I am a rigging electrician. Recently, I worked on the upcoming David O Russel film, Joy. I made great money and was happy to be there. But, it was insane how tough it was for both rigging and shooting electricians.
We shot it in Boston during the biggest period of snowfall in the recorded history of Boston weather. At one point, we hired snow removal crews to bring HUGE 18 wheeler dump-trucks of snow off of the set for the hero house.
The director wanted the natural snow, but there was around 3 feet more than he intended. This was a MASSIVE undertaking with crews working in shifts 24-7 for around 3 days just to get the snow in the "hero house" to be just the right height. Once all of the snow was removed, they covered the empty space with a nice, undisturbed layer of snow. It was so bizarre but necessary since the director wanted snow but not 3 feet of it. Crew was busting their asses on the slippery lot where the snow had been removed from because it had gotten above freezing, allowing the snow underneath to freeze into an ice rink. It was INSANELY treacherous just walking through the set nevermind doing so with two guys carrying an 18K or what have you. On one night exterior, I was up in a lift 120 feet in the air with two 18K HMI's and around 6 layers of heavy snow gear. I took CRAZY precautions because I knew how cold it would be that night. However, I was STILL colder than I have ever been in my entire life because of the constant breeze at that height. I will say that Joy was the toughest movie I have ever worked on, but I was happy to be there, working. I will, however, pitch a fit if I have to hear Jennifer Lawrence or DOR do an interview about how tough they had it. On this set, they had two big, heated SUV idling with heat at full blast, waiting only steps from the door to set. I don't begrudge a big-wig the privilege that their role allows them, but I do get annoyed when they act like that isn't the case in interviews. These people pay me to make things go smoothly and to suffer so they don't have to. But when they also pretend that they suffered instead of thanking the crew, you know they are looking for Academy recognition or trying to push the intensity of the film.