Voices of Labor: Creativity, Craft, and Conflict in Global Hollywood

285 Pages·2017·1.78 MB·English

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Voices of Labor

Voices of Labor
Creativity, Craft, and Conflict in Global Hollywood
Edited by
Michael Curtin & Kevin Sanson
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
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visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2017 by Michael Curtin and Kevin Sanson
Suggested citation: Curtin, Michael and Sanson, Kevin (eds.).
Voices of labor: creativity, craft, and conflict in global Hollywood.
Oakland: University of C alifornia Press, 2017 DOI: https://doi.
org/10.1525/luminos.26
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY license. To view a
copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Curtin, Michael, editor. | Sanson, Kevin, editor.
Title: Voices of labor : creativity, craft, and conflict in global Hollywood
   / Michael Curtin, Kevin Sanson.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2017] |
   Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016053357 (print) | LCCN 2016056134 (ebook) | ISBN
   9780520295438 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780520968196 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Motion picture industry—Employees—Interviews. | Motion
   picture industry—California—Los Angeles. | Mass media and globalization.
Classification: LCC PN1995.9.L28 C87 2017 (print) | LCC PN1995.9.L28 (ebook)
   | DDC 384/.80979494—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016053357
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1. Listening to Labor 1
by Michael Curtin and Kevin Sanson
Company Town 18
2. Editors’ Introduction 18
3. Mara Brock Akil, showrunner 22
4. Tom Schulman, screenwriter 33
5. Allison Anders, director 45
6. Lauren Polizzi, art director 56
7. Mary Jane Fort, costume designer 68
8. Anonymous, makeup artist 80
9. Stephen Lighthill, cinematographer 90
10. Calvin Starnes, grip 100
11. Steve Nelson, sound recordist 113
12. Rob Matsuda, musician 126
Global Machine 136
13. Editors’ Introduction 136
14. Anonymous, studio production executive 140
vi Contents
15. David Minkowski, service producer 146
16. Adam Goodman, service producer 158
17. Stephen Burt, production manager 169
18. Belle Doyle, location manager 179
19. Wesley Hagan, location manager 190
Fringe City 200
20. Editors’ Introduction 200
21. Scott Ross, VFX manager 204
22. Dave Rand, VFX artist 215
23. Mariana Acuña-Acosta, VFX artist 226
24. Daniel Lay, VFX artist 238
25. Steve Kaplan, union official 250
26. Dusty Kelly, union official 261
Appendix: Interview Schedule 273
Acknowledgments
Over the past few years, globalization and corporate conglomeration have been
signature concerns of the Carsey-Wolf Center and the Mellichamp Global
Dynamics Initiative at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Our multifaceted
endeavors have been generously supported by the inspiring philanthropy of Marcy
Carsey, Dick Wolf, and Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp. One of them once told
us, “It’s actually easier to make money than to give it away. You have to find the
right people and then give them room to run.” Hopefully, we were the right people
and ran in the right direction.
We owe a great deal of thanks to friends and colleagues at the Carsey-Wolf
Center. David Marshall, Melvin Oliver, John Majewski, Constance Penley, and
Ronald E. Rice have provided enthusiastic encouragement throughout this
project’s life cycle. Sheila Sullivan, Natalie Fawcett, and Alyson Aaris are an
incredible trio whose resilient administrative support is matched only by their
unwavering friendship.
We especially want to thank some of our closest collaborators at the Media In-
dustries Project. Jennifer Holt and Karen Petruska have been key allies throughout
this project, and our ideas are much richer because of them. Likewise, we never
conducted an interview without first studying the detailed research dossiers pre-
pared by John Vanderhoef and Juan Llamas-Rodriguez. Thank you for keeping
us from embarrassing ourselves. And thank you too, John, for a range of editorial
contributions to the final product.
We also want to recognize our collaborators at the University of California
Press and the Luminos open-access platform: Raina Polivka, Mary Francis, Aimée
Goggins, Paige MacKay and Francisco Reinking. Thanks to Erin Lennon, Rebecca
vii