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One of the jobs of a director on set, in addition to all the creative stuff, of camera movements and actor performances, is really just time management. What happens when you get on a movie set is that you have, let’s say six hours in a particular location, and, so you have to decide how you’re going to spend those six hours. And does that mean that you are going to get three hours just trying to get a joke to work, because the joke is the most important thing in the scene? Or are you going to spend 15 minutes getting a shot of a statue because you want, you know, a shot of that statue, which is so beautiful to cut away so that you have other things to edit with? You have to really prioritize because if you have six hours in a strict location, which is often the case on movies, it’s really about time management and prioritizing.
So sometimes you will encounter somebody who’s a real perfectionist in their job and that’s the reason you hired them. That’s the reason you love them. That’s the reason why they’re great. But sometimes they could be trying to perfect something that is at the cost of the larger macro goal. And so many people who work on movies are perfectionists in their own bubble. So somebody who’s a costume designer, is not worried about the actor’s performance or the way the building looks. They’re watching the scenes on the monitor and just looking at how the clothes are intersecting with the character. A cinematographer is, you know, wondering how the sun is going down in the deep background and they’re not thinking too much if the jokes are hitting. As a director, you have to worry about the sun, you have to worry about the jokes, you have to worry about the costumes, and you also have to worry that in two hours we’re going to be kicked out of shooting in this museum because we can’t afford shooting there all day.
So it’s really about, kind of prioritizing, structuring the day and you know, understanding what the most important elements of a particular scene are, which often means telling somebody who’s amazing at their job, that we can’t worry too much about the pants today. Because I’m going to be shooting the scene above the actor’s waist. We’re not going to see the pants. They look amazing. I’m so unbelievably thrilled that you were able to find those pants. They’re going to be so featured in tomorrow’s scene where the character is in full body frame. I love them so much, they’re such an inspired choice, but let’s just not worry about those pants today, and thank you so much. So I would often find myself making kind of speeches like this to people one-on-one saying, I love how you lit that wall, but actually we’re going to be facing this way. I’m so sorry that we’re not facing the wall that you thought was going to look great, but let’s try to make this wall look as good as it possibly can.
And I remember that that’s what I like to be told on a movie set as well when I’m acting in something, I want to be told, listen, today is just about you walking from your car to the building. Don’t worry, you don’t have to project the kind of character’s misery in this scene. Just get out of the car and walk to the building. And I love hearing that because as an actor, you’re trying so hard. You don’t know what the shot looks like when you’re acting in a scene. So you think you have to do it. You think you have to do the misery in this scene. But no, the misery is not for that scene. The misery is for the scene when you’re in the building, complaining about whatever it is you’re miserable about.
And so, I love hearing those things and I’ve discovered that people who work on sets when I’m in the position of directing, like hearing that too. And I think that applies, you know, to you in any profession that if you are leading a group of people, I think it’s important to be direct and say, “What you do is incredibly helpful, I so admire the way you have done X, Y, and Z, but Y and Z don’t apply to this particular project. So thank you so much for putting so much into it. I’m so sorry that we can’t feature Y and Z as much as I would’ve liked to, but thank you so much and let’s really focus on X.” And I love hearing that as an actor, and I love being able to give that feedback ’cause it both acknowledges the work that somebody’s done, an appreciation for it, and also the practical concerns of the given project.