In my bid to have the appropriate skill set and stamina to make it in the filmmaking world, as well as a little income: by being more hands on and navigating through a 3-dimensional world; rather then screen-based digital work: I looked around for crewing work and very quickly came a cross this company http://connectioncrew.co.uk/our-work/
And from March 2019 onwards to date: it didn’t take me long to feel an integral part of the crew, company and weekly adventures.
Being behind the scenes is probably second nature to me by now, but the venues we got to see and jobs to assist – challenges to overcome: every week is different and I would not want it any other way. Although heavy load at times, my belief that so much is possible- if/when people come together, communicate and collaborate – sky rocketed! It is incredible to witness what is possible.
I learned so much about our human potential with these guys …
I certainly learned a lot about efficiency and what it means to keep going against the odds. With a company that sees and supports the individual and aims at handpicking the crew for each and every job, I did see myself (amongst other jobs) working for the art department in film (dismantling and reverse flat-packing an office set) and more often then not with stage related jobs. Got quite fond of working with wood and powertools too – not the chippy quite, yet.
And again it is the awe inspiring fact to see and know what goes into a production: last years (winter 2019) install of the Panto at the London Palladium was a testimony of that: 4 days & 53 hours later, god knows how many tons we shifted and lifted, Trucks reversed… I was still as happy and enthused as can be.
And to see what the production saw as possible, just lending a helping hand was an honour.
To see the set coming together …well and marching a panto zoo down London roads, helping to attach mega ears to the oversized elephant (the list goes on)… is one of my favourite crewing jobs to date, I probably never forget.
Not to say that it is the only job I enjoyed: many other stages, setting up straightforward flats , even for conferences became easier and enjoyable after a few month – well nothing seemed impossible with this crew. And I thought I knew and loved London, but I sure have seen many more hidden corners and gems, learning even more about this City I love so much.
And as anticipated it was a good work out, being able to get those stage blocks off a truck at 5am in the morning, ready with a smile anytime throughout the day or night – is easier then you think – when you do – and work with the right crew.
Just to mention a few other interesting jobs: assisting Ascot to be set up (never saw a horse ;-/), getting a stage up the Gherkin (gets quite narrow up there), putting snow all over the Ideal Home show ( yep found that and glitter in my uniform for months to come), decorating christmas trees, arranging plants for fashion events, main stage crew at the Green man (and other smaller) festivals, getting that one piano in place, holding that flat foreeeever until the brace got fixed, coiling hundreds of meters of cables, navigating equipment through very prestigious nightclubs, learning the flight case dance and shuffle, learning so much about lighting, rigging, carpentry …and so much more.
After our 2020 drought – I can’t wait to get hands on and ready to get that set set…
Oh yah … and here is a little interview with me about my crewing experience – how the journalist saw me ( she said …!?)
http://connectioncrew.co.uk/2020/03/05/where-are-the-women/
… in this as in other industries – the preconceptions about women in this line of work is somewhat outdated.
Glad to add to an impression of Equality – equal abilities.
June @2020
In the Art-department 