Here We Go!

  After eight weeks off, I'm chomping at the bit to get back to work. So, on Monday I'll go into town and commence my first day of prep on the next epic. I would like to take this moment and salute all the mothers in the world. The patience, love, and .....patience.... never ending patience you display on a daily basis is truly awe inspiring. It says something about child-rearing when I would prefer a fourteen hour day of track laying and dolly pushing to peanut butter and jelly stains on the couch and tantrums in the living room floor. I honestly don't know how she does it. In any case, I will soon be back in the driver's seat for a twelve to fourteen week extravaganza of green screens, Technocranes, dance floors, and all that goes with it. Thank God.

   I had the good fortune to teach a Dolly class for our union local a couple of weeks ago and it was a rousing success. It really was a pleasure to be able to drone on for a couple of hours before fifteen or so listeners who were truly eager to learn. And they did great! We went through each of the dollies and highlighted their various pros and cons, had a track laying seminar, ably given by my frequent B camera dolly grip, and did a little dance floor simulation. This was a basic class, just to give the rudimentary pointers, but I hope to hold an intermediate class soon. My thanks to those of you who showed up and showed an interest. I would also like to thank the guys at PC and E for their invaluable assistance. They did a great job!

   I think it's important to reiterate something here that I've said before. If you want to be a dolly grip, you've got to be a good set grip first. It's the foundation that everything else is built on. Yes, that means flagging and lighting and even twelve by's. It all starts there. And as a bonus, you can always go back to it if you have to. It's a skill that will serve you in so many ways. I still use stuff every day that I learned as a set grip over twenty years ago. Learn it.