Burt Bluestein Click picture for larger view.

Burt Bluestein, a longtime member of the Guild's AD/UPM/TC Council, began his role of problem solver as an assistant director working with Coppola, Minnelli and John Berry among others. At the same time his career progressed in the motion picture industry, he created a distinguished legacy of service on behalf of his colleagues through dedication to the Directors Guild of America.

In 1962 the native New Yorker got his filmmaking start by way of Manhattan's booming advertising industry.

"At that time, most of the film business was centered around 54th Street, from Broadway and west to the River," he recalls. "I started working in the production back end; we'd get the commercials back from the lab on huge 16mm reels — one reel might contain 40 copies of the same commercial. We'd have to roll them down, cut them, put them on small reels, screen them, box them and take them to the Post Office. Ironically, in the mid-seventies I owned a company that provided below the line production services to commercial directors that included this kind of distribution."

He soon landed a production job with Robert Lawrence Productions, a television commercial firm, and lessons learned there formulated the basic foundation for his later work in film and television.

"I learned that you had to have a certain kind of attitude to get through commercials. Advertisers were buying it by the frame, so they wanted every single frame to be perfect. You end up spending a lot of time achieving perfection, and it's all about style, design, and construction."

Bluestein landed his first motion picture job while working as production assistant for Rose-Magwood, a TV commercial company that had rented its stage facility to a low budget motion picture company. The picture was called Andy, written and directed by Richard Sarafian. Most of their shooting schedule was at night, and Bluestein was literally moonlighting for about six weeks.

Bluestein next began freelancing on productions shot in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., including Marcel Carné's Trois Chambre a Manhattan, Vincente Minnelli's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, Charly and the TV comedy series Gomer Pyle.

After returning from the South American location for the 1970 Lewis Gilbert feature The Adventurers, Bluestein was invited to join the commercial production company, Sokolsky Films, as a production manager. He worked with a number of emerging talents, including the much sought-after British commercial director Ridley Scott, who was then embarking on some of his first stateside projects.

Bluestein moved west to Hollywood in 1977 and immediately began working on the major television shows produced at Universal Studios beginning with Kojak. After that he was the production manager of the biggest miniseries ever produced at that time, Centennial. He also was the production manager of Gangster Chronicles and Return to Lonesome Dove. And in between he was at MTM for two seasons of Hill Street Blues. During the '80s Bluestein moved back into major motion pictures with Somewhere in Time, Blood Sport, Point Break, Leap of Faith and Drop Zone. For the last four seasons, he has been a producer and production manager of the hit television series Nash Bridges.

"I came to L.A. at the tail end of the studio system. Back then Universal produced more than 20 hours of television [weekly]," he said. "The first impression I had was that there were more people working in the film industry at Universal than in all of New York.

"Filmmaking in Manhattan was a smaller part of the city, and the studio presence didn't really exist. The city was seen as more expensive and a more difficult place to work. A movie had to have a lot of clout behind it to get out of Hollywood and into New York because the major studio executives were not about to be dragged back there easily.

"As a result, the film community there reflected a certain quality of independence."

Bluestein carried that pioneering spirit with him as he moved West, also moving from the role of Guild member to that of Guild activist. He cites the historic 1980-1981 industry strikes as a personal turning point.

"I decided that if this was going to be my livelihood, I wanted to have some sort of say in it," he explained. "In 1980 the Screen Actors Guild had a six-month strike, followed by the Writers Guild strike. The key issue then was cable and supplemental market residuals. The DGA contract didn't come up in the same year as either the writers' or actors,' but it became apparent to me that we may well end up going on strike, as well.

"'If some schmuck is going take me out on strike,' I said to myself, 'I want to be that schmuck.'"

He volunteered with the DGA Negotiating Committee — ultimately, the directors did not strike, (the DGA has only gone on strike once, in 1987, and then it was only for 20 minutes). According to Bluestein, the DGA ended up with arguably the best deal for cable residuals won by any of the guilds. The experience created in Bluestein a sense of front-line empowerment that changed his perspective indelibly.

"I've always felt that you can't just accept what you're handed. The DGA was and is the only place where its members really have some say in what the minimum standards of life and working conditions are. Guild negotiations are more abstract than a head-to-head negotiation with your next employer, but they establish the floor. How high the ceiling is — that's up to you. But at least you'll know the floor's going to be reasonable."

Although Bluestein's initial Guild negotiation experiences were successful, the battles were just beginning. Subsequent negotiation cycles proved increasingly complex.

"In 1984, the proposals committee was listening to the second assistant directors, and they were really hurting — particularly in episodic television. The amount of hours they had to put in, the amount of work they had to do, and how loath the management always was to give them help."

With the help of Bluestein's deal-making savvy, an incentive-based solution was reached that made it less expensive for studios to hire two second assistant directors than one.

Not all of the challenges Bluestein has tackled through the DGA have been successful; for example, an ill-fated attempt in 1984 to organize choreographers. But he believes the upcoming 2002 negotiations may turn out to be DGA's most significant. (See story here.)

"The Guild's two major contracts — the Basic Agreement and the Freelance Live and Tape Television Agreement — evolved out of two separate technologies and two separate histories: television and feature films," Bluestein explains. "The two were very different when the technology was new, but much has changed since television came on the scene in 1950, and there is increasingly less difference between both media. Our position is that in many areas, these contracts can't coexist, because it would be at a severe disadvantage to us."

Bluestein is also a founding member of a Political Action Committee (PAC) with fellow DGA member John Rich. Presently, the PAC is working with lawmakers on "runaway production" Senate and House bills intended to implement tax incentives and credits to keep projects in the United States through the legislative process. With the hope of positioning the domestic motion picture industry at a competitive advantage against foreign runaway zones, the proposals have received backing from politicians as diverse as Senators Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D-Ark.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.), Arlen Specter, (R-Pa.) and Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). According to Bluestein, donations are split nearly 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. "Our purpose is to support those representatives who help us with our issues regardless of whether we agree with positions they may take in other areas.

"The simple nature of economics is that you have to meet the competition," Bluestein explains, "The United States simply has to compete. We can't do a whole helluva lot about the exchange rate — but we can do a lot about other things, and we should. The PAC can't get anything done by itself, but it can try to get our issues to the top of the pile. And if the issues are righteous, they'll be heard, and they'll be passed."

Bluestein's work with the Guild includes serving as National Board Member since 1981, and Pension and Health Plan trustee since 1979. In 2002, he resumed his position as chairman of the Board of Trustees, a role he held previously in 1987. He has been Chairman of the Trust's Benefits committee since 1988.

Other Guild activities include participation on the "Down the Road" and "Blue Ribbon" committees, both of which are devoted to reviewing the role of the Guild and its relationship with members, as well as exploring how the Guild might evolve in the future.

"A lot of people don't understand just how much directors do for non-directors, and for directors who aren't as well situated — in terms of how the Guild pension and health plans work, how they're funded, and how much the directors are doing to keep all of that moving. The economic benefits of the Guild are the glue that holds everything together. Besides the creative network, what's most critical is the economic unity."

		Burt Bluestein at DGA Awards Photo by Elisa Haber

He's not wasting any time. New creative endeavors include work with a longtime friend on a forthcoming motion picture, as well as a new Internet educational project, filmmakersonline.com, with Ralph Singleton.

His career of service in the DGA continues, and Bluestein hasn't let go of his distinctive, earthy sense of humor.

"Everybody needs two sets of skills. You may be a decent writer, or director, but do you know how to get work and get paid for it? Nobody gives it to you — you have to go out and get it. In this business, you have to know how to do whatever it is you do for a living. But without that second skill, it's easy to be taken advantage of, particularly when you love what you're doing. Sure beats running a drill press, anyway."

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