Finding every niche

In all important respects, being an electrician for a blockbuster movie is exactly the same as being, you know, an electrician. Nathan Borck knows this. He’s been both.

“I’m basically a stagehand that manages to fit myself in where I’m needed,” he explains. “People say, ‘Hey, it must be interesting working in movies,’ and I say, ‘It’s not.’ I just put things together.”

Borck’s matter-of-fact delivery belies his passion for a Louisiana film industry he has seen grow quickly in his four years in the business.

After working as a theater lighting director in Chicago, Borck parlayed that experience into his first film job as a “lamp operator” on the New Orleans set of a Growing Pains TV movie. That project, he readily admits, was garbage, but it came with a union membership and his first payday in the industry.

That was 2004, and the 29-year-old LSU alum since has been everything from an electrician on Glory Road to a camera technician under Steven Soderbergh for Ocean’s 13, to a dimmer board operator on Brad Pitt’s upcoming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

In the fall Borck shot the production stills for John Stockwell’s Baton Rouge-filmed Middle of Nowhere, and he says working exclusively as a set photographer would be one of his dream jobs. But he realizes that at this early stage in his career he benefits from a little dexterity. Just like up-and-coming actors should never turn down a role or admit they’ve never ridden a horse, a motorcycle or done stunt work before when a casting director asks, it helps crew to meet new challenges without hesitation.

As an electrician or camera assistant, it is not Borck’s job to be an expert at one thing, but rather to be able to solve any problem the director or producer presents within 10 minutes. That can be a lot of pressure, but Borck lives for it.

“If you want to dedicate yourself to one trade, that is open to you in Louisiana, especially now,” Borck says. “But for me, it’s that long slope. You don’t start out as the stills photographer.”

South Louisiana crew jobs are rock steady in 2008, especially for a traditionally up-and-down business. While he felt the local industry was somewhat closed off when he began a few years ago, Borck describes it now as wide open. “They just need warm bodies,” he says. Borck works more than 70 hours a week during production, but gets paid well for it. The only way he could make more money without wearing a suit is to start his own business, he says, which requires a lot of risks. No, Borck relishes the flexibility he has to balance that hectic production pace by taking a month or more off afterward to decompress, hang out with friends and travel. Much of his downtime of late has been spent renovating his Beauregard Town house.

“It’s really hard to have a girlfriend,” Borck says while explaining his work schedule. “And it’s really hard to have a dog. But if you have a good girlfriend and a good dog, you can make it work. At times I’ve had one or the other, but usually not both.”