Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/914212
48 CINEMONTAGE / Q4 2017 "At its peak, there were probably 120 craftsmen working here on maintenance and custom fabrication," recalls the shop's present foreman, cinetechnician Garry Broggie. "Now it's just three of us — myself and my esteemed colleagues George Rowland and Daniel Quiroz." Originally, the shop was affiliated with IATSE Local 789, and eventually transferred via Local 695 to Local 683, the Laboratory Film/Video Technicians and Cinetechnicians Guild, which in 2010 merged with Local 700. All three of the highly experienced shop crew have been in place for several years, some more than others. Broggie joined the shop back in 1977, and this year celebrates his fourth decade at Disney; his grandfather (who worked with Walt Disney himself while building the latter's first one-eighth-scale model train) and his father also were employed by the studio in the same capacity. Rowland joined the shop in 2015 after 30 years at Deluxe Laboratories, while Quiroz first joined Walt Disney Studios in 1980, before leaving to work at Deluxe in 1985. He returned to his current position in 2014. Together, the trio reportedly has 111 years of industry experience. "Our shop's primary role is to support the studio's technical needs," Broggie explains, "by not only looking after day-to-day care and attention, but also responding to the continuing need for new systems within the studio's animation, picture editing and sound post-production departments." In addition, the shop restores vintage hardware for museum displays. In the mid-1950s, the machine shop also built many of the new systems needed for Disneyland in Anaheim and additional theme parks. During the building of Florida's EPCOT Center — the company's theme park take on Walt Disney's concept of an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow that opened in 1982 near Orlando — Broggie says the crew was working in two 10-hour shifts. "I was here from 1980 to 1985 working on systems for EPCOT Center and Tokyo Disneyland," Quiroz recounts. "At Deluxe, I worked in the optical printer maintenance department, and was sub-foreman in the printer/electronics maintenance department for my last two years there. During the late '90s, I was employed at Local 695 [International Sound/Cinetechnicians/Studio Projectionists] as an assistant business representative, and then as business representative at Local 683. When I returned to Deluxe, it was as on-call foreman and then sub-foreman of the printer/electronics maintenance department." During his three decades at Deluxe Laboratories, Rowland served as electro-mechanical technician, foreman, and research and development manager for engineering, before becoming manager of engineering, quality and reliability. "I also received a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1999 for my work on the Deluxe High Speed Spray Film Cleaner, as well as a Primetime Engineering Emmy Award in 2000 for the same development," he points out. Deluxe Laboratories closed in May 2014, due in part to the proliferation of digital projectors. Many of the machine shop's day-to-day fabrication Above: Garry Broggie. Right: Daniel Quiroz.