The Unprofessional Professional
I pride myself on never yelling at anyone on set. Always leading with kindness and keeping my cool, even if it means stepping a way and hiding in a pile of cardboard boxes like a little kid with people walking by wondering where you are. Yes, I have done that.
But, there was one day when I screamed. I yelled at the producer. And I thought afterwards, everyone is going to think I’m crazy (and not in the good way that I know I am crazy) and not want to work with me again.
This was the shoot for Sugar! It is a feature film I was hired on to direct and edit. And this was my first time working with producers I didn’t know and frankly had less experience than me. However, I was happy to hand off that role as much as I could and just jump in when needed.
However, when you work with people who don’t understand how things work and are really all about the budget and know they really don’t have enough budget, things get stressful and go down the drain in many ways.
Executive producer coming on set and being angry that there are half drunken soda cans around the set and bottled water (as opposed to people reusing bottles and filling them from the sink). This may sound crazy but I get it, the budget was tight and he saw waste. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to notice the sweating crew lugging heavy equipment being paid minimum wage with their perk being those sodas and bottles of water. Sad but true.
The first pay day came and the producer told everyone that they couldn’t cash the checks until the following week as they wouldn’t clear. This was upsetting because I knew payroll was in the bank (it was separated out to ensure everyone got paid) and someone just didn’t send it to the payroll company to issue checks or move it to the right account. This was just negligence. I was unhappy but let it go as I watched a PA stare at his check and turn to someone and say, “Guess I’m eating on credit this weekend.” People really do live paycheck to paycheck and letting someone down like this is not okay.
Still we all plowed on. But then the second to last day of the shoot came. Crew gets paid on the second to last day on an indie film. It’s always done because it ensures them that they are going to be paid (or else the shoot will not finish and they won’t come in on the last day)…this did not happen even though I specifically requested it and specifically emphasized that it needed to happen. (You can always stop a check if an employee does not show up on their last day. And honestly, when someone makes it through to the second to last day of an indie shoot, they are not about to bail on the last day.)
So I lost my marbles…it wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t nice but I laid into the producer and ripped her a new one. The entire crew heard me. After I was done, I took a walk. I was appalled with myself and dreading returning to the set. However, when I got there, our gaffer came up to me and said, “No director has ever stood up for me, for a crew I’ve been on like that before. Thank you.” (He had also had it out with the producer about a few things and she threatened to fire him and that was part of my raving at her as well.) And I discovered, little by little, the crew that I respected and respected me, was even more tight than we had been through all of our ups and downs.
And I realized that sometimes being unprofessional but for the right reasons is okay. Maybe could have been handled better, but really was okay. Incidentally, the last shot of the film did not happen until each person had a paycheck in their hands.
Of course, I suppose if this was a real industry producer, I’d never have worked again. Directors are supposed to kiss producers’ asses so they are funded and sacrifice anything to make them happen. Well, phooey on that. I love my crew from that film. Every one of them went above and beyond. It really was the least I could do to say thank you.