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March Commentary from George Spiro Dibie Where the Problems Lie “As directors of photography, our responsibility is to
the visual image of the film, as well as the well-being of the crew.
The continuing and expanding practice of working extreme hours can compromise
both the quality of our work and the health and safety of others.” This is a quote from my colleague, the late Conrad L. Hall, ASC regarding the ongoing concern that sleep deprivation is still a major problem on our film sets. I have traveled all over the country and I constantly hear complaints from members who still have to work long hours due to insufficient budgets and incompetent producers. Yet the problem does not lie with the budget, but more so with the major studios, which are now owned by global corporations who know nothing about what happens on a film set. They certainly do not know how to control and schedule a set like they did in the old days. In the not so distant past, management would prohibit working more than a twelve-hour day and if we had to, they would immediately come in and demand to know why. The cinematographer used to go to the assistant director or production manager, set up the schedule together and things would get done quickly and efficiently. These days, it seems as if management is much more concerned in taking care of the talent and the financial demands they make. Because of the misdeeds of the above the line management, the below the line workers always pay the price. It is about time that we start telling the producers to their face that if they want to cut down on the long hours, we must have better management on our sets and more efficient scheduling. With all of this in place, they should be able to make it work in a twelve hour day. A cinematographer once told me that in one day, they moved him into three different locations in three different parts of the city. He pleaded with management to shoot in a particular location and then move to the next closest one instead of traveling to the opposite side of town. It would have saved hours of time. But because things were disorganized, nobody knew who was running what or who was making the final decisions. The minute the major studios started to worry about their quarterly financial reports, everything started to fall apart. Producers are always trying to cut expenses for the below the line workers while offering obscene dollars to talent and executives. Somebody has to come to their senses and start doing their homework to put the right people in the right places. Most importantly, management needs to start treating the below the line workers with more respect. We are their bread and butter, not the ones who sit in executive offices researching market reports and global economies. The studios are making billions of dollars and setting revenue records every year. It’s about time we get a fair share of that money, which was created by our hard work and sacrifices. As always, I look forward to your comments and suggestions. Please e-mail them to me. George Spiro Dibie, ASC
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