Keeping your crew happy
Maintaining a good crew
So now that you’ve found the right people, and said all right magic words (for those who don’t know the magic words are “Sundance” “Van Sant” and “Japanese”). You have a crew. How do you keep that crew?
- Food - Number one on the list is food. Have plenty of snacks and drinks available for the cast and crew. I cannot stress this enough.
- Vary the tasks- More than likely everyone on your crew wants to be a director or a cinematographer. Almost no one likes holding the clapper. Know what types of tasks every person enjoys, as well as what they are best at. Use the best person as cinematographer, but be sure to let the wannabe and beginner cinematographers get in a few shots as well.
- Listen to their ideas - It’s your movie, and when it comes down to it you make the call…but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to your crew. Nothing makes people happier than knowing that at the very least their ideas are being considered. And if the idea is simple enough, and won’t cost too much time you can use the ultimate production magic words, “Lets try it both ways”.
- Get rid of the dead weight - Don’t tolerate slackers, arguers, or gossips. Tell them to leave the set. Perhaps just tell them to leave temporarily if you think they’ll learn their lesson, but don’t be afraid to kick someone out permanently. Chances are if you aren’t having a good experience working with that person…then everyone else on the crew is contemplating severe bodily harm upon that person.
Loyalty
One last important thing to remember is loyalty. If someone works for you, work for them. If someone does good work for you for free, make sure they are the first person you call when you have a budget to pay them.
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