On crappy swag and respect (aka Winter X Games 09 update 3)
When did engineers become the whipping boys of TV? When I started in TV back in highschool, engineers were a position of respect; we get you on the air and keep you there. We fix all of your problems and make your life easier. I know everybody likes to think their job is super important and people couldnt get by without them, but in the case of the engineer, its true. Without engineers, your tv shows would never be made or seen. We can make your life easy, or we can make it very painful.
So when did it become ok to shit on us? A perfect example happened yesterday here at the x games. Before everyone left for aspen we got an email explaining that there would be “no swag” this year. For those who dont know, swag items are gifts from the production compay to the crew usually consisting of hats, shirs, jackets, and so on with the shows logo, the stations logo, and whatever else they deem relevent. So all of us came to aspen expecting no swag and while it was a disappointment, we understood.
Interestingly enough, espn changed its no swag policy and ordered swag for the crew which was handed out yesterday. Everyone was getting hats, gloves, nice coats… When it was our turn to get our swag, we got a kids pair of mittens and a hat. No coat? Kids gloves? WTF? We asked the person handing it out and she said, “oh it goes by your position.” Really? Ok, if we are so unimportant, how about we all leave and see how you guys make out without us. It was an obvious case of people not understanding what it is that we do, and that happens far too often these days. We are the backbone of your show, period. We are the first ones in and the last ones out.
Funny enough, shortly after that conversation, the steadicam operator lost his monitor and thus could not work. Two hours later (and a whopping ten minutes before air) we got him all buttoned up and sent him off to the mountain. His problem wasnt even our problem to fix (it was his own gear), but we did it anyway because we actually care.
Keep you swag, seriously. Every engineer here knows that you would not survive a day without us. We will continue to hold your hands and breastfeed you. Dont worry.
