by David Geffner / Photos Courtesy of Susan Lewis/ Rita Friedman and Nancy Schreiber, ASC
“Did you hear the screams echoing down Malibu Canyon, David? That was me howling [with joy and frustration] that this person called me back after canceling our interview for the third time! It’ll be a miracle if this piece gets filed by the deadline. But, I’ll do everything humanly possible, I promise.”
Although the email above, from ICG Magazine Staff Writer Pauline Rogers, may sound alarming, this weekly (sometimes daily) occurrence was often a sign that the longest-tenured employee of IATSE Local 600 International Cinematographers Guild was not only on track to make her deadline but also would most likely file early. Rogers’ intense dedication to her job, laced with a spikey, spare-no-prisoners humor, was just one reason why, when she passed away in early December 2024 after a protracted illness, her colleagues, peers, and so many of the union members she profiled over the years were stunned and devastated.
Stunned, perhaps, because Rogers was, at heart, a survivor – of breast cancer, of a difficult childhood, of salvos from an industry that she often felt did not value or respect women. Through it all, her passion for the entertainment industry, which included movies, television, Broadway and local theater, music, and nonprofit arts groups, was her North Star. Not only did Rogers dedicate more than three decades to serving ICG’s membership – her prime working years spent with a single organization – but a commitment to putting the stories of union members front and center notoriously kept her working late into the night and on weekends, accumulating a bounty of unused vacation hours that she often promised to utilize, even though the work always came first.
Rogers’ own story, much like one of the thousands she wrote for ICG Magazine, could have found its way into print. (In fact, her 2018 novel, A Fresh Hell, is a fictionalized account of her days as a Hollywood publicist who returns to her hometown in New England.) Born in Springfield, MA in 1949, she grew up the only child of local radio personality Paul Rogers and his wife Gertrude. Her older cousin Rita Friedman, who grew up nearby in Springfield and is now based in Manhattan, remembers summer trips to the Connecticut shore with both families and later visits to California.
“Whenever I traveled to Israel to visit my son and grandchildren,” recounts Friedman, an observant Jew, “Pauline would insist on my texting her the moment I got off the plane. She once came to meet me when I was living in New Jersey, and we rented a car and drove up to see her parents’ gravesites in Springfield. She talked about how challenging her childhood had been, the degree to which I was totally unaware of. I think her concerns for me came out of that difficult history.”
Rogers paved the way for her writing career with a comprehensive education. She earned a double Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Shakespeare from Springfield’s American International College. She did post-graduate studies at New York’s Hunter College, working towards her Master’s Degree in Theatre of the Absurd as well as studying for an Associate’s Degree in Film at Columbia University. Her first job was on Madison Avenue, creating advertising copy for corporate giants like Wonder Bread, Palmolive, and Bayer Aspirin. After a short stint as a box office manager, Rogers became the first female concert tour promoter in the music industry, shepherding bands like The Grateful Dead through appearances around the U.S.
The stories she told about this period in her life – when the artists who populated the music industry lived like royalty, untouched by the normal societal structures Rogers had grown up with – were as hilarious as they were borderline scary. [Highlights include being helicoptered backstage to Woodstock, playing competitive backgammon with Lucille Ball, and being asked to carry contraband onto a commercial airliner]. She often said guiding mega rock bands around the country prepared her to deal with the most mercurial artistic temperaments. The move into music promotion also led to a switch in coasts. Rogers left the East Coast behind for sunny L.A., where she rented homes and various apartments in Topanga and Malibu Canyons.
Once in Los Angeles, she made another lateral move in entertainment, shifting from music to film and television. Starting as a TV writer, her attention soon turned to public relations, helping to publicize several low-budget features. Eventually, she entered the world of unscripted content, becoming the in-house publicist for The Merv Griffin Organization, where she ran Merv’s star-studded “Green Room” and remained for ten years before moving into journalism full-time. In addition to publishing more than two thousand articles for ICG Magazine, Rogers published three film texts in addition to her novel: Contemporary Cinematographers on Their Art, More Contemporary Cinematographers on Their Art, and The Art of Visual Effects. Her May 2011 Web feature My Best Friend, The Camera, a tribute to one of her mentors, Oscar-winning Director Sidney Lumet, earned her a coveted MAGGIE Award. At the time of her passing, Rogers was an active member of Women in Film, PEN, the Authors Guild, WGAW, the International Federation of Journalists, and OPEIU-174.
Steven Poster, ASC, who served as Local 600’s President for 13 years, describes Rogers as a “crusader for the International Cinematographers Guild and all our members. Pauline worked hard to get everybody to start talking and then would publish their stories in ICG Magazine,” he recounts. “For many years, Pauline would call members and ask them to talk about the jobs they were on, and then she’d write stories that shared the best of [this union] for all of us. She was a wonderfully dedicated friend to labor, and many of us as well.”
John C. Flinn III, ASC, who has been an ICG member for more than five decades and whose credits as a director of photography and director include Babylon 5, Jake and the Fatman, Magnum P.I., seven Primetime Emmy nominations, and two ASC Awards, remembers Rogers as a “very special and talented woman. I think she did more interviews than anyone in the business,” Flinn smiles. “She was nonstop! Pauline also had the greatest laugh, a brilliant person with a heart of gold. I truly miss her – we all will.”
Current National President of ICG Local 600 Baird B. Steptoe calls Rogers’s “list of accomplishments long and varied. She leaves behind countless articles and writings on the craft of filmmaking, which will be read, studied, and referred to for years to come,” Steptoe shares. ICG National Executive Director Alex Tonisson notes that “Pauline’s dedication to her work is reflected in the relationships she built within ICG 600. Our members and staff are feeling the loss of her engaging writing and dynamic personality.”
Longtime colleague and friend, Director of Photography Dejan Georgevich says Rogers was “a tireless voice of cinematographers, with a black book that would be the envy of any notable film journalist. I often received calls from Pauline asking for technical clarifications on cinematography or any contacts that would help her research an article. And as much as she was well-invested in living in Los Angeles, Pauline loved visiting friends in New York and being drawn back to her New England roots. Riding shotgun with her driving through Topanga Canyon was putting your life in the steering wheel hands of a Formula 1 racer! May she find peace as she rounds the bend into eternity.”
For all her challenges in corralling and coaxing union workers to open up, Rogers loved being on film and TV sets. Her words informed, educated, and gave heart to the above- and below-the-line industry members she so valued. Nothing invigorated her more than swapping behind-the-scenes stories with a stunt performer, AC, or publicist. To those closest to her, Rogers was warm and caring, generous with her time, and always ready to help. Whether explaining complex technology, working through controversial issues, or lending a shoulder to cry on, everyone could count on “Pauline always being there,” which makes her loss doubly hard to accept.
“This is a business you don’t put away when you go home,” observes longtime colleague Susan Lewis, who, along with Publicist Linda Rosner of Artisans PR, watched over Rogers during her final months. “Pauline was a welcome friend to me and others – always there to listen and help find a solution. She will not be forgotten.” Rosner adds, “Pauline balanced journalistic integrity with empathy for publicists pitching stories. Because of her experience and interest in photography, she possessed admiration and understanding of what cinematographers contribute to a project. I’ll miss our conversations, discussing everything from personal experiences to news in the industry.”
Local 600 Director of Photography Donald A. Morgan, ASC, and Local 706 Journeyman Makeup Artist Geneva Morgan shared a friendship with Rogers that stretched back decades. They remember her as “a smart and kind” woman and a great interviewer. “I had the honor of being featured in one of her articles,” Morgan recounts. “Chatting with Pauline was nice, as she understood the industry so well. She always had the details of what was happening with new equipment and technology. May her memory be a blessing.”
Because Rogers had weathered many challenges in her personal life, she had a passion for giving back. She donated time as a rape counselor, manned a suicide hotline, and was on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW). She served as a technical advisor on rape and abuse for several television and feature productions. She was on the board of City Hearts: Kids Say Yes to the Arts Foundation, for which she spent many hours canvassing Local 600 members to donate their art and editorial photographs for auction. Rogers also loved fine art photography, often traveling to places like Santa Fe, NM, Red Rocks, CO, and Bodie, CA to capture the history of the West frozen in time.
Thirty-four-year-ICG-member Nancy Schreiber, ASC, can’t remember the year she and Rogers met (professionally), later becoming good friends away from the industry. But Schreiber says it went back to the days of “landline interviews and WiFi from AOL dial-up. I remember Pauline visiting me in 1997 on Neil LaBute’s Your Friends and Neighbors. It was an all-nighter in Downtown L.A.,” Schreiber describes. “While changing setups, I noticed Pauline had caught the eye of [stars] Ben Stiller and Catherine Keener, and was conversing for a long time, laughing loudly with the two actors. She could connect with just about anyone – she had such chutzpah!”
Schreiber says she will always be grateful to Rogers for writing about her early indie films “with that recognizably quirky and chatty writing style. This was before the birth of streaming services,” Schreiber adds, “when all we had were festivals like Sundance or short theatrical runs, where we could get reviewed by the trades and traditional newspapers. So many of us counted on Pauline’s articles in ICG Magazine to get noticed for future gigs.”
Their relationship was strengthened, Schreiber recalls, “by the fact that there were not as many women DP’s in the union in those early days. Pauline’s emails were so memorable. Not just the ones asking me to comment on new stocks Kodak launched or the birth of LED technology, but the ones she shared as my friend. ‘Do you have any feeling left in your legs???? I don’t!!!!!!’ she wrote me after one NAB. And this one after a hectic Cine Gear: ‘I’ve been a terrible friend. I see you only occasionally and only wave. We’re too damn busy!’
“‘Don’t faint,’ she once wrote. ‘I took time off from the magazine between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Do you think I can actually check out?’” I can still hear her distinctive, raspy voice, and will truly miss this one-of-a-kind dynamo, colleague and dear friend.”
Donations can be made in her memory to the MPTF (Motion Picture Television Fund), one of the many industry nonprofits Rogers wrote about in ICG Magazine and a community where many of her former colleagues and peers reside.
