By Matthew Helderman, & Luke Taylor
At Buffalo 8 – we began our careers in the film business working as Assistant Directors on smaller independent sets, bouncing from project to project in the lower indie space.
Not only did AD’ing offer great insight and experience in to the the filmmaking process — but it also enlightened the reality that the film business is heavily driven on contracted labor that constitutes/requires the laborer to be present to continually earn wages.
As we began working 14-16 hours days – the hype and glamor that often surrounds the entertainment business was nowhere to be found — and so began our true education into the world of film production.
Paddy Chayefsky once wrote that “television is an endless, almost monstrous drain” (The Television Plays, 1955.) And he continued: “How many ideas does a writer have? How many insights can he make? How deep can he probe into himself, how much energy can he activate?” Furthermore, “he (the writer) has no guarantee that his next year will be as fruitful. In fact most writers live in a restrained terror of being unable to think up their next idea. Very few television writers can seriously hope to keep up a high-level output for more than five years.” 