Below the Line started 24 years ago with the simple idea of shining a bright light on the seemingly endless supply of talented craftspeople in our industry that was missing from the established trades. At that time, it was just Variety and THR. That shining light I wanted to bend ever-so-slightly away from the above-the-line talent to the Crafts is crumbling due to unforeseen circumstances.
Time for a pivot – Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.
New Editorial Thrust
Every story we’re going to publish going forward must answer this basic question: will this story be seen anywhere else, in any of the other industry trade publications?
If the answer is ‘yes’, we’ll let it slide past us to the other existing outlets. Why would anyone in our industry want to read the same story about the same person on the same show 5 times over? The rest, the stories that focus on how you look for work, where you look, and what you do once on the job with the tools you bring to bear, that’s what we want to cover going forward.
Teaser
Stephen Cohen will bring us a very quick round up of NAB that was in Vegas a week ago – TOOLS of the Trade. Long time work horse and all around great writer Mark Williams will be back with his Union Roundup, focusing on all things Union including elections and interviews with BAs and various presidents of Locals to get their perspective on the entertainment work space for the year to come.
Additionally, we’ll be looking to do an ongoing personal view of the industry from the perspective of working crew at different levels of their career. The early stage advice of someone new to the industry, just starting out, a mid-career perspective, either a Department Head or Key, and finally someone that is senior to the industry including views on their path to either retirement, or navigating continuing to work and all the travails that come with that change.
Wrapping up
I want to take the time to thank all of you that have emailed and called with support – your support has been stupendous over the last 24 years, and I appreciate it as we pivot toward this new direction. My email hasn’t changed in that time and I continue to welcome your thoughts, especially if you have ideas about our future endeavors, or a suggestion on stories you would like us to cover.
Contrary to what many might think, and surprisingly, our membership has grown to just under 33,000 subscribers. As much as I would love to take any credit for that, sadly, I’ll have to give credit to the sad state of affairs our industry is in at the moment – meaning, we gained subscribers because they are ALL looking for work, and Below the Line has the most powerful, most respected, and most used Production Listings in the industry (www.findfilmwork.com).
Okay, here we go, just us, and you, the manufacturers of motion pictures and television entertainment.
Patrick Graham
Publisher
Below the Line
([email protected])
