Film Courage: How would you handle if you were working on a project with great people
(magical, great chemistry) but they're a little bit behind on paying you?
How would you approach that?
Brad Rushing, Cinematographer: What do you mean by a little bit behind?
Film Courage: A couple months?
Brad: That would probably be a long project.
I'd hand it off to my agent.
I'd tell my agent to deal with it and they have a legal team and I would keep doing I
mean I certainly wouldn't confront any of my creative partners or probably even tell
them about it.
I mean I might if I felt they would have influence with the production company but I wouldn't
threaten them.
I wouldn't be one of those guys like I'm going to walk off again.
I'm committed to the work first and even if even if those good-for-nothings never paid
me I'd finish the job and never work with them again but to me somebody else's bad behavior
is not a license for me to also have bad behavior.
Again if somebody's being unsafe if somebody's being jeopardized or harassed or harmed that
would be different I would certainly become defensive and confrontational in that responsibility
as to whatever degree was necessary in the moment but by and large I believe in diplomacy
and professionalism and if it's just that my pay is late I certainly wouldn't be happy
about it but I'm not going to harm the work and I'm not going to harm my relationship
with the parties who are not directly involved in that predicament.
Film Courage: How about earlier in your career when you did not have an agent?
Brad: Well it would still be a similar strategy but I would not jeopardize my position on
the project I would I would not go into defcon mode until after the project wrapped and even
then I wouldn't be impolitic about it I would I would be professional I would I would give
them notice and then I would either get a lawyer or I would file a complaint with the
labor board I would do the right things if I was in the union I would or I mean I am
in the union now but if I was at the time I would report it to the union and that's
the other thing too is if I was on that job in addition to seeking my agent on them I
would stick the union on them but if I was all on my own I would like I said I would
just wait until I would not be happy but I would put up with it until we were done and
then I would go through the the legal avenues available to me and if I ended up getting
boned in the end and even if I didn't even if they ended up paying if I had a bad experience
and felt they were being predatory I would just never work with them again to answer
that it's like look in in withholding my pay they're already harming me right but if I
relieve in my own well then that's adding harm if I provoke them in such a way that
they spread bad stories about me even if they're in the wrong I don't know who they know if
the producer or the director or my the actors if I create a situation where they think I
have some bad behavior that's gonna harm me I don't there's no value in that to me that's
just that's just adding adding my own harm to it and I just don't think it's gonna improve
it and that's that's just based on my value because again I'm their first and foremost
for the work and the relationships how much time do you spend each day improving your
craft as a cinematographer well see that's one of those formula questions there's there's
just no formulas there is no bullet point on my calendar every day
I nebulously engage I read the news I read IMDB PRO news I engage on social media I belong
to networking groups I belong to groups specifically about film lenses I belong to cinematographer
groups I belong to professional groups like the Canadian society cinematographers the
visual effects society and I what are people talking about what are the articles they're
posting I might come across an article and post it so it's really I mean I do my due
diligence and I do my check-ins but if it's a day where there's really nothing on those
boards or on the news then then I probably don't do too much if it's a day that there's
significant amounts of stuff if I have the time then then I'll be watching some videos
and reading some articles maybe bookmarking if I don't have the time I do I do I'll do
webinars and workshops and in in a normal area era where we're not in a in a pandemic
I'll go to trade shows and product demos which in as much as they're important to learning
about your craft and the new technologies they're also networking opportunities and
it's fun to me it's not it's not it's not work I mean again these are these are toys
it's like what's the new toy what's the cool thing it's instead of a 4k camera you have
an 8k camera and why should I care and now you've got these affordable anamorphic lenses
where did those come from and how are they different from the tens of thousands of dollars
lenses and now you've got these rgb leds that could do any color under the sun and they
can do a cop light and they can do a strobe and they can do fire flicker and I just I
love that because cool that's a new toy and I either rent it or go out and buy it so again
there's no I can't tell you how many hours a day but it's certainly one of my focuses
it's one of the things that just like when somebody reads the news they check the the
the national section and the international section and the the comics and the one ads
for instance it's like that's one of those things that every day I'm like okay what's
what do I need to check with how much time do you spend trying to book your next job
i could say 24 7 considering I have a website I have I have posts and and social media identities
on linkedin and to me that's like little fish poles with bait that are stuck out into the
into the water 24 7.
I network I plant those seeds I have people out there that I hope are recommending me
and saying good things maybe you would call that passive but to me that's all sometimes
those would get me more work than me picking up a phone or or asking or going to lunch
it's those it's those those ripples you put out into the world just like you obviously
did your research on my website I didn't have anything to do with that I mean I created
it but I you and I didn't talk about it in terms of in terms of me personally it really
depends on the days when when when California Christmas was blowing up I was looking at
IMDB films in pre-production and just reaching out to people because I thought now's the
moment I can reach out and say hey I've got a number one film but you have to balance
that with life and I could easily be a workaholic as I've already kind of let that I would work
through meals and through the night and I network and hustle far more than I shoot there's
this great quote by Orson Welles and it's something to the effect that he he he probably
made a mistake becoming a filmmaker because it's two percent making movies and 98 begging
for the money to make them I'm paraphrasing but that's the essence of part of that quote
and it really is I mean so much of our work is getting work what I like to tell people
that I am professionally unemployed because what most people do only a few times in their
life in between jobs I do constantly even when I'm on a job I'm looking for work so
so really if you looked at how I spend the hours in in my day I'm professionally unemployed
when you first started out was it the same percentage of time that you were looking for
work absolutely not and that's naivete I really felt build it and they will come I really
felt that I mean I had never been a freelancer before I didn't understand the dynamic of
working as a freelancer I didn't understand the importance of networking I had only ever
worked for a company where they meet you once and they hire you and then you just keep showing
up and doing the time card until you quit or get fired so it really was a huge learning
curve for me and there were a lot of illusions just like when I moved to Los Angeles I thought
oh it's a huge city somebody's going to hire me somebody's going to give me a job and I
was so full of malarkey and I guess mercifully so because because if I really realized how
hard it was going to be would I have done it probably but it I wouldn't have been as
hopeful and optimistic it would have been more oppressive to live with the reality of
what lay ahead of me instead of being blissfully ignorant.
Film Courage: Do you think working at these temp jobs prepared you because it's the same
thing like when you would work at these temp jobs and one of these things would end and
okay accounting doesn't need you anymore I don't know what you were doing but and then
you had to go and let the temp company know I'm available this week?
Brad: Yeah I mean in little ways I think because because like you could wait for them to call
you if they had a job for you but you could also wake up at 6 00 a.m and call and say
I'm available and you were more likely to get something so there was that incentive
be proactive and I'm not a morning person I mean left to my own devices I wake up at
10 so for me to wake up at 6 00 a.m that was a super human feat it's not so hard if it's
a call time and I'm getting paid but just to call wake up and make a call because maybe
I'll get paid to go to a job that I really don't want to do oh my goodness yes well we
also don't want to go to the clinic and get shots but we have to so it's just I'm at that
age now you have to get a colonoscopy every five years it's I'd rather go to Disneyland
but there are things in life you have to do and when I was out here calling the temp agency
at 6am was one of them and it was again it was a good habit it was discipline it's like
do that thing you don't want to do because you have to no your boss isn't telling you
to and your mom and dad and girlfriend aren't telling you to and if you don't nobody's going
to be mad at you you just aren't going to work.
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