A Brief But Spectacular take on navigating an unpredictable industry

Transcript

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Geoff Bennett: With the Oscars this coming Sunday, it’s a good time to learn about the essential people in Hollywood we don’t see, often referred to as working below the line.

Makeup and special effects artist Katie Middleton is one of them. She’s worked on Oscar-nominated films. And, tonight, she shares her Brief But Spectacular take on navigating an unpredictable industry.

Katie Middleton, Makeup Artist: I get asked from people how to pursue being a makeup artist, especially TV and film. And there really isn’t a specific path. It’s just you have to want to do it and you have got to go for it.

In film and television, my job and a lot of other crew members’ jobs are considered below-the-line jobs.

Question: Do you have any idea why they call it that?

(Laughter)

Katie Middleton: Because we’re not important.

(Laughter)

Katie Middleton: This is why I’m below the line, because I’m not supposed to be on this side of the camera.

(Laughter)

Katie Middleton: I grew up in Richmond, Virginia with a family of artists. My mom and my grandmother were painters. And we were always drawing and coloring. My brother and I used to make comic books.

I went to college for painting because I wanted to make some sort of living creatively. When I graduated, I actually had a job working in accounting for a couple years, so it took me a little bit. So I went back to school for makeup and special effects in Vancouver.

Question: What was the accounting stuff like?

Katie Middleton: It was a lot of numbers that I…

(Laughter)

Katie Middleton: I moved to Los Angeles because I thought that’s where I had to go to work in film and TV. It was a struggle for a while, just working on any sort of student film or short film or whatever I could find.

I kind of got into the makeup world because I wanted to do prosthetics and I was really interested in creating characters and special effects. Prosthetics are used in film and TV from everything from small wounds to huge creature characters, that just really anything we glue on the face or body to change somebody’s appearance.

I mean, the industry slowed down a lot when the unions went on strike and we were all out of work for at least six months. You have seen a lot of friends leave the industry and have to find other jobs. And we have all kind of found side jobs to get by.

I took the time and set up a permanent studio in my apartment, and it’s really made a difference being able to just pick up a brush and paint for a couple hours. Being a freelance artist is a roller coaster, and you never know when your next job is going to come or what state or country it’s going to be in.

Within the last couple of years, I have worked everywhere from Egypt to Uruguay. I have been in New Jersey. I go to North Carolina next week. The community is one of my favorite parts of the job. You spend more time with the people you’re working with than you do at home with your families. It’s definitely not for everybody, but I like the excitement. It’s more of an adventure to me.

My name is Katie Middleton, and this is my brief put spectacular take on working in the film and TV industry.

Geoff Bennett: And you can watch more Brief But Spectacular at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.