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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Proj. Union/Jobs in NYC
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 03-02-2004 11:43 AM
As Bill knows, Manhattan is only one of the five boroughs (New York's unique governing structure, not a donkey) or counties that make up New York City. Manhattanites often make the misguided mistake of thinking of their borough as "the City" while dismissing the other four "outer" boroughs. But New York City does indeed consist of three islands (Manhattan, Staten and Long) as well as a thing called THE Bronx which is attached to the mainland, with my beloved Brooklyn and Queens being part of Western Long Island (Brooklynites and Queenies often make the misguided mistake of thinking that they are not on Long Island as in, "I am taking a trip 'out to the Island,' when indeed, they are already ON the island.) But I digress.
There are a lot more than 7-10 multiplexes when looking at the entire metropolitan area of the five boroughs and then the surrounding counties on Eastern Long Island. But Bill is right, of course, finding jobs will be iffy at best. Pay is all over the map and the exhibition industry has for decades put an enormous amount of energy in trying to eliminate the professional projectionist, so it is not a profession where there is any kind of demand from the theatre owners. In such an unbalanced climate, finding a decent wage paying job will be difficult. You might actually have a better chance of finding work outside NYC.
You said: I heard that all projectionists in NYC must be in the Union. Absolutely not; never was true. In New York City (all five counties) you do NOT need to belong to the union to be able to operate a 35mm or 70mm booth. You only need to have a NY Motion Picture Operator's License, which today is mostly a vestige of a once meaningful process and which now means nothing other than that you paid a fee and took a now-bogus test.
Although the union used to boast that all NYC projectionists belonged to their ranks and they used high-pressure intimidation on young people who had just passed their NY Projectionist License test into thinking they HAD to join, it was never a requirement for getting a projectionist job. I have been an independent projectionist since 1971, the year my first license was issued (I was seven). I have consistently made a better salary and gotten better benefits than the union ever offered, by negotiating with my employers myself.
I found that many operators of specialty venues prefer to hire their own staff and do not like the bullying tactics for with the union was notorious. The union's goon mentality and strong-arming methods assured me of consistent employ and ironically, it unwittingly created a demand for a nonunion alternative for me throughout my career.
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