Understanding film and television credits

The reason film credits can be so long is that film-making draws on the efforts of numerous people over an extended period of time. The process of taking a film or television show from idea to audiences involves several key phases and a wide assortment of skills. Based on a typical live action film, following are a few examples of workers involved in a film. Many of these workers are involved on all or multiple phases of the production.

1. DEVELOPMENT

Coming up with an idea, writing a script and pitching it.

Personal Assistants

Producers

Publicists

Screenwriters Studio executives

Business managers Consultants Executive producers

Investors

Lawyers

Line producers

Agents

Assistants to the producers

2. PREPRODUCTION

Developing, planning and visualizing the idea. Preparing a budget, hiring crew members, and making a schedule.

Choreographers Concept artists Construction coordinators Construction electricians Construction first aid Construction foremen Construction grips Construction workers Costume designers

Costume supervisors Costumers Dialogue coaches Directors

Directors' assistants Directors of photography Financial executives Illustrators

Location assistants Location managers Paint foremen Production assistants

Production designers Production managers Props builders

Art department assistants Art department coordinators Art directors Artists

Assistant directors Carpenters Casting directors

Props masters Set designers Set decorators Set dressers Set staff assistants Storyboard artists Stunt coordinators Ta i lors/sea mst resses Wardrobe

3. Production

Shooting scenes, working with cast, locations and reviewing footage.

Accounting clerks Actors

Animal handlers Assistant accountants Assistant directors Boom operators Camera loaders Camera operators Caterers

Cinematographers

Drivers

Electricians

Extras

Extras casting coordinators First aid workers Gaffers (lighting) Grips (set operations)

Hair stylists Makeup artists Office coordinators On-set dressers

Payroll accountants Picture car coordinators Picture car drivers Picture editors Production accountants Production coordinators Production sound mixers Property masters

Property workers Script supervisors Set strike workers Sound editors Sound technicians Special effects coordinators Special effects supervisors Special effects technicians Standby painters

Stills photographers Stunt performers Swing gang workers Teachers/welfare workers Technical advisors Transportation coordinators Transportation captains

4. POSTPRODUCTION

Editing the film, adding titles, music and special effects.

Audio recording engineers Composers

Dubbing editors Editing room assistants

Film and video editors Lab technicians

Musicians Projectionists Sound designers

Special effects

technicians

5. DISTRIBUTION

Taking the finished product and bringing it to theaters, home video, television, online and other venues for audiences to see it.

Partnership

developers

Publicists

Sales staff

Distribution executives Financial managers

Licensing executives Marketers

Accountants

Advertising

executives

Figure 12.4 Understanding Film and TV Credits

WORLD VIEW WORKING MORE, EARNING LESS IN HOLLYWOOD

When most people think of television or film actors in Hollywood, they probably think of big salaries, award shows, and stardom. And although this is indeed the case for a lucky few, the majority of Hollywood actors are relatively unknown, even though they may appear daily on our TV screens.

Take Beth Broderick. She’s an actor who has appeared in dozens of television shows and made-for- TV movies. Her best-known roles include Aunt Zelda in Sabrina the Teenage Witch and more recently Kate’s mother on the popular drama Lost.

Broderick is an example of what National Public Radio (NPR) has called “Hollywood’s Middle Class,” and although she feels “blessed” to have a stable ca­reer as an actor, it is not as good a living as it used to be. Although she once earned a comfortable living as a guest star, earning between $25,000 and $30,000 for “an hour episode of television,” the same role may now garner her only $6,000. Annually, this means a decrease in income from $300,000 or $500,000 to $70,000 a year.

Broderick thinks that this is due to several changing dynamics in the industry, which have led to a decrease in wages for “middle class” actors. For instance, she agrees with NPR that “there is less work because there’s more reality and less scripted drama” being produced for television. Moreover, she suggests that “shows like Cheers that took a year and a half to catch on would never have made it on the air in today’s climate.” Lastly, many film actors are making the transition to television, which costs studios “quite a bit.” To have a movie star on a television series means that “the people two, three, four, five, six and seven on that call sheet are not making what they would have made five years ago or seven years ago.” The Writer’s Guild strike of 2007 was also a significant factor in these di­minishing roles and wages for actors used to making a living as guest stars.

Broderick points the finger at producers, directors, and headliners, suggesting that if they took $19 million, instead of a $20 million paycheck, they could “diwy the rest up between the next 10 people on the call sheet.” What this has come down to for actors like Broderick is that, as she says, “I’m on TV every day in every coun­try in the world, and I don’t make any money.”

What do you think about Broderick’s proposal? Should major Hollywood stars be paid so much in the first place? How do we put a price on celebrity status?

Source: “For Hollywood’s Middle Class, ‘Cut* Has New Meaning,” National Public Radio (NPR), transcript July 20,2009.