This is from my days as a camera assistant. It was taken on the set of The Substitute Wife, a movie-of-the-week that was filmed around Austin early in 1994.
That’s me with the slate standing next to Lea Thompson. Of the three stars on that set, Lea was the only one who wasn’t full of herself. The other two managed to make life miserable for everyone from the director all the way down to the lowliest film loader (me), set PA and sound assistant (my friends).
It was my first gig on a big budget set, and for the next few years, I got quite spoiled by all the perks. It was a fun and exciting career when I was younger, but as it turned out not something I wanted to spend my life doing.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
OK, you didn’t want to name names so I traipsed over to IMDB and looked. So now I can spill the beans and you won’t have to feel bad. Seems that Farrah Fawcett and Peter Weller are schmucks.
Yup. You got it. I guess I was trying to be professional even though that hasn’t been my profession for ten years. Btw, Ms. Fawcett has a cameo (under an invented name) in my second novel. If it’s ever published you can learn exactly how much of a shmuck.
Do tell: Is the film slate (or whatever that black and white thing is called) as much fun to snap close as it looks?
The black and white thing is the slate (or ‘the sticks’ as those is the know sometimes say). And yes, it is fun to bang the sticks, especially considering the obscene amount of money they pay a person to do it.
Now I can die happy.