Notes on Being a Grown-Up

Woo-Hoo!!!! I OFFICIALLY have an LLC and an EIN! I am no longer acronym-deficient. Please join me in welcoming Steel Corset Productions, LLC, to the Wonderful World of Filmmaking.

The whole process was pretty painless. First I went online to Maryland SDAT (State Dept of Assessments and Taxation and printed out the form "Articles of Organization". When I noticed that the office was 6 blocks from my house, I figured I'd just do it in person. I braced myself for long waits and cranky state government employees, but it went pretty smoothly. I was in and out of TWO Maryland State Tax offices having spent only 45 minutes and $192.00 ($70.00 of that was just to expedite it), and I had my LLC Charter Division in hand. When I got home, a seven minute phone call to the IRS secured my new Employer Identification Number. Which is concurrently Very Cool and Very Scary.

Now I have to get my bank to work with me to put the LLC name on my checking account, so I can really be in business. I'll let you know how that goes.

And in other news, my greatest fears (of the moment) were realized when the afore-mentioned Plan A, as my British friend Matthew would say, "went tits-up". Seemingly there was some major miscommunications at hand, and one party or the other was not necessarily at fault. As I've said before, the whole process is like dating, or being in love - the same words and phrases don't necessarily mean the same thing to all people, so you have to really nail these things down. See, up until now, everyone who has said to me, "I can do this for you," or, "I can help you with that," has meant that to mean, "for FREE," or cheap, or in exchange for something I can do/will do/have already done for them. The person related to Plan A, though, meant that only that he is CAPABLE of doing those things - but for a price. To him, a very discounted price, to me, not so much.

One point that this person tried to drive home is, "You get what you pay for." I've been in the business world for over two decades, and of course I agree with him, to a point. I have been on the unfortunate end of working for a company with great aspirations and shallow pockets more than once. I know for a fact that "cheapest" often equals "worst". But I also know for a fact that "most expensive" rarely equals "best."

I know that there are film crew people out there who make $350, sometimes even more, for a day's work. They paid film school tuition and are probably still paying off their loans. They have their own gear that they might still be making payments on themselves. They work hard, are experienced, and deserve to get paid well. Which I'll be happy to do. When Hollywood knows my name and I have a real budget that can support those kind of salaries.

But, I don't. Plain and simple. So, what are my choices? Beg people who usually make $350 a day to work for less than 15% of what they consider themselves worth? I don't foresee that making for a healthy, fun, or most importantly, productive work environment. I don't want to be on set with a bunch of people who spend the day calculating how much they SHOULD be making, or rolling their eyes at me when I ask them to pick up the pace. That's poison.

So what are my other options? Will qualified people really work for $50 a day, or less? I know for a fact that they will. I have plenty of people offering to do exactly that for me, and that is before I even start asking around. Of course, they won't have as much experience as the pros, and more mistakes will be made. That eats up time. I have time. But I wouldn't have the career in the hotel industry that I have if (1) I didn't work my ass off BEFORE I started getting paid what I am worth, and (2) if someone hadn't taken a chance on me, taken me under their wing and showed me the ropes.

Short of brain surgery or rocket science, or rocket surgery or brain science for that matter, my attitude is this: I'd rather have someone who is thrilled as HELL to be there. No one is going to die if you call an extension cord an extension cord (film lingo, a "stinger").

So I have a lot of thinking to do. At first I was crushed, I must admit. But it is better to know this now than to have four or five more meetings where we are talking about different things. I'm okay with it now, and it is really not that big of a deal. Everything always turns out the way it should for me, it seems, and this is no different. Beside the elevator in the Maryland State Offices today, there was a sign that said, "It is not the person who goes the fastest that gets things done, it is the person that keeps going."