YOU CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE

German Stunt Biz Situation Report

One of my first blog entries here on AnD was titled WORKING AS A STUNTMAN IN CHINA and it dealt with... well, alright, the title kind of gives it away. That little sit rep was written from a foreigner’s perspective, of course... an expat’s, if you will, (yes, mine , smartypants) although it marginally dipped into the tough lives of Chinese stunt performers, as well.

I’m back in Germany now (I have been since May 2008), and thus I’m one of the local boys, for a change.

From the very day I opened the doors of my stunt fighting school, I’ve had questions coming in from all over the place... through our HONG KONG ADRENALINE website and even here on AnD...

You’d be surprised by the number of guys writing stuff like: “Hi Stefan! I’m a whiz bang martial artist, and I’m planning on becoming a major action movie star ASAP... how can you help me with that?” No shit. This is what some of them write.

What are you supposed to say to that?

But it was actually a comment from AnD member cindyrose21 that prompted me to speak my mind about the situation here in Germany. She’s from Vancouver, works in the flickers (grips, if I remember correctly), and she made a few interesting remarks that actually sounded pretty familiar.She quoted a few Canadian stunt websites making statements along the lines of: “... it’s who you know, not what you can do...” (as regards to the stunt business) or “... 12 years of misery before breaking into the industry...” and so on and so forth. I can’t very well speak for Canada, although I know a couple of stunt guys over there, but I’d like to take the opportunity and say a few words about Germany.

Good things first:

Our motion picture industry is rather small. Why is that a good thing? This makes the market pretty manageable. There are roughly 150 professional stunt performers working in Germany (including stunt coordinators, fight choreographers, second unit directors, stunt riggers, etc.). We’ve got 4 main film cities (we’re basically talking TV production, with the odd local or international big-screen project thrown in) – Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, and Berlin ... with the latter being the biggest and the busiest. Each of these cities boasts one or two major stunt companies, basically sharing the entire market between them.

Suffice it to say that they hate each other’s guts.

This is where we get to the downsides. If you’re not affiliated to one of these few companies, you’re unlikely to ever get a job as a stuntman, no matter how good you are and what kind of experience you have  ( “... it’s who you know...” ). That these few companies rake in shitloads of money, whereas the freelancers usually get the mere crumbs, is a no-brainer.

And even when you freelance, like most stunt fighters over here do, you’re not supposed to work for a competing company. Well, it’s a known fact that everybody does, anyway (if you didn’t, you simply wouldn’t survive), but you’d better not shout it from the housetops.

This sometimes leads to pretty absurd situations.

There’s a real cool stunt rigger over here, for instance, who – despite being well-known throughout the German stunt community - hasn’t had a proper movie job in a friggin' year (my German bros will know who I’m talking about). Nobody hires the guy, because he set up his own little company a while ago. “What’s wrong with that?” you may well ask.

Simple. Now he’s competition to the big guys in the big cities... the guys who have the big jobs coming in. So, the bastards are starving him out like a rat.

With more and more U.S. productions coming to Germany ( Valkyrie, Speed Racer, and Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards among the most recent), German stuntmen increasingly get to work in international blockbusters. Having said that, most American productions fly in their own stunt crews from the States, and the German stunt guys are generally referred to as cannon fodder ... make of that what you will.

Kraut alarm: Olli, me, Tommy (all AnD stunties)

So, if you do pursue a stunt career in Germany, it might be the wisest strategy to join one of the big companies (provided they let you).

Especially as a freelancer, you’ve got to watch your step. It’s a dog-eat-dog industry, and you might find your closest friend stab you in the back when it secures him that hotly contested movie gig. To get film or TV work at least every now and then, you have to accomplish the considerable feat of being on good terms with all of the big-name stunt companies – a thing next to impossible.

For the reasons given above, setting up your own firm might turn out counterproductive and even become the deathblow to your career. So, you might wanna think about this carefully.

I'm not saying you shouldn't set up your own company at all... I mean, I did it. But this is only because I don't give a f%$# about what other people say.

Well, Germans in general aren’t exactly famous for thinking out of the box or for being overly venturesome. In this regard, I really miss China!

Don’t get me wrong. There’s actually quite a few great stunt guys and action actors in Germany (you can find some of them here on AnD). If we only could overcome our typical small-mindedness and jealousy (I’m allowed to say that... I  am German) and started focusing on co-operation rather than competition, we could accomplish great things, no doubt.

Attempts have been made in the past ( The Challenge), are being made at present ( Lasko – The Fist of God) and will be made in the future (look out for Ulrik Bruchholz’s upcoming project!).

Many young stuntmen (and some old farts like me) hope that things will change for the better with the founding of the new German Stunt Association . Last year, for the first time in Germany, stunt people (known for being incurable lone wolves), got together to form a union and to set compulsory standards for the business in this country... minimum rates and everything. Sounds good to me. Yet, time will show if such an association is suited to help freelancers and small stunt companies to get more and better jobs.

I sure do hope so.

German stunt power - The magnificent Chris Gneissl of G-Action

Be that as it may, as an action actor & stunt fighter I wouldn't want to restrict myself to the German market. I'd rather cast my net wider, further cementing ties with my second home China & other countries in Asia and around the world.

Far be it from me to bite the hand that feeds me or to foul my own nest. I love being a stunt person. Still, I’ve made it a habit to call a spade a spade.

I’d like to rest my case with the world-famous lyrics to that ol' Ricky Nelson tune:

"...

**But it's all right now, I've learned my lesson well.

You see, you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself..."**