Big Trucks

Next month I have a job driving a 14' cube truck for an independent feature production, and today I got to drive just such a truck for the very first time.

I was nervous coming in, but once I was in the driver's seat I felt really good. A big truck is up high, so you have a great view of the streets of New York. Other drivers give a truck respect, which means I can get away with a few things that I couldn't normally, like squeezing in to another driver's lane. I am normally a very defensive driver, and it's nice to have a couple of tons of steel to throw around.

Driving a truck is still not as fun as walking down the street, at least in New York. For one thing, there is the film production phenomenon of the fire watch. Fire watch means you are sitting in your truck waiting. You protect your truck from tickets, thieves and accident while other people do film things. It's a thankless task and usually falls to the bottom of the film production totem pole, production assistants. My first task the first time I was a PA was fire watch, and I've given that same job to other first time PAs. It is not something you want anyone of any value to spend their time doing.

The other thing is that there is no visibility out the back windows of a cube truck, because there are no back windows, only a giant cube. This is why I have learned to worship my mirrors. Their my only connection to the world outside my periph.

Still, once I piloted through Herald Square, I knew I was over the hump. This does not seem like such a horrible way to get paid this summer.