SET ETIQUETTE & RULES

KENTUCKIANA CINEMATOGRAPHY CLUB Page

CINEMATOGRAPHY RESOURCES Page

PAST MEETINGS Page

FORMS Page

FESTIVAL RESOURCES Page

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ARE ON THE SET

SET ETIQUETTE & RULES

Here is a list of general set rules and definitions that apply to most assignments. Please take a moment to review them so you will be better prepared for work as an extra.

1. "Action" - The camera is rolling. Everyone must be in their assigned spots and doing what is instructed to them.
2. "Background" - Extras must be in their assigned spots and doing what is instructed to them.
3. "Back to One" - Return to your starting position for shot.
4. "Blocking" - Preplanned movement in a scene.
5. "Call Time" - The time you are required to be on the set.
6. "Continuity" - Doing everything exactly as it was done in the previous take.
7. "Cut" - Stop all action.
8. "Extras" - Paid / non-paid actors.
9. "Flashing" - This is said, only when the film/videotape is not running and someone is using their flash photography to take photos. It helps everyone to know that none of the various light bulbs have blown, it was only you taking a photograph.
10. "Quiet On The Set" - All voices quiet.
"Places" or "Places everyone" - This means that were ever you are assigned to be, please head immediately and quietly to that spot and await further instructions.
11. "Speed/Rolling" - Film is moving.

1. When a producer, director, writer, casting director, or other member of a crew contacts; you should reply to either their email, letter, or phone call immediately. There are many people who claim, "Just give me a call and I will be happy to help you," however, many of them fail to read the entire note; they fail to react to the note; or they fail to comprehend that an immediate answer is sought. If you never get a second call, that can be due to the lack of your response on the first call, email, or letter. There are too many people wanting to get into the business to baby sit someone that fails to promptly respond to those requests for help. Reputations for either reliability or unreliability can be determined or based off of how many times people had to write you and ask for help...so you might lose a job before you ever returned a message! REMEMBER THE OLD SAYING: First impressions are lasting impressions! So do you want people to think you are disorganized, do not respect the other people's time and feel they should continue contacting you; or that they should baby sit you? Life is too short for that. If you are sincere about wanting to work with professions; be sure that all of your communications are professional and prompt!

2. When you select an email account name for your "profession" be sure to avoid using email addresses that make you sound more like a porno star than a professional actor. Your email address conveys something about yourself, so if you want people do remember you for positive or negative reasons; then consider getting a new email address that is specifically for your professional networking. Be sure to use a dignified and respectable email address and have it printed onto your business cards.

3. ALWAYS HAVE BUSINESS CARDS WITH YOU! If you claim to be an actor, producer, director, writer, sound engineer, or any other member of a cast or crew, be sure to have business cards with CURRENT INFORMATION on them. Even if you only have paper stock instead of card stock, just having something that is typed will help people to remember you each time they open their wallet and find your card. Avoid hand written information as people end up with those incomplete notes and cannot recall the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" about you and your information. For people to believe you are serious about the business, it is essential for you to be prepared at all times.

4. ALWAYS HAVE RESUMES AND HEADSHOTS WITH YOU! This is more important for actors than most crew members, however, it never hurts to be prepared in case you need to convey your professional attributes in a written format to a potential production team. Often, we meet someone in our daily lives and wish we had either our resume or headshot to provide them so we will be able to work in their production, but if you do not have them yet, the opportunity might pass.

5. TIMING IS EVERYTING! Whether you are returning emails, phone calls, or letters, if you are serious about your professional abilities, do whatever it takes to immediately communicate back with the person that contacted you. They will see that you are sincere, respectful, and serious about helping on their project. Also making sure that you provide CURRENT CONTACT information on your business cards, online resumes, webpages, etc., is essential for someone to reach you. If they are forced to research just find you, unless you are a major star, they are likely to move on to other people.

6. When ever someone gives you their business card, take the time to write down the date you got their card and why it is important to keep it. Too often, people look through their endless collection of business cards and cannot recall when or where the cards came from or how they can be helpful to keep for future use. If you met someone and wrote down reasons why you met and what impressed you about the interaction, the card increases greatly in its overall value.

7. Have a purpose for communicating! Prior to calling someone, write down the prioritized list of why you called someone. Perhaps your time to communicate will be brief and if you failed to get to the point, your opportunity to make a good, first impression, could have passed up and you only told someone why you are their greatest fan. Your written list of questions will impress the person that you had respected their time to be prepared for a succinct call.

8. When ever someone communicates with you, be sure to absorb the entire communication and ensure that you respond to their communication fully. Too often in our electronic emails, people just respond to the first paragraph or two but they fail to read the entire not. It is not the sender's responsibility to continuously ask you the same question over several notes and then have you fail to pay attention to their questions. If you fail to respond to the inquiries, it comes across that you disrespected the sender by failing to read their entire note.

9. If someone has to ask you how often you check your email, they are striving to find a polite way to ask why you have failed to reply to their repeated notes. The 1980s were the "fast food" days; the 1990s were the "information age" and in the 2000s, there are no excuses for people taking more than 24 hours to respond to phone calls or emails unless they are somewhere exotic on a movie. Do whatever it takes to respond to people in less than 24 hours!!!

10. CELL PHONES: if you have one:

a. turn it off at all productions as you can cost a great deal of distractions on the set;
b. find somewhere private to take your calls when you are off the set. No one else is as interested to hear about your call than you are, so that will keep people out of your business.
c. rechargers: if you are a producer, director, or whatever position, the entire crew is counting on being able to reach you and you must have an ability to recharge from your lighter plugs; from 120 VDC, etc.
d. extra batteries: even if you have a recharger, it can be helpful to keep your phone on VIBRATE in your pocket, but then have the extra battery charging up in the wall socket. These methods will allow your team to reach you.
e. clear your messages: you might as well not have a cell phone or a message center if you fail to clear out your older messages.
f. be aware that some productions will not allow your phone onto the set for many liability reasons such as you taking photos of actors; for you taking photos of a copyrighted movie set; of you taking any photos deemed to be inappropriate, etc. Do not be shocked if you are restricted from having your cellphone/camera on the set! It also benefits you if others do not have theirs with them too.

Email address: bc@brennancallan.com

Disclaimer

No endorsement is intended or made of any hypertext link, product, service, or information either by its inclusion or exclusion from this page or site. While all attempts are made to insure the correctness and suitability of information under our control and to correct any errors brought to our attention, no representation or guarantee can be made as to the correctness or suitability of that information or any linked information presented, referenced, or implied.

Listings above do not constitute an endorsement by the Kentuckiana Cinematography Club (KCC); its founder; or its members; of these persons, businesses, events, or establishments. These links are enumerated for "entertainment purposes" only.

Please Note: The Kentuckiana Cinematography (KCC) web site restricts by policy its hyperlinks to other sites of quality. KCC neither controls or guarantees the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of hyperlinks to web sites other than KCC web sites is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise. Once you link to another web site, you are subject to the disclaimers, security, and privacy policies of the new site.

Legal - Fair Use Notice:

Kentuckiana Cinematography Club (KCC) webpages contains copyrighted material not all of which has been authorized by the copyright owner. We make this material available for the purpose of informing the public about resources on the internet.

This constitutes the "fair use" of any copyrighted material noted in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 107, this material is distributed without profit to all who have expressed an interest in it.

Any use of copyrighted material on this site for any purpose that goes beyond "fair use" must have permission of the copyright owner.

If material or information on Kentuckiana Cinematography Club (KCC) webpages is your personal property, and you would like to have it removed, or credit given to you, please contact us.

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go here.

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

---

KENTUCKIANA CINEMATOGRAPHY CLUB Page

CINEMATOGRAPHY RESOURCES Page

PAST MEETINGS Page

FORMS Page

FESTIVAL RESOURCES Page

KCC MEMBERSHIP & LISTINGS Page

GUEST SPEAKERS Page

MOVIE SET ETIQUETTE & RULES Page

RECOMMENDED READING RESOURCES Page

KENTUCKIANA FILMS Page

---