At 11:50 AM -0500 12/30/04, John Howell wrote:
I've never heard of that, but then I've not been active in that part of the business, either. Any such rules would be musicians union rules, since Hollywood productions are governed by the overlapping and sometimes conflicting work rules of all the many different unions involved. (Which is also why more and more "Hollywood" movies are being shot in places like Canada and New Zealand and Eastern Europe, where they can get away from the strict (and expensive!) union rules.) Stephen Spielberg is shooting at least part of "War of the Worlds" just a few miles from here in Virginia, which just happens to be a right-to-work state with weak unions.
John
Hollywood productions don't come to Canada to escape the union rules. We have unions here too. They shoot here because of tax credits and what used to be a favorable exchange rate. And by the way, post-production (such as music scoring) almost never comes with deal. That is usually done back where the producers or director are based.
-Randolph Peters
OK, I oversimplified. Hollywood movies are being shot away from Hollywood because it is less expensive to do so. One source of such expenses is union work rules that pad the payrole. But the same skills and knowledge are going to be needed no matter where on earth you are, and people with desireable skills and knowledge are likely to form unions to protect themselves from exploitation wherever they happen to be.
Now an interesting question that hadn't occurred to me before is this: When producers shoot on location, do they take the skilled people with them from Hollywood, or do they somehow find them locally? And if they take them from Hollywood, wouldn't they still have to abide by the same union work rules?
Of course I'm thinking mainly about "crafts" specialists: cameramen, makeup artists, wardrobe people, caterers, motor pool drivers and mechanics, electricians, audio people, stagehands, grips and "best boys." When it comes to scoring and recording, it's going to be done where the balance between convenience and cost ends up. If a director tends to change his mind and require rescoring fairly regularly, I'm sure they'll pay more for convenience. If a composer can work directly with a final cut and the director trusts him, they'll probably go for lower cost.
John
-- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
