Back with a personal opinion blog. Don’t get to upset, and yes I’m once again actor kicking, but man every set there’s something that they do that drives me up the wall. So I’m making a list of things to help you better on set, so you know what drives crews nuts. (Most of this is about paid sets. Fuck the unpaid ones. There, I understand.)
- DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT GETTING CALLED IN EARLY:  I have one make up artist, and 5 people to get through. Sometimes someone gets the short straw. We do our best, but we’re paying you for a full days work. Not 2 hours of work for a full day’s pay.
-PLEASE DON’T DOUBLE BOOK YOURSELF: Also known as “Don’t tell me you have a party to go to.” I don’t care. Actors (Aaaand… sometimes make up artists.) are the only people on a production who book more gigs, hoping one will end and you can go to another. If production COMPLETELY says they’ve changed the schedule to accommodate getting you out as fast as possible, don’t think you’ll be in an out any sooner than your contracted hours and rate states. Nothing is worse than someone telling you “Hey, I thought you knew I had to leave at 4pm.” No you don’t, because you accepted work. Now sit down.
-GOTTA PEE? WHY WAIT UNTIL WE NEED YOU?: Why? Why are you peeing now? You had 30 minutes during the lighting set up. GO THEN! Not when the light is fading, the overtime is close, and the entire crew is waiting on you. Go when they tell you 5 minute warning! Go when they say “Oh you have 5 minutes!” GO NOW!!
- DO NOT GO DUMB ONCE YOU STEP ON SET: Little harder one, but man, actors shut down on set. They forget how to human, how to function. “What are we doing? What do I do? Where do I go? What’s going on?” Valid first time questions. Not valid 9th time questions. Standing on set yelling them, even less. The 1st AD is a great point of contact. Even busy, I will stop to help you out with what you need. But if you show up on set, collapse into a big pile of “I don’t know.” and carry your dog, phone, latte onto your mark, and then scramble to throw things at the crew when we yell rolling, it’s not going to work. Last show I had an actor walk onto set, on his mark, with a plate of food and drinks, and once we started speeding, asked where he was expected to stash everything.
- DON’T BE LATE: Everyone is there an hour or two before you. Don’t disrespect the crew and show up late. Or if you show up late, show up with coffee for the Make up department. Unless you want an eyeliner to the eyeball.
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