Day 5: Assistant Director for a Day

 BLOG 5: May 13, 2022

9:45 p.m.

Hours Today: 4

Total Hours: 23.5

Today on set was a head-first jump into the reality of working in film and television production. I spent the day with the Assistant Directors of the show and was given a radio and a headset so I could listen in on all the varieties of communication that occur during filming. I shadowed a handful of different AD’s throughout the day to get a better understanding of the seemingly infinite number of jobs they need to complete in a 12-14 hour period, 5-6 days a week. I observed carefully as this crew assisted the actors in between shooting, helped prepare the set between each scene, controlled and completed the logistics and paperwork for each day, and was able to get a handful of behind-the-scenes views into the production process. That said, I am most grateful for the insight I received from one of the ADs (though it is the painful truth): this career choice is fun but incredibly rigorous and time-consuming. Any one of the crew members may be spending fourteen hours of their day on set, working, with only an hour of totally free time for meals throughout this period. This information did not dissuade me from my interest but rather put into perspective the various aspects of my life I would need to sacrifice in order to make it as far in the film industry as I would like to.