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Movie Careers
Sometimes You Don't See the Stars
Oana Trifan
After finishing journalism college two years ago Aniela Gãliceanu worked as an assistant movie director for two years before moving to Media Pro, where she does similar work. The days are long: 12 to 14 hours, six days a week. The pay is good: up to 500 euros weekly. Her story is an example of how more young Romanians are making it in the entertainment business.
How did you get the idea that this was what you wanted to do?
Life just brought me here, and I discovered that I really enjoyed it. I also worked in television, and from that I came to film.
Who showed you the way?
When I was in college, I started working at ProTv at a talk show. I was working in the production department as kind of an assistant there, and it happened that the chief of the departament had to move to the film department. She asked half of her staff to leave with her. I was part of that half. Then I went back to school because I was in my last year of college and had plenty of work on my final paper and final exam. I even got an Erasmus Scholarship in France for one semester. After I got back from France, I started applying for jobs making movies at Castel and Media Pro, and also at advertising companies. The people from Castel called me first for an interview, and right away I got the movie job. They needed a second assistant director. You know, on a movie set there’s a director, a first assistant director, a second assistant director and a third. I was lucky to the second assistant job right away.
Did your studies somehow help you achieve what you’ve done?
What I learned in school as theory didn’t help me too much, but the education did. It made me more dynamic, energetic. Journalism drew out some qualities which I definitely use today. Internships also helped me a lot. Thanks to that, I worked in television for the first time. I got the chance to meet people who saw something in me and hired me. This is every student’s chance to start a career. The internships matter a lot. If you have what it takes, people will notice you.
Is the movie industry in Romania growing or losing ground?
One thing I learned in economics was that a product has a life cycle, and that includes the movie industry here. I think nowadays, it’s right at the top. It’s reached maturity. Everything is going good. There are predictions of more orders from abroad. But I also feel that soon it will be going down in the next five or six years. That’s because there are all kinds of restrictive laws that are making it difficult for the movie industry. Like the one from City Hall, which sets the cost of a shooting day in Bucharest at 25,000 euros, which is almost double the one in Paris. This law will send potential clients elsewhere. There was a director in America who proved that he could make a movie there on an East European budget. This has to worry us. But on the other hand, I’m glad to see that the movie industry in our country is tending to go back to making Romanian movies. We have very good directors like Radu Mihãileanu, who just won the Caesar Award. I’m very proud that a Romanian director did that, even if he did live all his life in France. There are a lot of directors studying abroad and bringing their talent back here. And who knows? With time, maybe we will be able to export our Romanian productions.
What countries are looking more these days to use film crews in Romania?
Well, first of all, Americans are asking about it a lot. Then it’s Great Britain and France.
What did you have to do as a second assistant?
Well, you have to keep in touch with the actors and the other directors. You organize the shooting schedule, and the second assistant carries out all the director’s instructions. Then you also need to prepare a shooting schedule for the next day. You have to inform the actors what time they have to be there, what time they have to go to makeup – it’s called a “call sheet.” On the next day, you have to make sure that the filming takes place exactly as it’s laid out in the call sheet. It requires a lot of attention to detail and a lot of patience. You also have to be understanding because you come into contact with most of the crew members, who happen to have different personalities, different egos and so on. And, of course, there’s taking care of the actors’ demands.
Who takes care of pampering the stars?
The second assistant director and the third one. When it comes to the first assitant, actors don’t usually have the nerve to persist with fancy requirements. It’s easier to take a hard line with actors than trying to meet their egotistical needs, like choosing the color of their tea or coffee from the makeup box.
Tell about some of the movies you’ve worked on.
The first movie... at Castel was a horror film, “Return of the Living Dead.” We’d been working on this one for six months, and there were so many special effects that it really drew me in. It was the type of commercial movie I didn’t like too much, but it was my first time on a set. I saw how they do special effects — not just only shootings, but blowing up things and the makeup. It was just awesome to see how they used makeup to bring dead people to life and so on. It was a big challenge for me because I started with a very complex movie, not a love story or a comedy. I’ve always liked challenges. I prefer choosing something hard to start with and ending with something easy. And with time, I realized I could handle stressful situations easier than ordinary ones.
What did you do after working at Castel?
I got an offer to move to Media Pro for a very high salary, almost tree times as big as the one I had. I knew the people at Castel had opened a door for me, and I felt a bit bad about leaving.
What’s it like at Media Pro?
As far as the staff and colleagues, there’s no difference. Both companies do the same kind of very professional work, even though the people there are more easygoing.
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What else are you doing for work?
I have a casting agency called Dynamic Talents. It’s my own company. It makes it easier to get people when I need them on set, and I’ve always wanted to have my own business. I also started this company to get more contacts in theater. Dynamic Talents offers not only extras, but also actors.
What kind of clients does your agency have?
There are two types of clients: actors, models and extras for whom we find contracts; the second type are the film companies that come to us for the people they need. They tell us about their project and look for the right kind of people. We keep them in our database, and also we have people from the theater, not only in Bucharest, but also from the country towns.
When students sign with your casting agency, do they have to pay?
Not a penny! ... It’s in our interest to have as many people as possible. It doesn’t matter what you look like. Everyone is welcome. Anyone with a special talent or no particular talent can always find something to do here.
Do you send extras and actors only to movies and commercials, or also to TV shows?
We don’t actually work with TV shows. There are other companies specialised in doing that. We do what we know best - movies and commercials. They give us the possibility to offer a better payment to people and to keep them working with us.
How are students seen in this business? Are a lot of them applying?
They do, but mainly in the summer when they don’t have school and want to make some money.
Is it possible for an extra to become an actor?
It’s possible that he’ll start to like it so much that he shows up whenever possible. If he’s cooperative, he’ll soon get used to taking instructions from the director and acting will start to come naturally. He won’t be nervous at all in front of the camera, making it easier for the director to single him out. Then he might get a special walk-on.
What’s a special walk-on?
It’s when people are featured in front of the camera. They don’t need to be actors, they don’t usually have a line to say; or if they do, it’s a very short one. They sometimes get three times more pay (than extras).
You graduated as a journalism student. Don’t you want to try it someday?
I don’t think I would go back. It’s a dynamic job, but maybe only in television because that’s more related to what I do. ... Or I would work in advertising. The rhythm is very dynamic, and you have to work a lot, like 15 hours a day. But you can finish quickly; two or three days.
Are you sorry you studied journalism instead of film?
I like it that I did (journalism) school, but I also want to take some directing courses this year. I’ve been dreaming about doing them somewhere in France. I’ve always had dreams, and they’ve always come true. I wouldn’t change a thing in my past. I had the chance to stay in France to work there for Dell (computer) Company, but I always knew that there had to be a chance to make a career and to make money in Romania. You can make all your dreams come true here if you want. Of course sometimes you also have to cheat, but you also have to work a lot to achieve them.
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Filmography
Jacquou le Croquant (2006) first assistant director: Romania
Funny Money (2006) second assistant director
Sweeney Todd (2006) (TV) first assistant director: Romania
Space Race (2005) (TV miniseries) second assistant director
Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave (2005) second assistant director
Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis (2005) second assistant director
Bãieþi buni (2005) (TV series) first assistant director, Episode 8
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