Below-the-Line Film and Television Workers - Conseil des ...

CHRC BTL TGA - 11/14/2008 -Page 10lured away by remunerative and steady building trades. While most workers havea good grounding in the essential skills, in high tech the opportunities to learn arein short supply; camera, lighting consoles, dimming, LEDs, etc. Skilled workershortages are showing up among Grips, Dolly Grips, Lamp Ops, Carps, Boom,Genny Ops, office workers, First Aid and Craft Services, Costumes, Hair andMake-up, and Locations. One western interviewee noted, “Seven years ago youcould hire a PA in a minute – not now.”It was a common theme reiterated across the country - if more production weregenerated, workers might stay in the industry and not be wooed away by thehigher wages and employment stability offered by other industries. Not precisely atraining gap solution, but to keep trained workers in the industry one Toronto gripsuggested a job board mechanism to connect workers with alternative clientsduring down times, and luring them back with gainful employment when times aregood.Edmonton is a dramatic example of the up side of the boom or bust cycle.Lionsgate is doing a major series there, US features abound, there are somehealthy domestic productions underway and suddenly four full crews are required.Gaps have appeared. To help solve the problem, Lionsgate agreed to provide 20training positions and constructive partnerships were forged.The industry is not uniform across the country. Nunavut has proficiencies in winterproduction while Nova Scotia has great production skills on water. Highly localizedskills inventories and training gap analyses are required. Though the new NTACpromises to be able to address this problem, unlike the UK’s Skillset organization,Canada currently does not have a mechanism in place to capture this informationand plan for the future.When booms hit and workers are bumped up to become Keys or First ADs, theyoften lack management skills. To fill these gaps, several respondentsrecommended “prolonged practicums” for below-the-line workers. The key toaddressing the boom or bust challenge is clearly being able to anticipate the curve- build for the mean, prepare for the deviation.To further complicate this anticipatory task, there are numerous genres to address.Film is different from TV is different from commercials, etc., though many of the jobdescriptions sound similar on the surface. Logically each segment of the industry,and the competencies required for each position within those segments, should beanalyzed and training resources deployed accordingly. For example, certain filmskills are transferable to TV and vice versa. The edge could be taken off the boomor bust pain by identifying these commonalities and deploying resourcesaccordingly. But things change fast - a broader, quicker approach must be takento look for trends, make predictions, and use industry savvy and common sense tobuild capacity as part of an overall industrial strategy. Building curricula takesCHRC BTL TGA - 11/14/2008 -Page 10