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The union is on the trail of one Serge Waismann, director of appropriately named production company Risk Television Ltd, who ran out of money half way through filming and disappeared. [...] Risk TV had intended to make a series for Channel 5, a soap-type production depicting the antics of students, which had been optioned by the channel.

[...] As the money ran out, a rental company marched onto location and carried their equipment away. A key item was the dolly upon which the camera was mounted. A dolly, operated by a grip, is crucial for smooth tracking shots and for anyone else this would have been the end of operations.

Undeterred, Waismann appeared with a shopping trolley from the local Tesco [a big UK supermarket chain] and placed the camera on its tripod into the trolley for some tracking shots.

As if this makeshift contraption was not bad enough, a member of the highly embarrased professional crew reports that he had managed to pick up a trolley with defective wheels, so the resulting shots kept wandering off to the side.

[...] Waismann has disappeared from his production office, though BECTU is still pursuing him and his company for payment of our members. Spencer MacDonald at head office would appreciate any information as to his whereabouts. In the opinion of the crew, he is also wanted for crimes against film-making.

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