Everybody Wants to Be a Dolly Grip

Including the lovely Laura Dern. Thanks Laura.

All right. Who's next?

The Indurberator

   "Indurberator" is what a DP I worked for many years ago called the "RO" or "rotating offset." This piece of equipment which we all take for granted goes a long way in saving our butts in a lot of situations. If you are against a wall and need that extra six inches to the left, just loosen a knob, or flip a lever if you're a Fisher guy, and BAM!, problem solved. It's really an ingenious idea that most of us never really think about. You just automatically factor it in when laying track or a floor and don't often even realize the stream of consciousness reference to it: "Ok, if I offset the RO to the right, I can set the track a little more to the left and get around that corner and still hit the number two mark. Now, where'd I leave my tape measure?"  I usually set it at about 45 degrees to the right on the inside if I'm on the big dolly and the same on the Peewee, only to the outside, to keep the operator more centered over the dolly. I have, over the last few shows, however, had some camera operators complain about the Chapman ROs'. You know, the new style (not really so new anymore, just the "newest") Hustler 4 and Peewee ROs' with the center knob and the pin under the levelling head. I'll admit, they are a pain, and light years harder to deal with than simply flipping the lever on a Fisher RO. I've turned quite a few operators on to Chapman dollies in the past few years, but this is the one sticking point: they don't like the RO.  I was at Chapman today loading in a show and spoke with an engineer about it (Leonard and Christine weren't there) and told him what I needed. He scratched his chin for a minute and said, "We'll take care of it for you." That's what I call service. So hopefully, we'll soon see a different option for the Hustler and Peewee in the Indurberator department. I'll keep you posted.

Dear Paul Maibaum, is it strange that I still remember this word after 15 years? You've coined a term!

The Last Supertechno 100 Pics

Ok, I know some of you are tired of seeing them, but I'm getting more emails asking for more. Vladimir with Supertechno sent these. Thanks to him, and all who've taken the time to send pictures. We all appreciate them and are extremely interested to see how this thing works.
Meanwhile, the series I'm presently working on is winding down. I'll have more to say about that later. I'm still debating whether or not to go back to my old standby series. They did come through with more (a lot more) money and it's 7 months of work, so I'm torn between wanting to leave myself open for feature work and the promise of a steady long run of paychecks, especially with a son due any day now. It's a great show to be on with a crew that I love, but if I gave you a list of some of the movies I turned down last year because I was committed to this thing, you would immediately write me off as a moron or a liar. Anyway, I'm tired. Bone tired. Tired of being on a movie set for as long as I can remember and in need of some time away from all of it. And I'm about to get it, thanks to the State of California and their paid family leave program (and we wonder why California is bankrupt). I hope all of you Sled Dogs out there are doing well and staying safe. (At this point in the post, I always look for some really cool, appropriate sendoff line, but I got nothing, so if you think of a good one, leave it in the comments).