Okay, yes, we were behind schedule. But it was nothing I hadn’t experienced before. I knew we could make up some time, and although it would mean a longer day, I was confident we could pull it off.
I was sitting on the set of my upcoming short film, That’s My House. My AD and I were going over the rest of our day, talking through the remaining setups. It was then that our Script Supervisor approached.
“You know,” she began, “You have put together a really good team for this film.”
My AD (Assistant Director) and I looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Everyone had been working so hard for the previous three days. And I know that the results will be on the screen. In that moment I felt extremely appreciative of everyone who came together to use their enormous talents to elevate the quality of this project.
It was then that my AD and I started reminiscing about previous films we had worked on together.
“We really haven’t had any huge issues or problems on any of these films,” I observed.
Oh sure, there was the time on Big and Tall when we had to rewrite the entire final scene in under two hours when one of actors had to rush to the ER after slicing his thumb open at his restaurant day job. But other than that, clear sailing.
Oh brother. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
Well, lesson learned. Why? Because no more than two hours later, in between setups, I noticed my lead actor on the phone, his forehead resting in the palm of one hand. I could tell something was up, but he didn’t say anything, and so I just pushed on with the next shot. My DP and I were discussing camera angles when the actor finally spoke and said we really needed to hurry everything up because there was a major plumbing emergency at his house. He had to get back in about 30 minutes to meet the plumber.
I knew we had to wrap for the day. It was just one of those things that couldn’t be helped and it wouldn’t have been fair to him, or the film, to try and rush through the final few setups. Better to retreat now in order to win the battle later.
Every day on set is another opportunity to learn something new. In this case? Never talk about how good you’ve had it on previous productions until the current production has wrapped.
You might as well just go backstage at your local theatre just before curtain and yell “Macbeth!”
Enjoy more behind-the-scenes set photos from the production:
