 Pretty much every set I go on is slightly different, but the things I'm gonna talk about today do tend to stay pretty consistent. I'm an actor based in California and I typically work in LA, San Francisco, and I also have representation in Phoenix, Arizona. Even if you are a very experienced actor, I really recommend for you to watch this video or think about these things at least once a year because it's very easy to think, oh, I've done this a million times. I know exactly what's gonna happen, how it's gonna go down. A lot of the stuff I'm gonna be talking about today was inspired by Tony Gapastone because he actually sends out a sheet called Best Practices along with his call sheet whenever he's gonna film something. And I think it is such a great way to let everybody know what the vibe is gonna be on set. I'm gonna start out with some vocabulary words that are very important to know before you go on set. Quiet on set. When you hear that, it doesn't actually mean to be quieter than whatever you're doing. It actually means silence on set, complete silence on set. When somebody says this is a hot set, it means that everything is placed for a particular reason and if you move something, it might affect continuity. So even if you're resetting, if you're starting from the beginning and you moved a cup, it's important to know as an actor that you should put that cup where it was at the beginning and then you can move it around. Wardrobe is what you are going to be wearing and often in non-union or low-budget jobs, you are in charge of bringing your own wardrobe. And what will happen is that somebody that's in charge of wardrobe will contact you and ask you for options and then you'll send them pictures and they will let you know what to bring to set. If they are asking for something very, very particular and you don't have it, it is not your responsibility to buy it. In addition to that hair and makeup is usually also your responsibility on the lower budget projects. Call time is a time that you need to be on set. I like to be 15 to 30 minutes early to my call time to allow a little bit of time for traffic. Wrap time typically doesn't mean anything because in most of the sets that I've been on we wrap late, either 15 minutes or a few hours late which is why it's important to ask before you go film what the overtime rate is via email so that you have it on paper. Don't plan anything else for the rest of the day whenever you're filming something because a four hour shoot can very easily turn into an eight hour shoot. And if for some reason, if something does come up after you get hired like, hey, I'm so sorry but I have a hard stop at seven PM even if they said wrap time was five PM you should communicate that with them to make sure that they know that they're gonna lose you. Crafty, when you hear that on set it means snacks, food, drinks, things like that. It's not lunch or dinner. That is not always guaranteed. I suggest to always bring your own water bottle that's labeled with your name and an emergency snack just in case there's no crafty. And this is something else to ask about before you arrive to set especially if it's a non union job ask are we gonna get fed? When are we gonna get fed? And as an actor who's not in the union yet I can't demand that they have lunch for me but I can ask for it. So even if they say, hey, we're gonna be on set for six hours and we're not providing lunch I can say, okay, if by hour six we are not wrapped can you please buy me food? Because I'm not gonna be able to have the energy and function at my full capacity. It doesn't hurt to ask. Before you go to set you might have questions and a lot of people are afraid of asking them and just start Googling. And that's fine. You can Google a lot of answers of what's gonna happen on set. If there's things like what am I supposed to wear? Nobody has told me that or am I doing my own hair and makeup? Is there gonna be food? You can ask whoever your point of contact is typically you will get your call sheet the night before and a call sheet says all the information like who's arriving at what time everybody's contact information the weather, the nearest hospital most of the information you will receive 12-ish hours before your call time maybe a little bit less. If you have questions once you're on set then it just depends on like what kind of question it is but usually a producer will know you can ask them or a fellow actor might know like hey what are we doing next? Or is this where we're supposed to be waiting? Typically though, don't ask the director any questions because they're concentrated and a lot of people will usually try to talk to them because they're like the head of the creativity for the day. So if at all possible talk to the producer talk to other actors. If you have any ideas that you want to contribute to the day because it's exciting and respectfully they don't care about your ideas because they know exactly what they want already. It really depends on the type of set that you're on but you have to think about the crew has spent hundreds of hours sometimes more coming up with the script coming up with the ideas. So sometimes they just have this down to a science like okay we know exactly what we want exactly how we're gonna do it, let's do it. On the other hand there are sets who welcome ideas. Sometimes on take three and four they're willing to play around a little bit more. The director or the AD will be like hey does anybody have any fun suggestions? Like we're open to it right now. If they tell you we're open to it right now it doesn't mean that if you film with them again next week it's gonna be the same thing. So just be cautious around providing ideas. Nothing tells me that you don't care about a project like an actor arriving to set not knowing their lines especially if they got the script weeks or months ago. If you got a script today start memorizing today. Even if you memorize one paragraph the sooner you memorize everything the sooner you're gonna be able to explore your character and be prepared. As an actor the bare minimum you can do is to come to set with your lines memorized. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to set and the actors just don't know their lines. Talent can only get you so far. If you are a rude, racist, homophobic person but you're so talented. Yeah you might get cast once or twice by that person until they're like you know what I can't take it. I don't wanna work with this person anymore. So many people, so many people hire their friends or people that they have worked with before because they already know that they're gonna have a good time or they already know that that actor is gonna come to set prepared and ready to work. I know this is so obvious but just be a kind person even if there's somebody on set that you really really do not like. It's okay you can keep your distance but you still owe them respect. You still need to make sure that they feel welcome on set so that everybody can get their job done. Social media. I obviously love social media. I post about all kinds of things but I do my best to respect the set that I'm on. So the first thing that you need to do if you want to take any photos or videos is ask production. Is it okay if I take photos or videos and BTS and when can I post it? Even if they say, oh yeah, go ahead and you can post it now. I try my best to post whatever I'm gonna be sharing after the project has already come out because you can accidentally spoil something especially if you're working on a project like a film that has a really fun prop or you're filming a scene that's gonna give something big away. Just keep it to yourself until the project is out. There are of course some sets who just don't want you to film or take photos and that's okay. You'll hopefully eventually see the project. Remember to have fun when you go to set because most projects are just like such a blast. You get to hang out with so many cool talented people and you're making a piece of entertainment. So just remember to have fun. Like don't be grumpy. Even if your life is falling apart like do your best that when you're there just be present and enjoy yourself. Like you're making a movie. How cool is that? I hope I don't trigger anybody how to get the footage of what you're filming especially if you're doing a student film or independent film, non-union job. It can be really hard to get the footage for your reel or just get the footage because you wanna watch it. Not always do these projects actually see the light of day and go on to film festivals or whatever. But what you can do is once you get cast ask the question, when is this gonna come out? When can I get this? When is this due if it's a student film? And then you can email the student and be like, hey, I know you had said your project was due June 1st. It's June 15th, would you mind sharing it with me? I really would love to add this to my reel. And any other project you can just ask when it's supposed to come out. And then if after it comes out you can't find it you can always email the producer and say, hey, I worked on this project with you. I know you had told me it was gonna be out this day and I haven't been able to find it. I would love to be able to add it to my reel. Social media, if you follow as many people as possible that worked on that project and keep up with what they're doing, they might share that project. I've had the most luck finding projects on social media because other people will see it before I do and then they'll send it to me or I'll say that that film is going to be screening at a certain theater on a certain date. And I'm like, oh my God, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna ask for them to send it to me. If you're thinking about being a background actor or maybe you just got your first background acting job I made this video with a bunch of terms that you should know before you go on set for the first time.