by Darrell L. Hope

Since 1991, there have been nine recipients of the DGA's Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award. The accolade is bestowed upon an associate director or stage manager in recognition of service to both the industry and the Guild. This year's recipient is Scott L. Rindenow.

A member of the Guild since 1979, Rindenow seemed destined for television work. "I grew up in the Fairfax district and worked at the Farmer's Market as a produce salesman during high school. We were right across the street from CBS TV City and I'd always see people walking around with their CBS badges on and thought, ‘Gee, if I could only be one of those people.'"

After receiving a B.A. in radio, television and film at Cal State Northridge, Rindenow worked as a freelance tape technician. "I was always taking directions from directors, associate directors and sometimes even the stage manager. I would hear them on the headsets all the time and would follow what they were doing and thought it would be fun to do also."

Rindenow's break came when he was working as a videotape editor. "My mentor was a great guy named Fred Rheinstein who encouraged me to become a member and helped me get in the Guild."

Soon after, Rindenow found himself on staff at the local CBS-owned and operated station, working as an associate director in master control. "I was in charge of the on-air content, inserting the commercials, breaking news stories, special reports from the network and being there in case there was a technical failure. I thought it was going to be boring but I actually enjoyed it. When you're responsible for what goes out over the air in a big city like Los Angeles, you'd get a phone call from somebody way up on the food chain if something went wrong. As long as the people at home didn't notice any problems and I had a really clean day on the air, I felt like I'd done my job. When I applied for the job, I got it on a temporary basis as I was filling in for someone who was ill. I was told it would last up to six months and it's been almost 20 years."

Although Rindenow credits Rheinstein for his entry into the DGA, he notes that the idea of serving his Guild was inspired by someone who had an even greater influence on his life. "My father was a shop steward for the IA Local No. 44, who worked for more than 35 years as a property master. I used to ask him why would he want to put his neck out on the line for people he was working with when it was a lot of unpaid work? He worked hard as it was - 14- to 16-hour days - and I couldn't understand why he spent so much time helping people. He finally explained that there needs to be someone on the job who made sure that everybody stayed within the contract and nobody took advantage of anyone. And sometimes you just needed somebody who could answer simple union or contractual questions. I just thought that it was a lot to learn, but he did it for many years and really enjoyed it.

"That stuck in my mind so when I joined the Guild, I started attending AD/SM/PA Council meetings. But I was a little intimidated by all these people who knew so much about what was going on, knew each other and all the big directors and big shows, so I backed off for awhile. In 1984 I started attending Council meetings regularly again because there were issues I wanted to talk about and I didn't know who to go to. I started realizing that the Council was surprisingly open to comments, suggestions and questions from regular members who just showed up at the meetings. Everyone was equal, the difference was the Council members got to vote and ultimately made the decisions."

Rindenow became one of those decision-makers when he was elected to the Council shortly thereafter. "Somebody noticed that I'd been at the meetings and would ask a lot of questions. I was nominated, got on as an alternate and from there it just grew." He eventually was elected to his own seat on the Council and later became an alternate on the Board of Directors. "You really get a sense of how the Guild works at the Board of Directors and Councils meetings. Furthermore, Council meetings are a great place to stay in touch with what's going on and help preserve your job as the industry changes. You don't always hear about what's taking place in another part of the industry doing the same job that you do. Through the Council I was able to find out that some of the things that were going on in other places were ultimately going to affect what I do and vice versa. So it's fascinating. I've never been to a dull Council meeting. As long as you're going to be a member of a Guild like this, I don't understand why people wouldn't want to participate. There's so much you can get out of it. I've given up a lot of time over the years to the DGA. I've been away from my family for weeks at a time in New York on negotiations and missed anniversaries, birthdays and ended up in the hospital with pneumonia from all the traveling. But I'd do it all again because I really feel strongly about what I'm doing."

Amongst Rindenow's proudest achievements is his work on the contract negotiations. "I've been the West Coast network representative for directors, associate directors and stage managers for the past five contracts." Rindenow is equally proud of the work he did in gaining access to the Motion Picture Fund health facilities for DGA tape members. "There was a point when we didn't have access to their health clinics and pharmacies. It was primarily for the people in the film industry. I was part of a committee that pursued getting the Motion Picture and Television Fund to allow us to use those facilities. There are a lot a people who are very happy about that. I think another thing I'm proud of is getting other members involved in the Guild. Bringing people in to help the Guild grow with fresh ideas and getting new blood into the Councils has really made me feel good."

Despite the bulk of his Guild service, Rindenow has also managed to build an impressive résumé career-wise. A few years after joining CBS, he moved from associate director to stage manager. "The very first assignment I had was stage managing Connie Chung on a newscast. Somebody called in sick, I had finished my overnight shift and they wanted me to stay and do another eight hours as a stage manager. I'd never worked with her before and I'd never stage managed there before. She asked who I was, and I told her I was filling in. The first thing you know, I pointed her to the wrong camera. She's the nicest person in the world, but she looked at me with fire in her eyes. It was just a matter of me getting used to the director who would point toward the monitor and snap his fingers in the booth rather than calling the shots. That doesn't tell a stage manager who's never done this before which camera a person's on and the director didn't know that the regular stage manager wasn't there. So there I was trying to guess which camera a person was on and it got to the point where I was following the tally lights because I didn't trust my intuition. It took me a day to catch on and after several years of stage-managing they asked me to work once again as an associate director. Having not done that since my days in master control, I was nervous and thought I'd screw up. But I found that I enjoyed it and I've been doing it ever since."

Over the years, Rindenow's job has often given him a front-row seat at local historical events. "I was in the booth for the big earthquake of 1994 and dragged my family in that morning to be with me because I wasn't going to leave them at home. But had an obligation to get to work and get television pictures on the air so people could see what was going on. I went through the L.A. riots, the big shootout in North Hollywood and all the big fires and floods in the past 20 years. During those events, you're sometimes working several days in a row. As a reward for that, occasionally, you're given an award. I've received four Emmys and several Golden Mikes and AP Awards for participation in major breaking news events. Recently I got my first local Emmy for directing the Morning News."

But for Rindenow, being selected for the Schaffner Award is even more amazing. I've known some of the past winners and they're legends in the industry. To be amongst this group is the ultimate reward for giving of your time and energy so I'm really honored about this Award and extremely happy to be a recipient, but I always thought it was something that was given to somebody a little bit older than me. I'm 45 and plan on working in the business for quite a bit longer and traditionally the Award has been given to people who are near near to or past retirement. I asked my wife, ‘Did you call someone at the Guild and say that I was dying?' I started thinking about all the different people who I always wanted to nominate for this Award and never really thought about myself in that category because there are so many people who have done so much for the Guild and the industry. But I'm just elated about being honored this way. I know if my father was here today, he'd be very proud."

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