On Location, Not Vacation
I first heard the production motto, “on location is not on vacation,” in Moab while working with Brad Stanley, a famous auto commercial photographer who was just coming back from another trip in Hawaii. His résumé of travel around the globe was impressive. He had been anywhere and everywhere a Jeep would travel to capture shots of it for his work. Places like Europe, Asia, Alaska, Canada, and all of the United States. For myself, someone who’s well-traveled, I have to admit I was a little jealous; he traveled far more than I had. But the reality was it was work, not play, and he was on location, not vacation.
When you tell your stories of trips to Europe or South America, people are genuinely entertained. They think, “Wow, I would do that for free!” Ironically, I thought the same; that’s why I entered the field. Being a field producer came naturally, and being on the road, I felt like I was at home, but over the years I found you probably shouldn’t work for free. And just cuz your job looks fun doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get paid for your time, and by time I mean the full 24 hours each day that you’re not at home in your own bed.
The National TV Squeeze
One of the busiest and most exciting shows I ever worked on was in 2009, when I shot The Weird, True & Freaky for Animal Planet. In a window of 6 months, we filmed 52 episodes. Each episode was in another part of the country; sometimes one episode would have multiple locations, and my job was to travel there to film it. On any given week, I was flying to Indiana, Ohio, Florida, and over to Texas. The next I’d be up to Alaska or down to Mexico. I’d sleep in plane seats, rental cars, and hotels when time allowed. I’d eat fast food, gas station food, and plane food to keep pace with all I was doing. Seeing the sights was only happening out the plane window on landing and take-off. I did that day in and day out for weeks on end. Sometimes seeing home only for a day or two before going back out for 5 to 7 days on the road. I loved it, but it was a lot and arguably for a little.
Short Excerpt:
Artists are notorious for being bad at negotiating, and famous for being taken advantage of by savvy business folks who understand funding, revenue, and distribution (fill in the blank with actor, musician here…Marilyn Monroe, Dave Chappelle, Gary Coleman).
…that is why unions are SO IMPORTANT if you're in the labor market, you need to join and support UNIONS (i.e. SAG-AFTRA, DGA, PGA). Love them, hate them. They help protect actors and talent.
I digress, back to the work.
Love or insanity?
I have to admit, I’m an adventurous soul. I enjoy the road, the pace, the non-stop movement, and the travel. There’s a part of me that’s almost addicted to it, but it is bloody exhausting. In India, for example, I filmed The High and achieved one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. You look at photos and fall in love. So do I, it’s so beautiful there. However, during that production I suffered from High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) for several days, not telling anyone and refusing to go down. I worked myself so hard that I came back with pneumonia. Today there is still scar tissue in my lungs and an EKG showed signs of expansion to a heart valve when I’d returned from the shoot arguably from HAPE.
When I traveled across the USA for OpenGov Across America (OGAA), capturing a bike ride, I was gone from home over 45 days over three months and was on the move from departure to return. It’s strange to imagine being out there on the road in the car for 16 hours, and feeling like you had no time for anything, but I didn’t.
Thankfully, I filmed it all, so I can remember what we did on the trip. But on any given day, I had to get shots, clean cameras, charge batteries, drive the route, fill with gas, find a place to stay, grab some food, and support the athlete. Then, usually after dark, back in the hotel, I would download the footage, charge batteries, break down and clean off the gear, then wake up the next morning to do it all again. It was non-stop, every day.
I wouldn’t change it…
But wait, that’s not the full story, and I admit, I am a succer for sympathy. The reality is I wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s not just my career, or what I’ve done for the majority of my adult life; it’s kind of who I am. It’s in my blood, and I have been lucky to do it with some of the best friends in the world.
I tell my students that if you’re lucky enough to have this career, be thankful. It is fun, and people will look at you and wish they were doing what you are doing. But get one thing very clear: on location is not on vacation. This stuff is work, and trust me, it’s competitive hard work.
And if you are the looker on, reading this from the comfort of a consistent paying job that's maybe a little boring, and wondering what if I’d done life a little different. Do yourself a favor: the next time you see a producer on TV and think I’d like to do that. Stop yourself from romanticizing because tonight you’re going home to sleep in your bed, see your family, wake up to your cup of coffee, and do the best parts of your routine, and that poor bastard (i.e., me) is still out there working and will probably be doing so for a very, very long time.
Ha!
Thank you for reading.
Shout out to: Jim, Sean, Rajat, James, Giorgio, Marco, Scott, Patrick, Dan, Dennis, my wife, my son, and so many great friends on so many great trips. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
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