…or, “What makes my damn backpack so heavy and difficult to get through baggage screening”.
In the carry-on
Checked baggage
- Tech pouch
- LED Flashlight
- Gerber Multi-tool
- Crescent Wrench
- Tweaker
- Three or four Sharpies
- Fishing tackle box filled with A/V converters
- Several blank DVD-R discs
- Several blank CD-R discs
I love the audiovisual industry. There, I said it.
Since I was in high school, I’ve loved the gritty realism of the backstage environment. Out front, it can be false, shiny, contrived, beautiful, passionate, banal or fantastic. Behind the curtain, though, there’s a visceral energy of creation and sustenance which is as addictive as nicotine.
I’m an introvert at heart, so to me, it’s not surprising that I would love the behind-the-scenes roles in production. I’m in no way belittling or disparaging the folks that get up in front of the curtain, as that’s one of the most difficult things anyone will ever do. But, for me, I love to create – even if the creation is fleeting and the audience never even knows that I’m there.
Being essentially required to think on your feet most of your working hours challenges and hones ones’ abilities. Long hours don’t bother me for two reasons: I love the job, and since I’m a contractor, I can choose what jobs to accept or decline. As someone who is still recovering from a corporate job, this extreme flexibility is wonderful. It can be daunting, knowing that you don’t have a regular paycheck unless you work regularly, but that fact just causes me to want to work even more.
The camaraderie in production is to be experienced – when you meet other folks as devoted to the craft, bonds form instantly. I even love the rote. On a small show last week, I intimated to the other tech that I loved wrapping cables. He likely thought me retarded, but I actually do enjoy that aspect of this business. He told me he got a great sense of accomplishment packing a truck. I feel the same way. Unloading is like opening a huge present, and loading is like solving a giant 3-D Tetris.
But, as with any industry, there are people out there who don’t love the job anymore. There are even people who never loved the job. You can tell where these people are stationed by the quality of their work. When you meet them, you know them as the ones who are taking long breaks at the dock, or disappear from the set for no reason when you need them the most.
To those folks, please find a job you love as much as I love this one. We’ll all be better for it.