Cinematography : Haskell Wexler vs. the Hacks by Jeff Lyons

Yea long hours is common, abusive and dangerous. the Industry is not glamorous at all behind the camera. I remember working 18-20 hrs per on music videos and driving home sleepy and editing until I pass out behind the keyboard. Jeff, let's sign up for dental school! Cmon! $200K yearly salary for cleaning teeth!

Love this, Dan. Interested in any story involving Wexler.

Are you folks familiar with 12on/12off? www.12on12off.org https://www.facebook.com/12on12off/ Or have you seen Haskell's documentary "Who Needs Sleep?" whoneedssleep.weebly.com I started 12on/12off in 2003 when I grew perplexed and despondent as a cinematographer knowing that my idol and Haskell's close friend, Conrad Hall could do little to reign in the obscene work hours on Road to Perdition and it ultimately contributed to his untimely death. I thought "If Conrad Hall, Sam Mendes, Tom Hanks, and Paul Newman don't have the power to enforce reasonable work hours, then what chance does an unknown cinematographer like myself have? I lensed 25 feature films and had always been able to wield enough influence to keep the work day around 12 hours with reasonable turnaround, etc. but that's largely because in the low-budget and micro-budget world, the cinematographer is often the most 'valued' and 'experienced' person on set. In that community, the producers and directors tend to have a great deal of respect for the D.P. But of course I aspired to move onward and upward as a cinematographer and working reasonable hours on those bigger budget productions seemed increasingly a pipe dream the more I learned. It just so happened that Haskell was in the middle of shooting his documentary Who Needs Sleep when I launched the 12on/12off website. He ended up including my project in his, incorporating some interviews with me along with b-roll of me handing out t-shirts and hats on a few different sets in his film. Soon thereafter he joined forces with me and we made it a full on non-profit organization. Obviously his name helped get the word out even more about the cause. It hadn't occurred to me until this post that I wonder if there might be any value in launching a 12on/12off page, group, discussion, etc. here on Stage 32? Thoughts RB?

I've never really considered Hollywood's concern over the number of days over the number of hours before, but it definitely explains a lot. Thanks for sharing!