I’m sure george hates workers has a viewpoint, and maybe a valid one. But he or she may not all that onjective. There just may possibly be an ax to grind.
Figured the kid would have more of a gripe than Hayden
Didn’t realize this thread had some activity after my last post, so figured I’d give her another bump, since the franchise is back in the news these days.
Is it true that Lucas has a giant, 20 foot tall brazen idol of Jar-Jar, that he genuflects to, thrice daily?
zombie or no
did they tase wacko intruder fans like Sheldon?
I don’t know about that, but I do know from first hand experience that the office at the Presidio has a life-sized Jar-Jar frozen in carbonite on display.
At least he’s not offjective.
More generally — I don’t know if you saw the most recent episode of The Big Bang Theory. In it, two characters try to talk their way into (onto?) the ranch. The entrance was depicted as a single-lane path through bushes and trees to a tiny guard booth and a single guard.
Oh yeah. I’m supposed to ask questions.
How many people work at the ranch every day? Is the entrance really that tiny?
By the time the Presidio opened, only perhaps around 200 worked up at Skywalker, compared to 10x that number at LDAC. Please note that this was all before the bloodbath that occurred with the Disney purchase, so I don’t have any idea of the numbers now, though I’m guessing the population up at SR has stayed fairly close to the same, while the biggest loss of personnel were in departments that would be redundant with the Mouse’s offices in SoCal (HR, legal, marketing, licensing, finance, etc.).
Seems like a good time for a bump.
At what point did you, personally, realize that Episode I was terrible? Was there a sense before it was released that, uh oh - this is quite bad?
Did you still have hope for Episode II or did you “have a bad feeling about this?”
ETA: Looking back, you started between Eps I and II, so you probably can’t answer that first question. But how did you feel going into Ep II? Like maybe there would be redemption?
This needs being of answering so I bumper car.
I was not involved directly with production, but circulated with people who did. There were some who were optimists but also some cold sober realists, and these were the ones I trusted more (since they weren’t, by their nature, apologists for the first film). Essentially, there was no indication that anything was going to change–the path was committed and while some minor course corrections might’ve occurred (Jar Jar rumored to get much less screen time after his initial reception, for instance), it seemed like he was still surrounded by enablers who were dedicated to making his every wish come true, regardless of how ill-advised some might be. Make no mistake, he’s a really nice guy, but there was nobody who had the clout in the company to say No to him.
Saw the new movie over the weekend and it was interesting to pour over the credits to see who’s still with the company and who has (likely) moved on.
Hi, I don’t know if you are still around to answer this. Let’s see.
My questions are of a more basic nature. How would you describe the working atmosphere on the Ranch? Is it something exceptional? Special somehow? Personally beneficial? Enough to leave a better paid job behind elsewhere?
Would you mind giving a hint where you lived during your time there? Is the commute worth it? Where would you recommend staying?
Thanks and Regards
This thread is great. My friend briefly worked at LDAC earlier this year, and he took my family on a tour. Very exciting. So, now that “Rogue One” is out, what do you think of it? Have you soured on SW- or GWL-related projects since working there? Did you stay in the business, as it were? Thanks.
All the times that I annoyed people with colored fonts & oversized scripts…{SIGH}…time flies.
The working atmosphere at the Ranch was very serene, by virtue of the beautiful surroundings and remote location. If you needed to decompress, just go outside and do a small walk along the grounds. Vehicles are rare, as well as foot traffic so it’s easy to get some quality “alone” time before returning to work. That is what made it special, and which a lot of people who were relocated to LDAC said they missed the most. The Presidio is pretty and good for walking (I do it often) but it’s not nearly as quiet or isolated. I would consider that pretty special.
That said, remember that most people who work at LFL don’t work up at Skywalker, so the work culture for most of the organization is a little more corporate and (given the constant deadlines), often even intense. I doubt the Mouse has changed that much. ILM was often known (fairly or not) as a meat-grinder for new CG artists: you paid your dues, put in some long hours and high-visibility projects for a couple of years, and you got to put this top-tier company on your CV. And then you moved on. The reputation for turnover was high but most people put themselves through it because you came out the other end of the gauntlet with some good experience and a beefed-out resume.
Again, I don’t know how much of that notoriety was real, but then again, most of the people I associated with were managers and career-trackers and not the grunts in the trenches, so to speak. But the proliferation of effects companies means the landscape is far more competitive and ILM, while still having a great rep, may no longer be seen as the best avenue to get a foothold in the industry. That said, it’s still got marquee value and a popular destination for aspiring artists.
Because the Ranch is in Marin county, if you’re driving in from SF or the East Bay, the ride is a reverse commute. It’s only bad if you’re driving in from, say, Sonoma County, or if the small country road out there is washed out and you have to drive in the back way. So for the Bay Area, the traffic wasn’t bad, but given its location, it is still long. I put in 400 miles a week on my car, on average, and because I got so used to driving the country curves, my mechanic was always shocked at the sharp angle at which my tires would degrade.
I was working with movies before I got hired at the Ranch and I still work with them now (though not in the production realm). I never soured on my experience at the Ranch even though I didn’t care for the movies that were coming out during my term there. But since then, it’s been interesting seeing the movies like everyone else does, though I still view them with my old set of eyes.
For example, one of my projects while I was there was to build a database that accounted for every single shot from every single feature film from the two SW trilogies. This burrowed down to tagging each shot (captured as a QT file) by character, location, vehicle, weapon, alien species, dialogue, and any number of other unique aspects of the franchise. This averaged to about 2000-2500 shots per film. So if you wanted to see how many shots feature both a lightsaber and a Neimoidian, or an X-wing fighter and an optical wipe, or the phrase “May the Force be with you”, you could just punch it up. I had a ball putting this together and can only hope that someone inherited this project after I left. But I’ll admit that watching the new movies, my cataloguing brain still goes into effect as I notice when any of these items pop up on screen.
I’ll also say, as flawed as it was (and there are some major problems), I liked Ep7 better than 1-3, and think ROGUE ONE is the best SW film since EMPIRE, so it’s exciting to see a lot new content coming down the pipe and I’m intrigued by what the direction Disney will take the franchise now that it has full creative control.
Btw, I have a blog and my most recent post is a tribute to Carrie Fisher (and her mother) that includes a small bit about my time working there.
Earlier in the thread, you posted that Lucas had bought the research libraries of Paramount and I forget the other studio, Universal? What are “research libraries” exactly? I know everything isn’t automatically research-able on the internet but most things?
That was very nice. Thanks for sharing it.