Be A Better 1st AD Than Me
Five lessons I learned as an assistance director that have made me a better commercial filmmaker.
Last March, our small Portland, Maine-based production company hit the slopes in Vermont to film some broadcast spots for Stowe Mountain Resort. Although we did not have as much experience filming action sports, we’d worked with the agency before and were confident executing the life-style component of the spots. We pitched an outside director with related skills and as a combined team won the work. Since I wouldn’t be directing — my typical role — I would be playing the assistant director role, a first for me.
It may seem counterintuitive, but the AD is really more like a producer than an assistant to the director. The AD is responsible for running the set, managing the crew, and making sure the logistics are lined up so the only thing the director has to worry about is the creative execution. I know what I typically want in a good AD when I’m directing so I figured I could reverse-engineer it. And as a partner in the company, this also helped me oversee the production in a unique way.
We knew it was going to be a challenging shoot going in, but we got what we aimed to get and the spots turned out great. Perhaps the best thing to come out of that week are these five learnings that have informed a lot of our decision-making since then:
1. Set Realistic Time Expectations.
Cold adds time. Period. We had a shot list dictated from the agency and only a certain number of days to capture everything. Even with some creative scheduling and as much consolidation as possible, our schedule was ambitious. What I learned on the shoot was how much the cold slows everything down — equipment, travel, and people.
Lesson: I should have padded the schedule considering the conditions we were in. It might have meant losing shots, but it’s better to have set and met expectations than to force crew into an overtime scenario due to an unrealistic shot list.
2. Your Crew is Your Greatest Asset.
We were understaffed, dictated in large part by the budget. This stretched everyone thin. Here’s who we were missing and why they would have been helpful:
- 2nd Assistant Director. There were definitely times that I needed to be in two places at once. A 2nd AD would have eliminated a lot of waiting around for one frantic person (me) to finish a task before moving on.
- 2nd Assistant Camera. No slight against our 1st AC who was wearing multiple hats, but having someone solely dedicated to video village would have eliminated having to show the client playback between takes.
- Grip. We had a great and flexible gaffer, but the benefit of having another hand goes without saying.
- Art Department. I consider this a nice-to-have, but there were far too many times when the crew was set-dressing the scene, wasting valuable time.
Lesson: While it may seem efficient to reduce the number of crew on a production, it can actually save money in the long run to properly staff the crew from the start.
3. Know your Gear, and Prepare for the Worst.
Ensure that the tools you have will enable you to do your best work. We were shy on monitoring and we should have had more media. The Alexa Mini chews through cards and it wasn’t always easy to get the media off the mountain for backups.
A few tools that were life-savers: walkie talkies, cold-rated batteries, the humble Cinesaddle, and don’t forget tow straps. On more than one occasion, we got a vehicle or the grip van stuck in the snow, and being able to tow out with my 4x4 truck was helpful. Avoid it altogether by making sure all vehicles are AWD from the beginning.
Lesson: Build in time for crew to test out all the gear ahead of time and familiarize themselves with any new set-ups. This is especially critical when using rental equipment.
4. Know Your Worth.
As an AD, the truth is that your first responsibility is to your crew. It’s your job to make sure that everyone is safe and in a position to succeed. There were a few requests from the client side that I should have drawn the line at, or at least negotiated. Thankfully our crew accommodated, but they would have had every right not to. The production team is there to do their best work and make every effort to oblige all requests, maximizing the budget, but there is definitely a limit. It’s also important to factor in the environment — 10 hours in freezing temperatures takes more of a toll than 10 hours on a soundstage.
Lesson: Know when to say no. Think of it like Newton’s laws of conservation — adding shots means losing shots.
5. Stay Positive!
Grinding it out in full thermals for six days straight is no easy feat, so if you can find time to pause and see the positives in the little things, the whole experience will be better for it. Always take a moment to appreciate the mountain-top sunrise, even if it’s 5°F and windy. Enjoy the warmth of the lodge if only for a brief second when grabbing gear. And of course: food and beverage — of any kind — always tastes better when you’re tired, smelly, and cold.
Lesson: Nolite te bastardes carborundorum! And remember, we’re just making movies. It ain’t life or death, especially if you’ve got toe-warmers in your boots and Clif Bloks in your fanny pack.
Last month, we were invited to submit for this year’s commercial production in Stowe. The money was tight — again — but we didn’t want to make the same mistakes as last year. Our proposal came in over budget because we made sure to include the right crew and most importantly, we knew our worth. In the end, the agency opted to go with a different production company. Losing that job freed us up to be able to take a significantly more profitable job in sunny California instead. Sticking to our guns paid off. Stick to yours.
