Actor Tips: Revel in On-Set Comradery
For years, I’ve been saying the same thing: my favorite part about booking and working on an acting project is being on-set. People called to set range from Actors, Producers, Marketing or Client Teams and everyone pertaining to the Production Team, responsible for filming the project itself: from Directors of Photography (DP’s/Assistant DP’s), Creative and Assistant Directors, Audio and Sound personnel, Production Assistants, Hair and Makeup, Stylists, and often times, others too.
Like-Minded Individuals
Much like summer or sleepaway camp, being on-set is like a fun-filled day with friends: everyone is there because they want to be and you look forward to spending your day doing what you love and sharing it with people who love it too.
It’s a community of people, coming together to revel in shared interests and collaborate in an intricately developed artistic vision.
Learn as you Go
One of my first experiences being on a professional set was back in 2016. It was for a JP Morgan Digital Media/Snapchat Campaign. I didn’t know what to expect but I remember having the best time and meeting the loveliest people. I was welcomed into a beautiful home somewhere in upstate New York, which served as our rented set for the day. I was greeted with a table full of snacks that I didn’t know if I should even eat. I would later learn that this is referred to as Craft Services in the entertainment industry: a table with an intricate arrangement of snacks and drinks for everyone on set to… you guessed it, eat.
Being on-set never gets old, but there sure is something special about experiencing it for the first few times. It’s like being a kid at a candy store, or seeing Disney World through the eyes of a child: you want to take it all in. Stimulation overload.
In that process, you navigate a new place, enjoy new rides (or eat new sweets) … and learn just how much you want to come back… and do it all over again.
A Creative Comradery
Everyone on-set has a role: a vocational specialty they feel deeply connected to and passionate about. In my experiences, that passion and everyone’s dedication to their craft transcends far beyond the camera lens. It’s intensely present in countless moments of the day. It’s found throughout: in the positive and invigorating energy emulating from different individuals, in the warm welcomes and the joyful conversations in between Hair and Makeup chairs, in the innocent eye rolls between you and the Wardrobe Stylist (after yet another clothing adjustment), in the “what’s your Instagram, let’s keep in touch” and the honest conversations between castmates (the ones that make you feel deeply understood amidst a challenging and unstable industry), in the on-set meals and shared snacks by the Craft Services table, in the countless laughs and the bloopers, funny faces and silent cheers behind takes, and in every moment that reminds you what a privilege it is to be a part of something that you love with like-minded individuals who love it too.
Being on-set never gets old.
Like a Surgeon in an operating room, a Classroom Teacher planning their weekly lessons or a Lawyer in court: a chosen profession is reflective of someone’s inherent passion… about something. Choosing to be an actor (or a creative individual) is no different. You’re there because you want to be.
To be passionate about something is a blessing, to experience it vocationally is a privilege and to share it with like-minded individuals is truly a gift.
What’s yours?
