President’s Desk — March 2025
“In the days after the tragedy, while making my initial outreach to many of our members, I saw and heard profoundly heartening reactions of optimism, strength and resilience.”
As I write this column, we are in the wake of a severe succession of fires that have devastated entire communities in Los Angeles. As an organization, the American Society of Cinematographers finds that our members, associates and staff are among the filmmaking community traumatically displaced by the wildfires. Pacific Palisades, Hollywood and Altadena are enclaves that many ASC members and employees have called home for decades. A great number are coming to terms with their enormous losses while facing an unfamiliar and unstable reality.
While a cinematographer’s life is filled with change, it’s clear that this sort of cataclysm approaches the limit of any sane threshold. In the days after the tragedy, while making my initial outreach to many of our members, I saw and heard profoundly heartening reactions of optimism, strength and resilience. Over time, other emotions began to emerge among those feeling the gravity of loss, amid the type of stress that requires support over time to process. I also observed an unselfish concern for fellow members, ASC employees, and crewmembers living in potentially endangered neighborhoods.
The ASC is composed of a group of people whose common point of contact is the organization itself, a locus that has always enabled us to create and mobilize energy on a scale that can be measured across an entire industry. This positive spirit has produced the ASC Relief Fund, an initiative that will allow us to directly support our members and staff, and our extended families: our crews. The fund is a collaboration with the Motion Picture & Television Fund, and will also reach the impacted members of Local 600 (the International Cinematographers Guild, which includes directors of photography, operators, camera assistants, still photographers and publicists), Local 728 electricians and Local 80 grips, enthusiastic artists and collaborators who build their careers by our side.
All of us who love the ASC endured a frightening night when a nearby flare-up in Runyon Canyon threatened to blow burning embers onto the roof of our venerable Clubhouse, mere blocks away from the flames. Longtime staffer Alex Lopez rushed to the scene — hose in hand — with gardener Sergio Salas to protect our home, which thankfully still stands.
We were therefore able to organize our first event to familiarize our ASC family — and all of its “relatives” — with resources that can help them navigate the challenges they now face. We feel that these types of continuous and dependable support efforts will further cement our bonds, foster social connectivity, and restore at least some sense of stability for our affected loved ones.
Our members, associates and staff are the heartbeat of the ASC, and we are focused on helping them navigate this difficult time and progressing together toward a positive outcome for all. In a wider frame, returning as much film and television production to Hollywood as possible would benefit countless lives and help normalcy return to our community.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the first responders and firefighters who came to our aid (some from adjoining states and even from across our country’s borders) by skillfully and fearlessly battling all of the blazes. They are true heroes.
If you would like to donate to the ASC Relief Fund, you can do so via the link here.
Best regards,
Shelly Johnson
ASC President
