Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1401019
54 I m ps e . o rg Things have changed in our industry. Even before COVID, the exodus had started and people were starting to work from home. Maybe that would have made a difference for me. Who knows? When we started, that was not an option. A bench, a Moviola, and transfer bay at home were not realistically in reach. We commuted, we worked longer hours than most, and had our work examined under a microscope by committee. Tough stuff. Often stressful but also often rewarding. Sorry, got sidetracked again. The truth is that our jobs are mostly great. Almost always rewarding, exciting, and creative. We do encounter people who walk around with unearned arrogance but mostly we are working with other fun creative weirdo types. There's no dress code, we're probably paid more than we are worth when compared to teachers and caregivers, we get to stroll around studio lots forbidden to the hoi polloi and there's an end product that gives us a little bit of immortality. All in all pretty cool. Right? We do work in a very social industry and that's what I knew I would miss the most in retirement. While many of us spend hours alone in dark edit rooms, ultimately, it's teamwork. The camaraderie, the friendships, the bullshitting, the lunches, the laughing, the arguing, I loved all of it. As our industry changed, the social thing changed too. I missed the crew meetings with five or six FX editors, four or five dialogue editors, the smaller ADR group, the Foley crew, and the assistants. Those wonderful big messy crews with every personality from alpha dogs to functioning Asperger's types and everything in between. Crew meetings that ranged from serious spotting sessions to joke- filled, nothing gets accomplished gatherings. There were now shows with one FX editor, a dialogue editor you'd rarely see, Foley sometimes appearing already magically cut from some mysterious desert location and assistants doing more than one show at a time. I worked on a show where I met the supervisor exactly one time and wouldn't recognize him today if we were using adjoining urinals at the Smokehouse. All communication was by email. Needless to say, it didn't inspire my best work. In this new world, "A" features with big crews were getting rarer. In the past, we worked in a truly Golden Age of Sound where even mid-budget films had big crews and decent schedules. We worked in a time that saw the appreciation of sound blossom. How great was that? We got hats, shirts, jackets. Hell, we even got luggage. Big wrap parties were not uncommon. I went to one where the freaking Temptations performed while we filled up on shrimp and free Heinekens, my kids getting gift bags with all sorts of freebies. We saw that mostly disappear. You'd ask, "When's the cast and crew screening?" "They're not having one." "What about hats?" "The last of them went to the picture department." "Damn picture department. I'm not even gonna ask about a poster." It is of course, still great for many and God bless you if that's your situation, but you know what? It used to be better, way better for most. At least from this old dog's perspective. I'm here to share my day-to-day living experience not bitch about the past. Again, all apologies. The beginning of my retirement was weird. Even though I'm lazy by nature, I was having creeping guilt about sitting in my boxers sipping coffee and reading the Los Angeles Times while my wife marched off to work every day. She's a letter carrier during a pandemic. Out there at risk every day. A third of her post office had been infected and she doesn't qualify for the vaccine. Some of her co- workers were thinking of getting part- time jobs delivering pizzas because pizza deliverers qualify for the vaccine as essential workers. Letter carriers do not. I felt guilt, I felt worry. Chris and Connee Assells at the Emmys c. late '80s