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And that's what happened. We made the rounds. Much of it is a blur today, but one interview has stuck with Ellie and me through the years:
A bright, sunny day in Venice, we drove through the New World studio gate, got directions were to park, and headed to a meeting with Bob
Skotak. At the time Bob was in charge of Roger Corman's effects department (physical and optical). In little time Ellie and I found ourselves seated at a workbench. Mr. Skotak noticed our admiring glances at the
overhead hanging miniature glider. "The correct name of that thing is, rocket-glider", Bob informed us with an apologetic smile. It was just one of the many things built and filmed by New World for the Escape From
New York production, recently completed. I was impressed! Bob was the guy behind all the miniature and computer simulation simulations - back then they filmed physical sets and miniatures and then roto-scoped them
to look 'computer'. CGI was in the ping-pong stage back then.
Mr. Skotak was busy, but gave us his full attention. We were given these few moments of his time as his crew was then working some pick-up
shots to close out the Planet Of Horrors production. The whole interview took less than an hour.
As I was later to learn, New World jobbed out its facilities to other production companies for both first and second unit work. As I figured
it, Roger Corman had established a poverty row version of Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). New World picked up work for the less than A-list productions in town who needed effects work on the cheap.
(Bob Burns had previously told me why ILM was not on the job interview list: "They hire and fire collage kids as the work comes and goes.
Unless your staff, there's no future at that place". Wonder if that's changed over the years?).
ILM, without the classic outdoor sets or massive 'lot' one associates with studios, is structured none the less very much along the old
'studio' model: they do (with few exceptions) everything in-house, at one facility: opticals, miniatures, editing, etc. And that's what Corman set up near the beach in Venice; his New World Pictures was a poor-man's
ILM. Both outfits specialized in effects work for hire. However, at the time, with my very limited perspective on things then, all I could make of it was that New World was making indigenous productions with some
effects work on the side, just to keep the crew gainfully employed. Not a fair observation as it turned out.
Ellie and I envisioned, like so many not intimate with the industry, a Hollywood where the old studio form of production prevailed; an
assemblage of massive fenced off studio lots, within which all aspects of film and TV production occurred, all under the steady hand of a studio 'boss'. Our trip eventually put that minds-eye picture to rest.
As I was pretty much an Atlantic sailor (four years operating out of Hawaii and Guam aboard an SSBN submarine don't count), I had no
first-hand feel for how the divestiture of the motion picture/TV industry, beginning in the fifties, had by the time of our job seeking visit, had pretty much broken up the studio system. Hollywood was not the
Hollywood we expected. Specialized outfits like New World were the outgrowth of the needs and wants of the 'new' moviemakers: the independent filmmakers. Small time specialty houses – well removed from the ownership
and control of the studios that once ruled the entire film making process – were where the jobs were. Not the big studio lots.
Bob Skotak gave us the tour of the effects end of the facility and we made small talk as we returned to the shop, sat, and settled down to
business. He finally stopped thumbing through my portfolio, looked up, smiled, closed the binder, and slowly slid it my way.
… Oh, oh!
Mr. Skotak explained that there was little he or anyone else he knew could offer a guy like me. And that was that!
He told me that my work was good. Too good! I was too much of a perfectionist; I took too long to complete a project; I 'overbuilt'.
Just to make sure I stood no chance of employment there I put the final nail in my coffin as I informed Mr. Skotak that I could never find
it in my heart to compromise quality for the sake of time. (Ellie suppressing a smile as I slipped my neck in the noose and carefully positioned the knot against my spine).
The formal part of the interview was over. But, Mr. Skotak was not quite through with me. Instead of a curt dismissal he gathered Ellie and
I up and accompanied us to the parking lot and on to our car. As he did so, Bob counseled me to bone up on sculpting, technical sketching, prop building, prosthetics, and basic carpentry – just some of the
prerequisites needed if I was to ever secure a supervisory position in one of the many effects houses that service the industry. And be prepared to wait, there was a glut of talent there and securing a position, no
matter your qualifications, was next to impossible. Mr. Skotak also advised, in so many words, that I become a bit more 'flexible' in my attitude and work. Even then, it was apparent, after only a few minutes of
exposure, to this potential employer that I was not the kind of guy who plays well with the other children.
Honest and right to the point, Mr. Skotak pronounced me not ready. (an appropriate sound effect here would be: air spluttering out of a
party-balloon).
I could almost hear the sigh of relief from Ellie as we settled into the car and buckled our belts. I knew that she was scared of loosing
the security of the military gig and feared for our future if I took on freelance or even a staff position in California. Moving the family, giving up all those accumulated years of service. She was now at ease.
And, frankly, so was I. Ever the practical one, Ellie saw my eventual retirement from the Navy, in only eight years, as the back-up income we would need when the time came again for me to 'chase the dream', for
real. Though never mentioned, it was the New World meeting with Bob Skotak, more than any other incident of that trip to the west coast, which put our heads straight about the realities of the employment situation
in California.
(Ellie, looking over my shoulder as I write this, insists that I recount here the last words issued to us by Mr. Skotak: "And wait for
someone to die". Words that fell on me like a safe. It was all Ellie could do to stifle a squeal of delight when he said it).
At that time, the early 80's, effects miniature making was a game for single young men, infatuated with the 'process', and willing to eat
beans from a can for diner, in an apartment shared by others similarly afflicted.
Our time in California was over, the realities of the job market had swept away the heady imaginings of the dream. It was time for me to get
back to work. I would finish off my career in the navy and continue to practice the craft of model building in my off hours, honing my skills, and accepting the occasional commission. Surprisingly, as it turned out,
I was able to build some effects miniatures and even travel to Kansas to participate in a shoot during the last decade of my service. Working at night and using up annual leave permitted this 'moonlighting'
activity. Prior to retirement Ellie and I worked on Star Trek-5, The Hunt For The Red October, and did miniatures and floor effects for a horrible slasher flick. We got our 'fix'.
Hope this little slice of life has been informative: one guys brief interaction with the motion picture/TV industry, as it was in
California, way back when.
OK … enough about Hollywood and me. On to the topic at hand, assembling the Teskey FS-1 model
onto part 5
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