the reason that the work is of such a high standard that I find it interesting that dispute the difficulties, the job still gets done and the production gets what it wants.

Different to as it appears

Now my caveat – I only know my one little section in the art department and I don’t have the big picture so this is just from one of the grunts in the trenches. The reason such great things are done is:

• Excellent high base skills
• Dedication and pride to producing quality
• Love of working in a creative industry
• Desire to be called onto the next project
• Camaraderie and working as a team
• Relatively high income and matching standard of living

At first glance these all seem motivating and good attributes but there is a dark side.

I’m still not sure which way to feel about this and it seems that it may be becoming the standard these days within the industry as the Australian dollar strengthens and production moves away from our shores to cheaper countries but either production companies are incompetent or shrewd, in the way they manage their workforce.

Instead of planning an appropriate timeline and budget, the standard seems to be to have no time, no money but expect outstanding work as would normally be expected with proper preparation, planning and funding.

What has happened of late is we have a third of the prep time and no money to set up workshops or buy materials but production wants all the whiz-bangery that they can think of – So… “Go and make it happen, Oh, and if you have any gear at home you want to bring in feel free as you’ll need it to do your job but we won’t reimburse you as it’s what you need, thanks very much.”

The workshops are makeshift without the proper infrastructure to work efficiently and safely and no preparation or stocking of the most basic materials to create things from. Often the sheds are poorly ventilated, lit and without the necessary equipment but it’s still expected that the work is performed by the deadlines. On this production I saw some of the worst working connotations that I’ve ever seen in all my time in the industry with people performing tasks that will shorten their lives due to dust and chemicals, maybe not today or even this year but it’s accumulative and these technicians were working 12 and 16 hour days for weeks at a time. Reports of people falling asleep driving home were mentioned to me. Production wouldn’t care if someone died (and in productions overseas they have), it would just be that’s a tragic accident but the show must go on, now back to work and keep cracking the whip. The whole project is driven by the accountants with no regard for the greater cost.

The real question is “Why do the workers in the film industry put up with it?”

It’s the same list as above but instead of looking at those points as positive attributes they are actually the shackles that bind people to the production company as wage slaves.

I heard it said around the workshops, “Suck it up and just do your job.” but why? – Because they have no power, they are sold into servitude because of the above list.

They care about their craft and want to do great work out of personal pride. They care so much they will put up with all the difficulties because they are all pulling together to create something bigger than themselves. Something that will show their skills and stay after they are gone. Yea fine, those are some of the idealistic points but it’s more pragmatic also.

They have grown accustomed to the income that can be earnt when you work stupid long hours, often away from home without a break for months and sometimes years at a time. Complete breakdown in a social life with anyone outside of the industry creating a monocultural lifestyle. With that income, their families develop a dependence on a certain lifestyle, mortgage, cars, education… those sorts of things. But the cost is absence from the family and many dysfunctional relationships. Like many industries with similar traits, the film industry is littered with affairs and broken relationships, often due to absence in my view.

There is always a certain desperation in everyone that we have to make good on this production despite any difficulties, not to make waves and show that we are a good little worker bee so that we can milk this production for as much as we can because it won’t last long, they never do and always have a finish date looming and if we are good we’ll get invited back onto the next production. If their is a gap of work between productions (which is the norm) and some lean times this makes things only more desperate. When there is a whisper of a job everyone looks after themselves first, not letting too much be known about it until their position is secure. Then they may help others to be seen as a good guy but really the work is so scarce and desperately needed, due to the commitments that they have created that no real favours are done and it’s every man for himself.

So what we end up with is this cycle of earning good money due to the huge hours, family pressures to maintain that lifestyle, while the family often learns to live without you. When there is no film work, you could be an inconvenience at home because family aren’t used to you being around and as you have no other social life or career prospects the worry of when the next job is going to turn up creates stress. Then when the next production starts there is relief that at least for a time, income is secure and home life goes back to the norm. But it’s necessary to work hard, don’t complain and keep your head down to stay on this production as long as possible and get invited onto the next. The income rolls in the money is spent the lifestyle maintained and the cycle recommences. Desperation and relief, around and around time and again.

So how does production use this to their benefit?

Is production being shrewd or incompetent?

I don’t know if they have no idea what they are doing and we’re picking up the pieces using dedication and skill and they never need to learn how to manage better because they still manage to get the job done on the backs of the technicians but I’ve seen it so many times I’m now thinking it’s an actual strategy by the production. I’m talking about at the very highest levels here not at the level where I could actually ever meet a real, living, breathing person on the ground.

If they (the producers) say we have no money and a ridiculous timeline there is always someone out there who will compromise themselves for “just this one job” and take it on. This goes all the way down to the bottom of the crew. There is always someone who wants to get in the door and bust an arse. Those in the industry see the job start and as I’ve mentioned they’re in this lifestyle/income cycle and have to compromise and take the job, so dispite the lack of time and resources to produce, they collectively suck it up and get to work using their own personal life energy to make up for the discrepenticy of the producers. And the producers know this is what will happen so they plan accordingly. They know that if they screw everyone from start to finish, top to bottom, they will get what they want using those thousands of workers life energy to off set the balance sheet.

What makes me think this?

Well I’ve seen all the above playing out now a few times. Years ago there once was a time when there was great facilities, time and budget to get excellent work done with limited stress. That has not been the case for a few years now.

The main sign though is the apparent compromises that production makes when they push too hard. The problem with this model is sometimes they will be so extreme with budget and timing, things just can’t be done, it breaks down. If the reality was as production have always said, when the deadline arrives or more finances are required and it’s not there, then the whole house of cards would collapse… But No!

Every time we couldn’t deliver on time I saw schedules moved, if we couldn’t find the materials, they would find the money to get more, if we needed to work more or get more staff they always managed to find just enough money to get what was needed done, by the skin of our teeth. Funny that! Doesn’t matter how desperate they said it was, they always managed to find more. They are so deep in the hole they have to and if they can’t it would turn into The Fountain that was six weeks into pre production and was pulled to go overseas. That’s often remembered as a threat.

If things are so bad that the production is going to fail, hiring more help, putting in better dust extraction equipment and allowing people to have some rest wouldn’t be an issue as they’re insignificant, the problems are far bigger than we on the shop floor. The production would fail, simple, that’s bad management and incompetence.

What I think we have here is concerted manipulation to create a sense of lack and desperation to achieve excellent return for minimal outlay. That’s good business I hear you say but it’s on the backs of those who work in the industry, strip mining their personal life energy. Yes I’m talking about people actually dying at a younger age.

If you’re going to say they have a choice. Well, yes and no. There are other jobs out there sure but as I’ve hopefully shown, many of these people have become addicted to the lifestyle and if they do leave, there are always more who are prepared to join the industry and that is what the producers are relying on. There is and will continue to be more people who will choose for whatever reason to throw themselves into the machinery, to grease the wheels of the film industry.

I’ve tired of this cycle now that I can see it for what it has become. I may continue to return to it from time to time for a cash injection but after this post I may well never be invited back because I’m saying the Emperor has no clothes. Unfortunately those who create these issues are at the top of the production and don’t care as they look up from their spreadsheets in their ivory towers. Those I deal with (and that is everyone actually making the film), who are addicted to the lifestyle, would probably rather I don’t mention these points as it’s what’s eating them up inside and they would rather just continue to live the dream. Sadly it a bad dream.

PS I know I’ve made many gross generalisations here. There are always going to be exceptions to everything I’ve said here. There are people with passion and purpose, with balanced lives and great relationships but what I’m expressing is what I’ve observed and from what I’ve seen is the norm albeit a generalisation. To those who have it all together, congratulations and keep an eye on the industry so it doesn’t suck the life out of you.

Its been a long time now, as a matter of fact it’s been 16  months since I decided on an experiment, just for one week.

Back in a previous post I mentioned that I wanted to try something, to see how it might go,  just for the hell of it.  To just opt out somewhat from the expectations of society.  I called it a society fast, to not buy into the things that society says that you have to do.

Well that week back in March of last year went okay and my world didn’t end. I still did what needed to be done when things needed to be done and I was able to do whatever I wanted to do as I felt inspired.  So I kept doing it, the society fast.  Doing what I wanted to do as I wanted to do it.

Hanging with Friends in Buenos Aires

And guess what?  I haven’t stopped.  I haven’t found the need or desire to buy back into what society says that I’m supposed to do.  What am I talking about I hear you say?

I’m taking about how our Western Society says that we have to do certain things, like relationships, work,  income, career, worry and stress about tomorrow and how it’s going to be when I’m old and I don’t have enough money in my retirement fund, how at my time of life I should be in this certain type of lifestyle, all of that sort of thing.

That’s why I started the society fast to have a break for just one week away from that and see what would happen and I haven’t stopped.  That was 16 months ago and it has been some of the best times of my life because I’m living in the moment and just doing what is right for now and it keeps working.

Now before you think I have it easy, that’s not my point.  In the last 16 months I have worked for income in an employed situation for only 6 weeks and earned $12,000.  I’ve additionally done a little audio and video recording and editing work and earned another couple of thousand dollars but that is all.  I have been leaning on my credit card and I’m slowly going backwards at about $1000/mth but I’m fine with that.  I live a very lean life and I have everything I need and desire little more.

For a long time I was looking for something to put my attention to, some strong focus and direction that society says that you have to have to be a member of this society.  That was causing me grief and one of the reason for starting this society fast, to have some chill time away from that stress.

The thing(and this is important) is that I couldn’t find that career focus even once I started the society fast.  So my focus was just on living in the moment and doing what was appropriate each day.  I continued to look for something, learn and live, moment by moment and my life still didn’t break.  In actual fact it kept getting better.  I still went to Buenos Aires in July for four weeks and the work I did do on the film last year was better and more rewarding than I expected and reinforced that this was still the correct path.  I continued to produce Your Story and I continued to look for a way to generate some income from something that impassioned me.  And while nothing appeared instead of becoming frustrated and running all over the place with angst in my heart, like I used to, I just chilled and did what seemed appropriate in the moment… and all was good.

I can do anything I want at any time I want because I’m free to choose my daily activities and follow my passions.  Sure more money would give me additional options like travel which I desire but for the moment my priorities are finding direction and I need time for that and employment would rob that most valuable commodity from me.

Relaxed and chilled, doing what I liked for months, living lean, dancing tango and learning from those around me and always aware that when the time is right the inspiration will appear, I just wasn’t mature enough in something yet for me to see it.  And then it appeared…

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear”

I discovered it(yes discovered), I didn’t dream it up, it was waiting out there all along for me to mature in something and become ready to see what was always there.  I discovered Create Your Life Story as a way of taking what I care about(other peoples stories), blending it with what I’ve learned producing Your Story, adding a pinch of my learning’s of internet business courtesy of Internet Business Mastery and ProBlogger, then wrapping it all up into what I desire to have as a lifestyle that resonates with me.  Sixteen months later, I’m still here living the dream of fasting from the expectations of society and it’s still working.

Sure I realise that I have no money and it is too easy if I allow it, to start to worry about how I’ll pay for even the necessities in a months time. So I don’t think about it until I can do something about it and I always think of something when the time is right, in the mean time I do what is right for now.  Now it felt right to write this post and get these thoughts down, a little later this afternoon I’ll probably do some more study and learning or maybe write a post on Create your Life Story or edit some video or maybe send that invoice that I should send off, I don’t know but it’s(this lifestyle) working.

How do I know that it’s working?

I’m happy!  That’s all.

Is there any other measure of how well a life is working?  I don’t expect happiness from external effects, happiness resides in me and I know that by living this lifestyle it suits me.  I have the time and energy to explore the ideas that I think are important for my life(not yours dear reader), I can only say that for me.  I would love Create Your Life Story and Your Story to become successful, earn a good income for a few dreams that I would like to create and travel a lot.  I’m moving to create that reality but one thing I do know is,  I can’t create it if I buy into societal expectations.  It sucks the very life essence out of me and I would not be happy over there again as a wage slave, I would not ever be successful either.  I may or not be successful here but I know that I will be happy and if I’m only happy, “I Win”

I’ve been very quiet these many months here on Your Story. I’ve been busy putting a few things in place, starting a new podcast and site. I have been a little bit head down getting everything done so to speak.
For two years I had wanted to sit and talk to with my uncle, Bill Kath.  Recently I finally got around to recording a series of conversations with him and published them on his own site to share his Life Story with my family and anyone who may come along from the greater community.

This inspired me to start a new podcast to help explain how the average person can now record, edit and publish an audio Life Story, then share that story with family and the world if they choose.

My other podcast Your Story is a personal passion and I would love, one day to travel a lot more and record stories from around the world. For three years now I have been learning and developing the skills needed to converse and produce audio while slowly going backwards financially. With Create Your Life Story I hope to create a podcast to allow me to develop an income that will give me the ability to continue to produce Your Story while helping others to gain some of the amazing benefits that I have seen from sharing personal Life Stories.

The premise of Create Your Life Story is simple. There are people who want to capture the Life Story of someone they know or there are people who wish to record their own personal Life Story. These stories are interesting initially for family but also for the greater community, if only they can be recorded and made available, before they are lost, as has happened for all of human history.

I now have the knowledge from producing Your Story and several other versions of audio Life Stories to share with anyone who is interested in learning how easy and available it is for them to do the same.

It’s very early days but I have already produced a considerable amount of content to share that will give a lot of people a good start. I have even produced a free e-Book to help you get started.

Please come over to Create Your Life Story and if you know of anyone who may be interested in learning to record and share a life story, either their own or someone else’s, please share this information.

I’ve finished work a while back on the Narnia movie again. I was initially on for a month, which is where I wrote the previous post, then off for a month, then back on for 2.5 weeks and now yet again I’ve not worked for a few weeks. Since I finished up I’ve been thinking about

Book Stands for the Movie

this crazy life of mine and how it flies in the face of the Western method of work, whether it’s valid or irresponsible of me, if I’m burning my bridges for my future or if maybe I may actually have something here.

When I finished I knew I had to do the whole readjust again back into the mental head-space of just hanging out doing my thing again. It’s very easy to plug into work, as once I’m on a Job there is a first morning where I get up and head off to another first day and from then on it’s routine. The longer I work in that one place the more ingrained the routine becomes and the more comfortable it all is. That is until the routine becomes boredom. Then another type of stress starts where I question my existence and waste of life in that environment and yet again I have to leave to find myself.

That is very much the way it is for most of the permanent work that I’ve done and the great advantage of working contract is that normally I can stick it out long enough until the project is complete which hopefully isn’t too long and then I get the change that I need. So film work often suits me well in this regard.

Finishing and readjusting to no work is not as easy as compared to starting as I don’t have the distractions that work gives me from what I call the “Void” or “Nothing”. However there are two ways to approach this.

1. Get another Job is what everyone asks and expects. In a lot of ways that is the easiest option. But for me after all these years of doing the variations on this lifestyle I know that it will go the way that I’ve outlined above. Normally six months and I’m a spent force, bored and ready to move on. It even tends to manifest in physical disturbances in my body brought on by the low but permanent levels of stress.
2. Embrace the Void. Now it’s not exactly Nothing. It’s not as though I wake up sit down and do nothing until I go back to sleep that night as I have my personal projects and day to day order to keep functioning so there is a whole range of activities and a constant supply of new and interesting opportunities turning up daily to keep me active. However compared to the 40 hour week, 48 week year work model it appears to be a void that requires filling.

The challenges with embracing the Void is that there is no order projected onto the future, no planning and no surety. It’s very much living in the moment and taking the opportunities as they arrive on a moment by moment time frame. That flies in the face of the Western model of how to get things done. I’m supposed to have lists, goals, plans for what I want to achieve and a step by step approach to achieving them. I’ve read the books on goal setting and that’s the way they say to achieve what your after. Sure that’s the model and if you have a specific goal that is what you do to achieve it, I get that.

But what if you haven’t the goal at the moment?

For the last couple of years my podcast Your Story has been a goal, a huge goal, to get the knowledge and have a production model in place but I never knew what I was going to do with it beyond getting it up and running and hoping that some opportunities may come of it. So I’ve been working at learning everything I needed to get it going but now that’s been achieved it’s bubbling along and I don’t have the next step.

Welcome to the Void, Ian.

The easy fix as mentioned above and the one recommended by all is to go get a job and for two reasons.

Money and activity.

The number of people who say it must be good to have this free lifestyle or it must be good to have money, as they say they would like to not have to work but they need to, as they need the income, they need the money to maintain the lifestyle.

• Let’s look at the obvious side of this first – Money.

Are we addicted to the money and income from our work?

I think most people would agree that the answers is yes. Most don’t realise that the addiction is based on having an income to support a lifestyle that is far in excess of what is necessary. They scream that they want the “stuff”. You know the “stuff”… It’s all that consumer stuff that we surround ourselves with, from the house and car to the holidays and widgets. It includes everything beyond our base needs. Everything that the advertisers throw at us but more insidiously it’s the subtle daily reminders that to be a person of respect in our society (and just look at the business and social pages in the paper to understand this) you need to have a style and attitude the requires all the “stuff”. These are the things that identify you to the rest of society and you need to surround yourself with them at any cost and the cost is debt and/or work very hard to generate the income.

This is not to say live in a cave with only the basics to have a good life but do you really need all of that “stuff”? Do you constantly have to upgrade as soon as the next version of it comes out? If the answers is yes then you need to fund the never ending need for those consumables and there is always more “stuff” coming on the market to necessitate the increase in your income – consume, consume, consume. It never ends.

I know that many would say that they are only just getting by on the minimum of what they can afford with no luxuries and that is valid. They are trapped by this system of the things that they must have or are expected to have. The biggest of these for the average family but far from not the only, is the cost of housing. Once a mortgage is activated you are indentured to the system to work as a wage slave for the duration of this debt with rent being no different. However by todays standards we need far more than in the minimum. Our grand parents were happy with far less.

A few years ago I went against the grain and didn’t get myself into huge debt to purchase another property as I realised that I would have to flog myself just to maintain the mortgage by being in this exact situation. Instead I still live in my humble two bedroom unit and I have a small investment unit in the same block. When I say humble I mean very humble, these units are 49 square metres but in the wonderful suburb of West End in Brisbane. I have an old car that is cheap to maintain and run but with most things local I use it minimally. I have a simple frugal life with little that I need additional to my current situation. I have a small income from the investment unit that pays for itself and a little left over towards my other bills so in effect I need just a few hundred dollars a week to live my life. With a cash injection as I’ve just had from the film work I can often survive for several weeks before I start to run lean on funds.

The stuff that I have in my life above the basics of life are by the standards of our society few. I don’t need a large income to maintain it. This enables me to have this life where I’m not always chasing the almighty dollar and can spend time on more important things instead of work, like Life.

• This brings me to the second of the two reasons for having work – Activity.

Everyone complains about work and how good it would be to not have to do it but

Go for a Walk

the reality is that once you do unplug from the workforce there is a desire, almost a need to stay active. Sure sitting on a beach for a few weeks may sound fine but once you’ve done that it starts getting boring. If you have been spending half of you waking life working, with the rest doing the functional support things, once work is removed there is a huge void that requires filling. In not too many weeks most people find the desire to return to work in order to have activity. Work here I include as self employment, study as well as working for others but also hobbies and recreations that keep a person active. Also our society demands that we are working to play our part to support the system, if we’re not we’re said to be sponging off the system.

What Do You Do?

The number one question asked when people meet and start a conversation is “What do you do?”

This is where work is your identifier. It could be a way of pegging you in someones memory when they meet you but then the question could just as easily be “Where did you go for your last holiday?”

The reason the work question is so good is it places you in the pecking order of society, where your value as a member of it. Work defines you by what you do and how you do it not to mention how much money/stuff you have and if you wish to be a valued member of that society you’ll feel the need to play the game according to the rules as laid out above. Notoriety, affluence and stuff. We use the work standard for as a quick measure of that and we feel the pressure to strive towards meeting those requirements.

Nothing.

What about if you have nothing to do for a period of time. You have enough basics to keep going for a time, there are no goals to achieve and there are no desires for stuff. What then?

What about the idea of doing nothing unless something, i.e. desires or needs, comes along? Just wait until then.

Our society says that we can’t do that, we can’t do nothing, we have to do something… anything!

After all we have all these things to worry about in the future that we have to prepare for/against. So even if you don’t want to, go and do anything, it’s necessary to stash away more “stuff” for the future. Actually, while your at it get a bigger, better, faster “thing”and before long you trapped into the cycle where you have to work to keep the cycle going.

What about winding the cycle in the opposite direction. As you acquire the things you need to support the basics of life wind back the effort that you need to get anything that isn’t necessary. Sure get the house, but one that is adequate, no more than is required and once you have it, there is less of a need to work as much creating space in you life. Have a modest vehicle. Go on good value holidays but the whole time only as much as you need. Eventually there is a point reached where there is no  need to be working as much with more time available and there is nothing to do. You have it all, no need to buy more and it’s time to stop.

A lot of the activity that we do is like the things we buy, it’s “stuff”. It’s just the noise that we generate so that we have something to do. Could there be an alternative? How about doing Nothing… Yes actually doing Nothing as an activity. What I mean here is if there is nothing to do, not creating noise by creating an activity of stuff but just being quiet and doing Nothing! Sit, stand or lie and wait in the void doing No Thing.

Nothing

Doing nothing to such an extent that there is not even a desire to do anything just to create some noise, to not do Any-Thing but to do No-Thing. Just simply being in the moment allowing the constant stream of time to wash over.

Then at some stage there is an urge to do something, not out of a reason to create a distraction from the void but additional to the void, so do it. It could be anything as simple as changing physical position to starting a project that lasts a life time.

The difference to the Western model of work is that it is not out of a need to generate the income to get the stuff and it’s not in order to create a busy mind through activity. It’s the thing that needs to be done now, because it feels like the correct thing to do. So it’s done now.

I’ve just recently finished working on another film at the Warner Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast. This time it’s the third in the series of Narnia movies and again I had the pleasure to work with some of the people that I’ve worked with before on previous films such as Fools Gold, Star Wars Ep3 and Stealth.

Initially there were many false starts as they were getting underway on the preproduction with the continual “you’ll start in about 2 weeks” statements that went on for three months. The whole time I was hoping that I may have had the chance to earn some income prior to my eventual trip away.  Before I managed to get a start I went off to Buenos Aires for nearly four weeks, so all up the work that I could be involved in had been happening for four months before I managed to get a start. It is no ones particular fault that it started like this, it just happens to be the nature of the work that there are no promises and it’s always somewhat up in the air. These type of events create an attitude within those who work in the film industry and that’s what I want to bring up in this post.

Again I was working in props manufacture where we build all the items if they are not able to be purchased that are used either for the actors to interact with or to dress the sets.

Workshop Overview

You would be amazed at the different things that have to be made. In the case of this film items from swords to light fittings, decorative panels to dioramas all have to be manufactured to the needs of the set requirements and the action of the film, all to the whim of the art directors.

It’s work I’ve realised that I enjoy and I’m very good at, mind you after 30 years of this and similar work you can’t help build up a large resource of skills that means that not too much fazes me when it comes to manufacturing. It’s simply what I’ve been trained to do and experience.

After Fools Gold I dreamt up a new idea, so for the last two years I’ve been concentrating on developing my podcast Your Story. After spending time using up $40k in having the lifestyle to learn how to podcast and develop an online presence and only working part time, the money that I had set aside to move into a new lifestyle was finally used up. That necessitated me having to get some income after returning from Buenos Aires, a date with destiny that I knew awaited me on my return.

Fortunately on my return I managed to get the chance to work as part of the team on this film. It was a huge relief to have some income and I could relax, at least for the moment. Unfortunately I quickly discovered that things had changed within me and there were new hidden dangers with the industry that I hadn’t been aware of previously.

Film work is wonderful in so many ways which is part of the very problem with it, it is at least in the areas that I tend to work. The people have the highest standards of technical skill available, they tend to be a relatively brighter, more intelligent form of technician who can think obliquely and creatively. The productions always have huge resources towards the materials required and always the very best available including new technologies in materials as they become available. All this adds up to opportunities working within a team, to being briefed on a project then developing a method of manufacture utilising differing techniques and materials to those usually available to eventually see it installed within a greater environment on the set and eventually on screen within the film. All highly rewarding and satisfying.

However the nature of the film beast is that there are constraints within the culture that have developed that cause some huge problems. Films here in Australia generally are worked on a standard 50 hour work week for the technicians with standard 60 hour week for on set crew. Include travel time, the intense and the often away form home nature of the work and there is a tendency to become what I’ve realised is institutionalised. When a film is on, it’s Full On! I don’t think this is unique and I’m sure there are similar institutionalising natures of other occupations that cause very similar problems. Maybe this is more a condition of the Western work mindset.

When I relocated to Sydney to work on Matrix 2&3 back in 2001 I had no social life being in a new city so the film and the crew I worked with were my whole life and the work was such that I enjoyed every minute of the 13 months that I was there, such that it was the best work experence of my life. This latest experience although a lot of fun made me realise the true nature of the industry.

This time around, the film is based in my life and the social environment. Also in the last two years that I’ve been out of the industry I’ve developed two separate social lives and I’ve developed interests away from work. These things have come about because I’ve had the time to nurture the relationships because I’ve had the time away from the industry.

Immediately on returning to the film work I realised that I was struggling to maintain contact with my online friends even though I’m online with my iPhone. The opportunities to continue to go dancing disappeared as the hours I work conflicted with the classes. There was no longer time to go to the gym or spend time on personal improvement let alone work on the podcast and the weekends were simply a case of get some groceries for the week do the washing and get some rest before being thrust into it again for another intense week of work, travel and sleep.

Pattern for Lamp Bracket

Now this is fine when I had no life outside of work but as I mentioned as I now do have a life outside of work I found that I was starting to damage it due to the overwhelming nature of the work. This is the trap of this style of work. If I stay in it long term it would swallow my entire life again. Others in the industry say similar things.

Each film is a separate production and work is only until the production is completed which means that there is always an end date. Sometimes weeks, sometimes many months but there is always an end looming. Along with the irregular productions and no promises for future work there is a tendency to make hay while the sun shines, go as hard as possible because there is no surety that there will be any income soon. This adds to the burn rate of the work load and the compromise of the rest of the lifestyle. There is an underlying attitude of “I’ll get back to *** when this film is over”

Before long what seems to happen from my observations, if not diligent, is that those who have been in the industry long term have less outside socialising, failed relationships due to absence, relationships within the industry, constant concern for the completion of a production and what’s next and relief when finally started on a new production, which to my way of seeing it, seems like we have a tendency to be institutionalised within the film industry.

In the last two years I’ve managed to become unplugged but as I don’t have a strategy for income away form the film industry when I plugged back in for those four weeks I had a huge sigh of relief as in some ways I felt like I was home it was all so familiar. As the weeks went on I realised that as wonderful and satisfying as the work and income were all the other aspects of my life that I had nurtured in the last two years were just starting to slip away. Woops, there is a danger here.

Fortunately as would have it just as I started to realise this, I was finished up. It’s not even a week and already I have both of my social fields active again, I have my exercise and fitness routine back and the podcast is back into production. Some of this is due to the income that the film gave me (gym membership) and some of it is just having the time. While I was developing the podcast I was on permanent part time of two to three days a week which worked well. Now that the skills are developed there is less of a need for that much time just for the podcast as it stands.

So now I have the other than work stuff on track again but now I don’t have the income side happening. This seems to be the challenge for me. I’ve created a great life for myself that feels like I’m on the right path but I can’t continue it without some form of income. I’m working on building the popularity and quality of Your Story while continuing to develop my online presence but in the meantime I need to have some form of income.

So from time to time I may still have to drop into film work to get a cash injection but frankly it’s all about balance and unfortunately the way it seems the film industry doesn’t have any way of giving me that balance.

To be continued…

Way back in 2001-2002 I was lucky enough to work on The Matrix 2&3.

Some of the work that I’m most proud of is the sequence for the Hell Coat Check where we built the foam columns that had explosives to create the bullet hits and the impact wall at the end of the sequence.
Here it is.