You’ve got problems. Your girlfriend dumped you. Your little sister ran away from home. Your parents got a divorce. A family member died. You sliced your finger open. The kitchen ran out of your favorite kind of yogurt.
But you know what? Keep that to yourself, nobody cares. (Or whine about it on your stupid ass blog.)
Do not – UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES – cry in the production office.
There are jobs where crying is appropriate:
For the rest of us, you keep it under control or sneak away to the bathroom or quit your job, because if a teardrop falls onto your Dozar desk, then you’ve besmirched the industry that employs you.
6 Responses
No anonymous,
There are many exceptions to the rule. Sorry that someone clearly pissed you off with tears but for the human beings that work in the industry (and yes they do exist) we stand up for one another and often times give encouraging support. That’s not the industry, that’s just West Coast, and don’t argue with me that Los Angeles is still the industry..
Los Angeles is still the Industry, sorry bud. It may not always be that way… but it is. Yes, they shoot a lot of stuff outside of LA. Atlanta is booming… but nothing comes close to the amount of production happening in LA. I’m working out of state right now… half the people I meet on this show are from LA. ALL the above the line are from LA.
Until the major studios move LA will always be the hub, and I don’t see the studios moving any time soon.
I disagree. Everyone cries in production at one point or another, especially when starting out, so more often than not you’ll find a sympathetic boss. Yes, find a corner/bathroom stall/room in the honey to do it in and don’t let the “wrong” person see you do it. But expect that there will be tears. It’s a hard life working 16 hours every day for five days a week and life happens in the mean time.
Had a PA on set once. She was new to production. Wanted to be in wardrobe for christ sake. She was helping direct sheep, err, I mean extras, showing them where to park their cars. One douchebagfuck of an extra got a ticket for parking in the wrong spot. He decided he couldn’t read the sings that say “Street Cleaning on Wednesday”. After going into an all out rage for getting a ticket, he decided to direct all of that rage at this cute little girl PA who literally has NO IDEA what the fuck he was talking about. She tried to argue back, but, she’s small… He then yells at her even more for not talking loud enough. She starts to cry. This is about where a Set Dresser and I tell him to back the fuck off. Then the AD threatened to kick him off the show.
Moral of the story… lots of people in production are nice, and if you’re in a position where you’re crying, they will stand up for you… but… next job that comes around… I doubt that girl was ever hired again. You need the skin of a dinosaur to get respect in this industry.
Funny you say that actually. I was on set just yesterday and found out that one of my best friends died. I cried. No one cared. They were actually quite sympathetic, the coordinator told me to go home and see my friends. So there… No everyone’s a douchebag.
Yes, there is an exception to every rule.