Writer's Strike

A hot topic of discussion with film and television professionals is the state of the industry. Specifically in regards to the writers strike and what is happening with the crews and post production. In the Vancouver area the shows are starting to shut down which is starting to have a ripple down effect in the post production industries. A strike is never well timed but this now leaves post production people scrambling to do one of two options. Either they lay off their employees to save a little bit of money or if they have deep pockets they can try to weather this and keep people on. To get laid off is a wake up call that this industry has changed and many job positions are freelance. You’ll be better prepared if you are vertically integrated so that you can do a number of jobs and do them well. Case in point is being a colourist with on-line capabilities at the same time. It’s up to you to make sure you are trained, that you seek out the training that will make you future proof. There’s a sidebar in my website that can direct you towards classes in Final Cut Pro, Color, and colour correction in Avid Express. Major manufacturers of Nucoda and Baselight both offer colour classes as well as DaVinci. Now a day, with the workstation model being adopted, the other 8 hours of time spent at a colour correction system is doing editing. Therefore, it would be a good idea for you to learn part of that whether it be conforming or just dropping in visual effects shots, doing outputs or dirt fixes. With automation improving, the job market is starting to shrink and you just want to make sure if you’re in it for the long haul that you have the tools that you need to weather this out. I was on a DaVinci for over 20 years and in the last 5 years I’ve found it necessary to re-invent myself just to stay current. Sometimes I feel like I’m pedaling a bike endlessly but that’s the model for today, it’s change, change, change. If you want to work in this industry it’s all about being versatile and keeping up with technology. Make sure you lift up your eyes and see the forest for the trees and hopefully you’ll have a long and prosperous career in the television industry.