Stockade Works in Kingston offers training program for those looking to break into TV, film work
By ARIÉL ZANGLA | Daily Freeman
John Raugalis, right, head of the electric department at Stockade Works, teaches boot camp crew members, from left, Mikhaela Ronin, of Westchester County, N.Y., Kristen O’Farrell of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and William Koenig-Vinicombe of New Paltz, N.Y., how to set up lights as a gaffer. The boot camp was took place at Upriver Studios in Saugerties, N.Y. (Tania Barricklo/Daily Freeman)
KINGSTON, N.Y. — For Marvin Smith, participating in a Crew Boot Camp training program through Stockade Works ended up being a “heaven-sent” opportunity.
Smith, who lives in Yonkers but grew up in Dutchess County, said he heard about Stockade Works through a friend and discovered the Kingston-based organization provided different training opportunities for people with an interest in working in the television and film industry. He said he initially missed the application deadline to take part in a boot camp but later applied and was accepted, taking the training last summer.
“It was kind of heaven-sent,” Smith said recently. He said the training was essentially a crash course into the different types of departments and line crew positions available on productions. The training, which took place over a long weekend, involved a smaller-scale replica of a film production, according to Smith. He said the participants were able to experience the different departments involved and decide which they wanted to learn more about.
Stockade Works is focused on training and creating opportunities for Hudson Valley residents to access well-paying jobs that become available when television and film productions come to the area, Executive Director Susie Sofranko said. She said there is a huge amount of spending happening in the region from film and television productions, and those productions are looking for local crews to work on them.
Stockade Works Co-founder Mary Stuart Masterson, left, talks with boot camp crew member Justin Kemp about wardrobe selection. (Tania Barricklo/Daily Freeman)
Stockade Works Co-founder Mary Stuart Masterson, left, talks with boot camp crew member Justin Kemp about wardrobe selection. (Tania Barricklo/Daily Freeman)
Sofranko said Stockade Works, which is now celebrating its fifth year of offering training workshops, also puts an emphasis on ensuring that people who have traditionally faced barriers accessing careers in the industry have opportunities for advancement and union membership.
“We are prioritizing access and working with the community to ensure that everyone has access to these opportunities,” Sofranko said. Stockade Works also offers full and partial scholarships for its training programs to make sure that finances are not a barrier, she added.
Stockade Works primarily offers boot camps and workshops, Sofranko said. She said the workshops are on a variety of topics, including hair and makeup for television and film, as well as production accounting for people who have a background in accounting. The Crew Boot Camp is the organization’s signature program, Sofranko said.
In addition to offering training in various departments found on a production, the boot camp also teaches participants about set etiquette and the basics of working on a production, Sofranko said.
“What’s amazing about our program is that it culminates in a mock-shoot day on the last day,” Sofranko said. On the last day of boot camp, she said, there are real actors, a script, and a director. The participants go through a whole day of shooting, working together as they would on a production, Sofranko said.
Smith said he chose to take on a role in script supervision due to his background studying English and film at Vassar College. He said he got to see how the script supervisor helps the editors do their job.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Stockade Works was offering two to three workshops and a boot camp each year, Sofranko said. She said they are now on track to do six workshops and two boot camps this year.
“We’re in the process of scaling,” Sofranko said. “The demand is quite strong because so many productions are shooting here.” She said Stockade Works is trying to meet the demand for local crew because it represents an economic opportunity for area residents, some of who might be trying to return to work or advance in one area or another.
Smith said he himself had been trying to “get back into the swing of things” after recovering from back surgery he had to have following an accident.
To date, Stockade Works has trained 168 residents and expects to surpass 200 by the end of June, Sofranko said. After training, Stockade Works helps its participants find work in the industry, she said. Sofranko added that the industry relies a lot on word-of-mouth and who you know, so Stockade Works provides the connection that people might need.
“We’ve made over 600 referrals and we estimate that that’s led to over 150 placements,” Sofranko said. Some of those placements were for a person receiving more than one job, she added. Sofranko added that one job often leads to another.
Sofranko also said Stockade Works’ graduate pool consists of more than 60 percent women or non-binary identifying people, and 32 percent are BIPOC. She said Stockade Works has a goal of creating and being an important player in creating equity within the TV and film industry.
Smith said after his boot camp he was put on a mailing list. He said he ended up working with another graduate of the boot camp on a production in New York City, but that was something his fellow graduate found through her own efforts.
“But then the opportunity was brought to me through Stockade Works to work on the set of ‘Pretty Little Liars,'” Smith said. He said he went from finding out mid-week about the opportunity to work on the HBO production to starting work the next Monday.
“One day I was waiting for an opportunity and the next day I was thrown into the middle of a living, breathing film production,” Smith said. He said he worked as a production assistant for the locations unit but ended up helping out in several other departments, getting to meet and form relationships with people he might not otherwise have worked with. Smith said he ended up doing more than one person’s work, which gave him a chance to stand out.
Production wrapped about a month later than expected, but Smith said he has some other opportunities for work lined up. He said, though, that he is taking time to recover physically first.
Stockade Works was founded in December 2016 by actress, producer, and director Mary Stuart Masterson. She and co-founder Beth Davenport later founded Upriver Studios in Saugerties to work as a sister organization.
“We share the same co-founders, Beth Davenport and Mary Stuart Masterson, who are sort of the visionaries behind creating an immediate ecosystem in the Hudson Valley,” Sofranko said. “They founded Stockade Works first, having the foresight to really support film and TV production coming to this region, which has great economic benefit to the region. The number one thing that productions always ask when they’re shooting on location is, ‘Where’s the local crew?'”
Sofranko said Stockade Works puts its efforts into training those local crews, while Upriver Studios is a soundstage where productions can base their operations.
“The goal is for Stockade Works to eventually have a permanent training facility that is operating alongside the soundstage, which is Upriver,” Sofranko said. “And that would allow us to really link our training programs to the actual productions that are happening, as well as the ancillary vendors that would be also supportive of the soundstage.”