I worked at Crawfords in the very early eighties. It was the time of Cop Shop and Carson's Law and a great time to be around. I started as a Junior and one of my first jobs was to make breakfast for Hector Crawford! I also worked with Gardi (everyone who was around in that time would remember Gardi) in the kitchen making breakfast for the Cop Shop crew as they viewed the weekly rushes.
I also worked in the typing pool. Those were the days of manual typewriters. We typed Carson's Law scripts and I remember reading the story as I typed and enjoying every minute.
As part of my job I also worked on reception and in the print shop, photocopying scripts. Reception was great fun as it meant I got to meet all the stars! Paula Duncan, John Orcsik, Gil Tucker, Greg Ross, Lynda Stoner, Lorraine Bayly... to name a few. I thought working at Crawford's was the best job in the world. I remember Hector's chauffeur, Don very well with his tan coloured LTD. He was always chatting up the girls. Bunney Brooke was casting director and Jan Russ (now a very prominent casting director) was one of the casting girls.
Crawfords was like a big family. I spent a lot of time socialising with the friends I made there....I had great fun with the sound guys as we were all aspiring musicians. It was great to have all the facilities we needed to make our own recordings. I still have the tapes of a couple of the songs we recorded late at night in the post-sync studio (with permission, of course!)
Eventually, I was given the job of Production Secretary on Special Squad. Raymond Menmuir was flown in from the UK and I became his personal assistant. It was a fantastic experience.
Crawfords remains in my heart for ever. It was a great place to work, full of inspiring people. I read the credits of films and TV shows today ... and the names of people I was working with back then...20 years ago still appear. So many of them got their start at Crawfords. I don't have many regrets but I think leaving Crawfords was one of them. I tried to get a job back there again years later but things had changed. There will never be another Crawfords.
26 Oct. 2004