Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487667
Winter 2023 – LOCAL695.COM 47 Eva Rismanforoush Photo: Wilson Webb Eventually, I made my way into the film industry and was lucky enough to find myself under the tutelage of someone whose passion for sound in cinema exceeded my own, Simon Hayes. As mentors go, I really won the lottery. Between Simon and his Boom Op, Arthur Fenn, I had the greatest teachers anyone could want. It made me really appreciate the importance of not only doing the work and learning new ways to approach the craft, but also making sure that you give back to the future generation of potential sound engineers. Simon and Arthur both provided the perfect balance of demand for excellence and a nurturing environment to learn in. They instilled the idea that you could succeed or fail, but you better try your best no matter the circumstance. This was reinforced by my next mentor, Douglas Axtell. He, Simon, and Arthur all tried to instill a passion for learning, and more importantly, to always think about what you can teach and pass forward to your crew. In this spirit of giving back, I sat in on the cable making and wiring classes offered by the Local, which was a rewarding experience that I felt was of great value to the participants. However, I felt that there should be something more concrete; something that codified the value of taking the opportunities afforded to us and passing them along to the next generation. So, just before the initial COVID shutdown in 2020, I visited Scott Bernard and Laurence Abrams at the Local about trying to formulate a more structured training program for our members and prospective members. Scott quickly told me that both Ben Greaves and Devendra Cleary had asked the same question within the space of a few weeks. Then they asked me the million-dollar question: "Have you heard about Y-16A?" The Y-16A is a non-rostered classification that has existed in Local 695's Collective Bargaining Agreement since the '90s, and allows for a Sound or Video Trainee to come onto the set and, at a living wage, shadow, and gain hands-on experience from experienced industry professionals. It had seen relatively little use in the twenty-five years since its inception, but it had the potential to be repurposed for tremendous good. The kernel of an idea started to pop. Later in 2020, I found myself picking Ben Greaves up to take him to collect his car. He had been part of a protest following the murder of George Floyd. Before I dropped him off, we discussed how the media and politicians were all saying the same things they had been years before, and how we could only hope that maybe, this time, we'd see something resembling meaningful change. We were both white men. We were both lucky enough to have worked with people who were both willing and able to train, teach, and mentor us early and throughout our careers—for no reason other than a passion for the craft and a drive to share that passion. We'd been trying, on a small scale, to help people out; to offer advice and support where possible, but both felt that the expansion and demands of the Sound Utility duties on set always made most mixers reluctant to hire someone without a wealth of experience, or who might need help around the sound cart and set. The time afforded us by the temporary shutdown during Yisel Pupo Calles (Angelyne) Terrell Woodard III, Daniel Quintana (Good Trouble Season 2) Moises Recinos, Jamie Gambell, Daniel Quintana, Johnny Evans (Good Trouble Season 5) Erik Altstadt, Johnny Evans, Will Tipp, Chris Kessler, Yisel Pupo Calles, Jamie Gambell, Zach Wrobel (Welcome to Chippendales)