With no financial burdens, no relationship commitments, and the
minimal living expense of a low rent house shared with two other grips,
Blomquist felt free to take the first step toward becoming an assistant
director: stop working as a grip. For the next year and a half, he supported
himself through carpentry while trying to find an assistant director job.
"Eventually I got somebody to hire me for free . . . they were exploiting
me for my labor and I was exploiting them for the opportunity."
Blomquist researched con-
tracts from the various guilds
and unions, then learned the
job of an AD while doing it. "I
got a copy of all the contracts--
IATSE, SAG, DGA, whatever--
and read them with a
highlighter pen. I studied them
like I was taking a class. I
learned all the rules and then
went out and tried to put them
into practice, knowing what I
knew about how a set ran. I
made a lot of mistakes, but I
got one job. Then somebody
recommended me and I got a
second job . . . So my résumé
says, `assistant director; assis-
tant director; additional experi-
ence: key grip; key grip; key
grip.' Over time, the grip work
fell off the résumé and I only
had assistant director [credits]."
He next set his sights on
becoming a production
manager, initially working on
nonunion pictures. In 1980, on
the recommendation of crew
members he had previously
worked with, Blomquist
received a call asking him to
take over a picture called
Breach of Contract, then shoot-
ing in San Francisco. The pre-
vious production manager had been fired and they had been unable to
find a replacement. The catch was that Blomquist would have to join the
What do you like
least about your job?
"What I like least are the
time demands, in terms of
my family; having to go
on location is really hard.
Also, there is an ego
factor in this business that sometimes gets
to be a little much."--Alan Blomquist
What do you love most
about your job?
"What I like most is that it's constantly
changing. I never do the same thing twice.
While the structure is the same, every movie
is different." When Blomquist produced Of
Mice and Men, he recalls, "I had to learn
how to grow a crop of wheat, because it was
a centerpiece of the movie. I ended up
growing winter wheat in the summer. When
I did Everybody's All American, I had to
learn all about college football and how to
shoot in front of 80,000 fans in a real football
stadium . . . Every movie I do has some kind
of challenge, or many challenges. I love
that."--Alan Blomquist
"I also really like the social aspect of it,
trying to put a team together; a family that
can coexist for six weeks, six months, or a
year, with each person doing their job in
concert with other people."--Alan Blomquist
VOICES OF
EXPERIENCE
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