What Happens On A Film Set?

“It’s always surreal, being on a film set, but inside a beautiful, massive scene” – Holliday Grainger

It’s 4am and I’m officially awake. The day has finally come. It’s the first day of filming for the feature film, Shrink Wrapped. With a 2 ½ hour drive to Richmond, VA ahead of me as the Lead PA, the nerves have started to kick in.

Here. We. Go!

Saturday, June 5th – It’s 7am when I officially turned on my car ignition to hit the road to Richmond. My excitement was on a whole new level. But I was also nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. Nevertheless, I was ready for the challenge.

I was warned the week before by the director to try not to get overwhelmed. But I thought, overwhelm has always been apart of my unconventional life. So, I’ve learned to take the negative aspect of overwhelm and turn it into something positive.

Overwhelm = Growth

Now, it’s 9:05am. Call time for the crew is at 9:30am and my phone has started chiming and ringing off the hook. Crew members were asking where the location was and the time to be on set even though I’d sent out a call sheet two days before.

Fifteen minutes later, I finally arrive on set and it’s even more chaotic. Assistant PAs, sound/audio personnel, camera crew, the DP, etc. are already setting up. Suddenly, I’m shoved with COVID paperwork from all angles along with people constantly asking me what to do and what I need from them.

Wow. The director wasn’t joking. This is overwhelm x 20!

Eventually, the chaos settles. Now, it’s time to get breakfast ordered, take lunch orders, pick up the breakfast orders, snacks / refreshments, props for the scenes, get everyone onto a group app, assign PA duties, and track timesheets.

Whew! That was a lot! Okay, let’s continue.

I was literally losing my mind. But I was determined to make it work.

Now, it’s 3:45pm and the crew is starving but the food hasn’t arrived yet. How? I sent an assistant PA to pick up the lunch orders over an hour ago.

A few frantic calls later, I found out there was a miscommunication between the assistant PA and the caterer. OMG!

I felt so bad. But, the only thing I could tell the crew was to Please be patient. The food will be here shortly.

Stay calm Gia. Just, STAY CALM!

The food finally arrives and everyone is satisfied.

Now, it’s close to the end of the 12-hour shoot day and only 2 scenes were completed. Wow. The director had to get each scene at dozens of different angles. He also had to deal with camera issues and making sure the scenes were just right before he yelled ACTION!

He knew what he wanted and he was going to get it no matter what. RESPECT!

It’s finally a wrap for DAY 1 of Shrink Wrapped! (YAYY!)

Let me tell you, I learned a lot. I also learned that as the crew and cast were packing up to leave was that I didn’t have anywhere to go except my car.

I forgot to book a hotel for the weekend. (Shoot!)

Luckily, I managed to book a room at the Days Inn hotel 15-minutes away. I check into the room and was immediately turned off. The room smelt like cigarettes. Seriously?

As I’m unpacking, I suddenly see a shadow above me. What in the world? I look up and it’s a roach crawling on the ceiling. My goodness! Let’s just say, it was an extremely uncomfortable sleepless night.

Don’t worry Gia. You won’t let this happen again!

The next morning at 8am, I met the director at the studio. We drove to go pick up a car for one of the scenes we were going to shoot that day. My nerves were completely calmed when the director expressed his deepest apologies for not properly training me as a Lead PA. Whew. Thank you.

Now, it’s time to go pick up breakfast for the crew at Dunkin Donuts. And guess what? It was complete chaos at the Dunkin Donuts location. There were only two employees and one of them came in wearing pajama pants and a bonnet.

It was honestly quite funny! 🙂

I get back to set at 10:30am – the exact call time for the day. Everyone was so happy to see me with food and coffee!

A few hours pass by, I go to grab lunch for the day only to return to a not-so-satisfied director. What did I do? Apparently, he was still having issues with his camera equipment that took an hour to fix and he could only get one shot out of it.

Oh no! This isn’t good.

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The author is not liable for any losses or damages related to actions of failure to act related to the content in this article. If you need specific legal advice, consult with an attorney who specializes in your subject matter and jurisdiction.