Dancing to a different beat - freelancers with unique jobs

Black Enterprise, Feb, 1999 by Caroline V. Clarke

These individuals have bucked convention and found fulfilling jobs off the beaten path

EACH FEBRUARY, BLACK ENTERPRISE SCOPES OUT UNIQUE CAREERS to bring to you. In the past, the careers featured have been largely creative (cartoonist, puppeteer, animator), although a few have been downright scientific (meteorologist, bug repellent chemist). What they all had in common was that they were born of the pursuit of people's passions, not just their need for a paycheck. And, yes, those profiled actually loved their work.

This year, we've found a few more folks who are forging offbeat careers that fulfill the needs posed by both passion and pocketbook. The twist this time around, however, is that none of them has an employer. They're freelancers, self-contained nomads of the working world who are generally regarded by 9-to-5ers with a complex combination of envy and suspicion.

There's plenty to envy. Successful freelancers enjoy the best of two worlds, meshing an entrepreneur's independence with an employees freedom from bottom line accountability. The skepticism is probably a holdover from more traditional times. Those who still work a straight 40-60-hour week can't help but cling to the notion that anyone with the luxury of coming and going at odd hours can't possibly have a "real" job.

Well, think again. Not only are the following professionals disciplined and successful, they also have to hustle every day just to get their next job, no less build a career.

HEAD OVER HEELS

Falling face first through plate glass, being thrown from the back of a moving truck, diving off a building, being beaten and lynched. This is the stuff of people's nightmares. But for April Weeden, a Los Angeles-based stunt woman, they're resume builders.

A trained dancer who majored in public relations at Chapman University, Weeden was working as a casting agent in 1994 when she hired William Washington to serve as stunt coordinator on a film. The movie went nowhere, but the Weeden-Washington relationship took off--both personally and professionally.

"I had absolutely no interest in stunt work," Weeden recalls. "But he started showing me a few things. I think even he was surprised at what I could do. I enjoyed it, so he started training me, and I began to get work." Now, Washington is her fiance, and Weeden's list of stunt credits runs more than two single-spaced pages.

In the business a mere four years, Weeden doubled for actress Halle Berry in last summer's Why Do Fools Fall in for Jennifer Lopez in Anaconda Vanessa L. Williams in Eraser (a which she broke two fingers one day, and still showed up for work the next).

More recently, she was cast as a nameless slave hanging from a tree in Beloved, and has worked in numerous television and video projects as well. "The longest I've gone between projects is a month," Weeden notes, with pride. She has reason to brag. While Weeden does have a publicist, Tobin & Associates, she has no agent for stunt work, choosing instead to market herself.

"I'm constantly reading the trade [newspapers], to find out what's going on, what's coming up next and sending out my resume and photos," Weeden says. The 30-something Weeden also has maturity on her side and attributes her outlook to a devout spirituality and a solid college education.

"If I hadn't gone to college, I wouldn't be where I am now. Having studied public relations in school helps me to market way I do. And my dancing background helps me do stunts. A well-rounded background is rare in this business."

If well-rounded, college-educated stunt women are rare, tack on African American, and you have a real novelty. There is no official group specifically for black stunt people, and Weeden is aware of only 26 black stuntwomen. Although there's plenty of work out there, the jobs available to African American women are limited--and not merely because there are fewer roles specifically written for them.

"I am very seldom hired to do "ND," or nondescript, work," she explains. "That's work where there's a person just driving a car down the street [in a movie]. There's a lot of that work, and a lot of money to be made in that. [African Americans] don't get much of it."

She insists, though, that doing stunts is great work, if you can get it. Stunt people on big-budget films are paid through the Screen Actors Guild (for TV roles it's the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists) at a per-diem rate of $576, $2,000 per week, plus overtime, meals and residuals. The low-budget film rate is $446 per day.

The days tend to be long (12-plus hours) and a job can last hours, or months. Doubling for singer-actress Brandy On the film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Weeden worked six days a week for six weeks, three of which were spent shooting in Mexico. Having made about $30,000 her first year out, Weeden earned nearly $100,000 last year.

When she's not working, she's training. She takes karate lessons, rides and practices stunts on horses (her specialty) and driving stunts in deserted areas. Long falls, she says, aren't something you can practice on a regular basis, but Weeden has to keep her body limber and lean to perform them. She's also one of the few professionals who can truly claim daily soaks in the Jacuzzi and regular massages as a job requirement.