been good with motor vehicles, boats, and cars"--Wright was instantly
fascinated with helicopters and began visiting the local hanger whenever
he could. An RCMP transfer took him to Vancouver, where he put
himself through a commercial helicopter school. He completed his train-
ing in Calgary and worked as a pilot in northern Canada for a couple of
seasons to build up flying hours.
Returning to Vancouver, he formed Wright Brothers Aviation (later
changed to Vancouver Helicopters, Inc.), purchasing his first helicopter in
1981. Wright quickly built up his business by committing to stay in the
city during the summer months when others left to fight forest fires or to
pick up charter work. His clients responded by awarding him the winter
contracts that his competitors were vying for. His early jobs included
traffic reporting for a
Vancouver radio station, and
he formed Calgary Helicopters
to cover that market as well.
Over time, he picked up work
with the local police depart-
ment, television stations, and
some video work, expanding
into feature films as produc-
tion companies began coming
to Vancouver to shoot.
"I cut my teeth working in
television, doing news. From
there I started working with a
lot of the local cameramen and
was recommended by the news
guys. A lot of ex-news camera
guys become film cameramen.
I started on little local films,
then commercials, and went
right into film."
One of the early feature films in Wright's career was Narrow Margin.
"We blew up a Jet Ranger on that show. There were a lot of shots with
guys crawling all over the train, while going through canyons. It was
great working with Peter Hyams because I learned a lot from him about
light, color of light, temperatures, and things like that. It was great
working with some of the L.A. stunt guys." Another highlight was the
feature film Alaska.
In the late 1990s, Wright began selling off his various company hold-
ings and relocated to Palm Springs, California. "It can get really crazy
What do you like
least about your job?
"What I like least is the
ego. Film is full of ego.
You have to deal with
it, understand it. Your
own ego, as well."
--Steven Wright
What do you love most
about your job?
"I love being given the freedom to go out and
shoot. That's when my creativity comes out
and I can put my input into it, design shots
and go and execute them. Come back the
next day and in dailies they go `Oooo . . .
aaahhhh . . . ' That's the most rewarding."
--Steven Wright
VOICES OF
EXPERIENCE
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