Four actors huddle separately on the last day of shooting, trying desperately not to infect anyone else. Stress your body for long enough and your immune system weakens—everyone knows this, but often there isn’t much you can do about it.
The show must go on, right? However, we’re filming LARPs: The Series out of order; we’re finishing S01E05 today. The four actors have to look and sound exactly the same as the rest of the shoot. (It’d be weird if someone had a stuffed nose or flushed cheeks for a single scene.)
In order to cut costs, we decided to film twelve days straight—often for up to 16 hours at a time. The crew is suffering right alongside the cast: many have been present for every single moment of the shoot.
How do you keep people going through such conditions?
Food.
Lots and lots of food.
But aside from crafts services, it’s trust that’ll keep you going. I was ready to give everything I had because I was absolutely sure that everyone else was, too.
Assholes aren’t worth it. It can sometimes be extremely tempting to take someone on board a passion project like a web series because they hold certain advantages: maybe they’re extremely skilled, or maybe they can save the production significant money. Don’t do it! Resist the urge to take on anyone whose people skills will drag your production down.
When the shit hits the fan—when it’s Day 12 and everyone’s sick and it’s far too hot because of your lights and your deadline is looming, you want to make sure everyone has your back. There’s no room for selfishness or a cocky attitude when the fate of your production’s on the line.
The people present on set on Day 12 were the same as the ones on Day 1: funny, polite, focused, dedicated, and exceptionally giving of themselves. That they were also talented as hell is a lucky break, and shows the skill our producer and director had in hiring and casting, but even now we realize that it’s teamwork that carried us through the shoot.
And once the shoot’s over, post-production begins. . . .