aka: Things Directors should know; or Why I will research a Director heavily before I agree to work for them, for free.
A bit of backstory:
I have recently been 1st ACing on a deferred payment basis for a feature shooting locally. I did it as a favour to a friend of mine who is the DP. He came on because they're paying him for the use of his Red (after the original DP quit over issues with the Director).
Having generally only worked with relatively experienced people, or at least those who have a minimum film school education, I had never encountered a situation like I did on this set, and I feel like I need to write a memo to the greater indie film world to make sure this doesn't happen on sets where crew aren't getting paid.
Don't take advantage of your crew
Your crew are giving up their time for free for you. To help you make a film. Don't take advantage of them. Thank them at the end of every day. Deferred payment is still working for free. What are the chances the film is going to make money? Probably 0. And even if it makes some money, for a large crew to get paid anything near their normal daily rate... Well, you're going to have to sell a lot. So, don't take advantage.
Stick to a standard day
In some locations, a standard shoot day is 10 hours, in others it's 12. Pick one and stick to it. Don't go over. If you absolutely have to go over it should be because you were working so hard all day and you still have one or two shots left to shoot. It should never be: because we started 3 hours late, because the Director didn't know what the shot list was, because everyone was too busy chatting to actually shoot.
Don't have a forced call
A forced call is anything less than 12 hours between the wrap (and wrap is not the time we cut the last shot, it is the time we wrapped the gear and everyone left) and the next day's call time. Going over a standard 10 (or 12) hour day, and having a forced call is the quickest way to piss a crew working for free off. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but you better have a damn good reason. If crew were charging you their normal rate, you'd be getting hit for overtime and forced calls. And you'd be hit hard. I've heard of overtime days on a forced call being charged at around $350 per hour on paid sets. Just because we're working for free, doesn't mean we wouldn't normally charge you that. It also doesn't make us any happier when we have to do it without getting extra pay.
Shooting shouldn't start until all Pre-Production is done
This seems like a no-brainer, but you can't enter Production until Pre-Production is done. Make sure you've done location recces to all your locations with your Art Director, DP and Sound Recordist. Make sure you've storyboarded what you need to storyboard. Make sure you have a complete shotlist. You can't spend 2 hours at the start of every day discussing the shots for the day with the DP, or choosing the exact spot you'll be shooting within a location.
Call time is start work time
If call time is 0800, then we should be working at 0800. When I rock up at 0745, I expect to grab a coffee, have a quick chat about the day and build the camera. We should be rolling soon after. If a certain scene is going to take longer to light, or the Director needs to discuss things with the DP, or the art department needs more time to dress a certain set, their call time should be before everyone else's. I shouldn't rock up at 0900 and wait around until 1230 until there's actually anything to do.
Have a schedule and stick to it. Listen to your 1st AD
What good is a schedule if you're not going to stick to it? If your 1st AD is saying 'we've only got 2 hours here', you need to shoot whatever you need to shoot in 2 hours. You can't just say 'oh well we can't get it, let's bring everyone back another day'. It's easy to say when everyone is working for free, but on a real set, bringing everyone back for another day is thousands and thousands of dollars extra. You need to know what shots you need to get, and you need to communicate that with your DP. Yes, that means making compromises. It might mean covering the scene in 3 shots rather than 7. That's what a Director does.
Coverage doesn't mean every scene from every angle
Audiences aren't stupid. They don't need to see (for example) a car driving, a car parking, two people getting out of the car, walking to the door, opening the door, walking inside and sitting down. You can cut straight into the dialogue of the scene and the audience will work out that they got there somehow. Not only that, but your coverage for a scene should only be exactly what you need to tell the story. You should have a shotlist worked out prior and it should be as little shots as needed to tell the story. That doesn't necessarily mean you need every single angle of the scene. And if you do want specific angles for certain lines, then you don't need to take the whole scene from the beginning to end. I was recently on set and we were shooting a 3 minute scene. We had 27 shots. That's a new shot every 6ish seconds. Not just a cut, but a whole new shot. Not only that, but it wasn't a fight scene, it wasn't an action scene. It was a family in the park with friends and some dialogue. Are you really going to use all of those shots? If they are all necessary, then that's fine. But you need to know what you're going to use and what you aren't. Also, if it means that it's going to take you 2 whole days to shoot the 27 shots, it's probably time for you to cut it down.
In extreme temperatures, you need to call it a day
Crew aren't as emotionally invested in a film as the Director. You might stand in desert heat or 0 celsius cold to get certain shots if you have to. Crew working for free aren't as forgiving. If it's freezing cold and there's no heat around, nowhere to sit down and not even coffees on offer, you need to shoot it as fast as you can, or call it. That's not the time to be spending 20 minutes discussing irrelevant things.
If you're going to argue with an experienced crew member, you better know what you're talking about
If your experience of film making comes from out-dated books, then don't start talking to the highly experienced crew you've somehow convinced to work for free about the 'proper' way of making films. Don't talk to them as if they've never set foot on a set before, or you will lose all respect from them.
Rehearsals should be done beforehand
Part of your pre should have been rehearsals. And you should have rehearsed knowing the layout, and location that you want. Knowing how the scene is going to go down in your mind. On set, you should really just be blocking the actors and fine-tuning their performance. That way, you don't waste two to three hours at the start of the day rehearsing the actors. On this note as well, you need to know everything for the scene before we start shooting the scene. If that means you need to have a notebook with you with notes on each scene, then do it. But directing of the actors should come in the blocking, then perhaps a little tweak during different shots for positions, eyelines, slight expressions in CUs. If we've shot 4 shots, then there's no use changing an entire action or direction unless we shoot those 4 shots again.
Don't direct when the camera's rolling
I see this happen so many times on digital sets (and even film sets). If we're rolling, then you shouldn't be directing. So many times I see 'sound speed, mark it, frame' and then the Director starts telling the actosr what to do, directing movement etc. As an AC I tend to call out 'still rolling' when this happens as a reminder that we are rolling. Time when we're rolling is money, and if we're working on film, I'll often work out the cost per minute (ie on a 400ft 35mm roll, it's about $40/minute) and call that out. If we're rolling we're rolling, and you should only be calling 'action'. Direction should come before we start rolling.
That's it for now, if I think of more I'll add to it. I just couldn't believe the entire attitude of a certain Director, and I hope that other people planning on making a feature will take these tips on board, before you have a mutiny on your hands, or at the very least a complete disrespect for the Director.
A bit of backstory:
I have recently been 1st ACing on a deferred payment basis for a feature shooting locally. I did it as a favour to a friend of mine who is the DP. He came on because they're paying him for the use of his Red (after the original DP quit over issues with the Director).
Having generally only worked with relatively experienced people, or at least those who have a minimum film school education, I had never encountered a situation like I did on this set, and I feel like I need to write a memo to the greater indie film world to make sure this doesn't happen on sets where crew aren't getting paid.
Don't take advantage of your crew
Your crew are giving up their time for free for you. To help you make a film. Don't take advantage of them. Thank them at the end of every day. Deferred payment is still working for free. What are the chances the film is going to make money? Probably 0. And even if it makes some money, for a large crew to get paid anything near their normal daily rate... Well, you're going to have to sell a lot. So, don't take advantage.
Stick to a standard day
In some locations, a standard shoot day is 10 hours, in others it's 12. Pick one and stick to it. Don't go over. If you absolutely have to go over it should be because you were working so hard all day and you still have one or two shots left to shoot. It should never be: because we started 3 hours late, because the Director didn't know what the shot list was, because everyone was too busy chatting to actually shoot.
Don't have a forced call
A forced call is anything less than 12 hours between the wrap (and wrap is not the time we cut the last shot, it is the time we wrapped the gear and everyone left) and the next day's call time. Going over a standard 10 (or 12) hour day, and having a forced call is the quickest way to piss a crew working for free off. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but you better have a damn good reason. If crew were charging you their normal rate, you'd be getting hit for overtime and forced calls. And you'd be hit hard. I've heard of overtime days on a forced call being charged at around $350 per hour on paid sets. Just because we're working for free, doesn't mean we wouldn't normally charge you that. It also doesn't make us any happier when we have to do it without getting extra pay.
Shooting shouldn't start until all Pre-Production is done
This seems like a no-brainer, but you can't enter Production until Pre-Production is done. Make sure you've done location recces to all your locations with your Art Director, DP and Sound Recordist. Make sure you've storyboarded what you need to storyboard. Make sure you have a complete shotlist. You can't spend 2 hours at the start of every day discussing the shots for the day with the DP, or choosing the exact spot you'll be shooting within a location.
Call time is start work time
If call time is 0800, then we should be working at 0800. When I rock up at 0745, I expect to grab a coffee, have a quick chat about the day and build the camera. We should be rolling soon after. If a certain scene is going to take longer to light, or the Director needs to discuss things with the DP, or the art department needs more time to dress a certain set, their call time should be before everyone else's. I shouldn't rock up at 0900 and wait around until 1230 until there's actually anything to do.
Have a schedule and stick to it. Listen to your 1st AD
What good is a schedule if you're not going to stick to it? If your 1st AD is saying 'we've only got 2 hours here', you need to shoot whatever you need to shoot in 2 hours. You can't just say 'oh well we can't get it, let's bring everyone back another day'. It's easy to say when everyone is working for free, but on a real set, bringing everyone back for another day is thousands and thousands of dollars extra. You need to know what shots you need to get, and you need to communicate that with your DP. Yes, that means making compromises. It might mean covering the scene in 3 shots rather than 7. That's what a Director does.
Coverage doesn't mean every scene from every angle
Audiences aren't stupid. They don't need to see (for example) a car driving, a car parking, two people getting out of the car, walking to the door, opening the door, walking inside and sitting down. You can cut straight into the dialogue of the scene and the audience will work out that they got there somehow. Not only that, but your coverage for a scene should only be exactly what you need to tell the story. You should have a shotlist worked out prior and it should be as little shots as needed to tell the story. That doesn't necessarily mean you need every single angle of the scene. And if you do want specific angles for certain lines, then you don't need to take the whole scene from the beginning to end. I was recently on set and we were shooting a 3 minute scene. We had 27 shots. That's a new shot every 6ish seconds. Not just a cut, but a whole new shot. Not only that, but it wasn't a fight scene, it wasn't an action scene. It was a family in the park with friends and some dialogue. Are you really going to use all of those shots? If they are all necessary, then that's fine. But you need to know what you're going to use and what you aren't. Also, if it means that it's going to take you 2 whole days to shoot the 27 shots, it's probably time for you to cut it down.
In extreme temperatures, you need to call it a day
Crew aren't as emotionally invested in a film as the Director. You might stand in desert heat or 0 celsius cold to get certain shots if you have to. Crew working for free aren't as forgiving. If it's freezing cold and there's no heat around, nowhere to sit down and not even coffees on offer, you need to shoot it as fast as you can, or call it. That's not the time to be spending 20 minutes discussing irrelevant things.
If you're going to argue with an experienced crew member, you better know what you're talking about
If your experience of film making comes from out-dated books, then don't start talking to the highly experienced crew you've somehow convinced to work for free about the 'proper' way of making films. Don't talk to them as if they've never set foot on a set before, or you will lose all respect from them.
Rehearsals should be done beforehand
Part of your pre should have been rehearsals. And you should have rehearsed knowing the layout, and location that you want. Knowing how the scene is going to go down in your mind. On set, you should really just be blocking the actors and fine-tuning their performance. That way, you don't waste two to three hours at the start of the day rehearsing the actors. On this note as well, you need to know everything for the scene before we start shooting the scene. If that means you need to have a notebook with you with notes on each scene, then do it. But directing of the actors should come in the blocking, then perhaps a little tweak during different shots for positions, eyelines, slight expressions in CUs. If we've shot 4 shots, then there's no use changing an entire action or direction unless we shoot those 4 shots again.
Don't direct when the camera's rolling
I see this happen so many times on digital sets (and even film sets). If we're rolling, then you shouldn't be directing. So many times I see 'sound speed, mark it, frame' and then the Director starts telling the actosr what to do, directing movement etc. As an AC I tend to call out 'still rolling' when this happens as a reminder that we are rolling. Time when we're rolling is money, and if we're working on film, I'll often work out the cost per minute (ie on a 400ft 35mm roll, it's about $40/minute) and call that out. If we're rolling we're rolling, and you should only be calling 'action'. Direction should come before we start rolling.
That's it for now, if I think of more I'll add to it. I just couldn't believe the entire attitude of a certain Director, and I hope that other people planning on making a feature will take these tips on board, before you have a mutiny on your hands, or at the very least a complete disrespect for the Director.
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