[Sca-cooks] To those leaving for Pennsic

[Huette von Ahrens]

--- Michael Gunter <countgunthar at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> I'm now trying to get away from a career I hate
> to a career I love. I'm
> talking with several catering  companies. These
> numbers were given to
> me by some friends I have in the movie
> business. I think it would be a
> blast to cater to movie and television crews as
> well as the usual catering
> jobs. And, much to my surprise, all the folks
> I've talked to have been
> very friendly and encouraging about me finding
> work. Now I just need to
> actually find the work. I'm sure it doesn't pay
> much but it's more than I'm
> making now.

Well, from what I have seen in the
movie/television industry, there are two distinct
food jobs needed.  One is catering, which usually
is a limited or temporary job.  Meaning you
get hired by the producer to provide x number
of meals for x number of people at specified
times of the day for the duration of the shoot. 
Usually movie shoots are at night, but not
always.  Union contracts for actors and extras
and technical crew require that they get so many 
meals per hours worked.  If it is a location
shoot, then usually the crew shows up three to
four hours or more before the talent shows up.
As I have seen it, usually the crew gets fed
first, then the actors, then the extras. 
Depending on the time of day when the shooting
is done, this could mean providing two to three
meals a day at various times and at various
sittings.  Around here, a lot of the location
shoots are done at night, with the crew showing
up at 3 pm and staying sometimes until dawn.
The caterers have to stick around while the
shoot is going on.  All that I have seen rent
or own catering trucks.

The other is craft service.  This is usually
a person or two who provide snacks and liquid
refreshments to the crew and cast, before, during
and after the meals.  This usually means having
a large assortment of sodas, waters, coffees,
teas, etc. and cookies, candies, nuts, fruits,
donuts, bagels or whatever the cast and crew
desires while working. The really good craft
service person has an arrangement with a bakery 
to provide fresh donuts, bagels, and cookies on a
daily basis.  A couple I have seen also provided
an assortment of cigars and cigarettes and one
I know of had a hidden cache of the director's
favorite booze.  From what I have seen, the 
best provide what everyone wants, when they want
it and in sufficient quantities to keep them
happy.  Keeping the cast and crew happy means 
that you will get hired for the next picture and
the picture after that.

All of these jobs are only for the duration of
a particular movie.  If the shooting takes 
six weeks and shoots at twelve different
locations
you have to be available those six weeks and
be capable of moving to all twelve locations.
You pretty much can't do any other catering
during that time, unless you are a company
that has multiple employees.  Most movie
caterers and craft service people try to line
up varying movies back to back in order to 
keep constantly employed.  The hard part is
figuring out if a production is going to keep
to its schedule or if production problems will
keep them shooting longer than scheduled.  I
know of one caterer who had to give up a really
lucrative job on a big named movie because the
smaller job she was currently on had production
problems and she was under contract to stay as
long as needed.

Huette

=====
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they 
shall never cease to be amused.


		
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