A Heartwarming Hollywood Holiday Story

COMMENTS (8)

• THIS IS TRUE! I’m a APOC in NYC (161), and one of the awesome POC’s I work for who is also in the 871 told me about this several days ago. Makes me proud to be involved with these people. Go Coordinators!

  Comment by Michael Herbert — Friday December 18, 2009 @ 7:28am PST  Reply to this post

• AND THIS IS HOW IT ALL BEGAN WITH CAROL’S POST ON COORDINATORS 411 WHEN SHE RECEIVED HER DUES NOTICE FROM LOCAL 871:

  i just received my mail from LA (love mail call dayz) and opened the local 871 envelope to find the dues relief note. good work for those who participated in the discussion and vote on helping our brothers & sisters in need.

  to that end, i offered to pay my full dues for the 1st quarter to help those who couldn’t pay but Heidi tells me it will only be credited to the 2nd Q anyway, so here’s my offer:

  i will pay the dues for 3 coordinators, apoc, adc, (script supers or accountants, too) that are not working and that contacts me if you are having difficulty even paying the 54.35 owed to the international. a quick, short note about how long you’ve been without work will help the process.

  i am so grateful to be working at a job i love, with awesome people and feel that giving back to my brothers and sisters seems only right and gives me great joy.

  Happy Holidays to all. May your New Year be bright & joyous.

  best, Carol Kravetz, POC BREAKING BAD

  WHAT HAPPENED IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS WITH OFFERS FROM OTHER MEMBERS WHO WANTED TO HELP ONE ANOTHER IS NEXT TO EXTRAORDINARY:

  end of the day2 report:

  another coordinator has stepped up to help a member in need. we are up to 41 commitments, including my boss, which brings us over $2,200. the slots are filling up but not fast enough for my lack of patience and i am passing them along. we even have a little in-fighting over who is going to pay for a script supervisor that asked for help. it’s been in three people’s ebox and i think it will work out just fine. now, now, children, there will be enough to help all.

  Sarah Sprague put the original memo on the 871 website so that we can reach the script supervisors and accountants who don’t have a forum like this and dooner sent word through the adc forum (and we’ve gotten some of those).

  so all in all a good day. i told Stew i knew i was spending a lot of time on this but would get my work done, promise! he thinks this is so great, he didn’t care. so there!

  thanks Nick, RJ, Marc F, Lisa, Michyl, Carol Ann, Mike H, Christine, Rachel, Lark, Phillip, Jacqui, my boss Stew and a special anonymous sponsor. you are all making a difference.

  have a good night. & stay tuned.

  AND SINCE THEN CAROL’S LATEST UPDATE:

  Day 3

  18 coordinators, 1 accountant, 1 script supervisor,1 producer AND our business agent have offered their support to members who are unable to pay their 1st quarter dues. thank you, thank you, thank you! (i came home without the file so i may be a little off, but not by much). that is approx $3000 committed and less than half of that is doled out.

  The offer of support has now reached our Script Supervisors,
  Accountants and Art Dept Coordinators so my hope & expectation of
  filling all the slots is growing. thank you to those who are putting out the word.

  the file i mentioned? it is humungo and contains all the letters of support & gratitude that have been sent. it is so very gratifying to read them… it is a chrismakah miracle and i can barely contain myself.

  i hope my email box is filled with requests in the morning, until then sleep tight and may all your dreams come true.

  Comment by Susan Dukow — Friday December 18, 2009 @ 8:13am PST  Reply to this post

• figures someone from Breaking Bad, the BEST damn show on TV would do this. That show is supposed to be a dream to work on. Good tidings, good cheer.

  Comment by breaking nice — Friday December 18, 2009 @ 8:36am PST  Reply to this post

• Production Coordinators are the forgotten hero’s. They sacrifice so much of themselves in the name of “getting it done”. They are the skinny part of the hour glass, every part of production has to pass over the Coordinators desk. They are the Radar O’Reilly’s of the Industry. And they have the most raw deal in the TV / Film industry. They work 14 to 16 hour days with no overtime, like the rest of their IA peers. They often have to put in time on the weekends and are considered on call. On call? Like a doctor? Coordinators to the rescue! This story and it’s spirit of giving and unity hints at the bigger struggle coordinators have been involved in for years. To negotiate a fair deal with the studios, who have no interest in changing the status quo. Their story is a story of David v Goliath, the story of Labor Unions, the story of organizing for leverage, to fight for a fair and decent living wage. I’m so proud to be part of this group and to see people stepping up to lend a hand for those hit by the recession. Local 871!!! United at last.

  Comment by J. Stern — Friday December 18, 2009 @ 8:47am PST  Reply to this post

  • Nicely hurled, J. Stern!

    Comment by Susan Dukow — Friday December 18, 2009 @ 9:54am PST  Reply to this post

• This is really great. These are the kinds of acts you will not see happening amongst WGA members.

  Production people genuinely care about one another and realize how lucky we are to have these jobs.

  Comment by Post Guy — Friday December 18, 2009 @ 11:41am PST  Reply to this post

• leave it to the working class…yay, capitalism!

  Comment by whatever — Friday December 18, 2009 @ 8:06pm PST  Reply to this post

• “CK” is one of the best production coordinators around…and, clearly, one with a great big heart. It was a pleasure working with her…lucky is Stew who has her on his team now.

  Comment by GG — Saturday December 19, 2009 @ 7:31am PST  Reply to this post