crisis management mode (from wednesday)

is something that doesn't mix well with our crew, I've seen.
From Wednesday night, looking back at Tuesday night:

Last night was, well, interesting. We got what we needed shot wise, but along the way, there were more than just a few bumps it the road. To be honest, it was more like large sections of road were missing and we were still driving on hoping that somehow there would be road again.

Lessons learned? Oh where to begin!

One, you may feel that there's been enough preproduction. But you are wrong. Until you can achieve the place in preproduction where everyone is on the same page as the director (me... scary thought) then the job isn't done. We weren't on the same page.

Two, you may feel that you are communicating adequately. You are not, until someone looks at you and says "I got it the last three times you told me." No joke--communication between the department heads literally needs to be this repetitive. That way, no miscommunication can occur. We had plenty of that going on.

Three, you may feel that bothering the director every five seconds about a logistical thing is a good thing to do. Do I need to know? Usually, but not always. Think about the question beforehand--ask yourself who handles this normally. Will the director know a logistic about time? Unlikely. We're more concerned with the creative aspect than with time. 1st AD handles those kind of logistics. Lighting? Talk to the Gaffer or DP. Director has final say, but we don't handle it most of the time.

Four, you may think that if something isn't going right that you should step up and try to offer advice. DO NOT DO THIS!!!! JUST STOP. You don't need to offer advice. The people who should be controlling things are the 1st AD, the Director, and the DP. With everyone else jumping in and trying to control things, the three of us were torn apart and it was a mess.

Five, you may feel that having a good time on set is a priority. Actually, it's not. Getting the job done is the priority. And if things are going right, you will have a good time, but constantly joking around and enjoying things wastes precious time. And in Hollywood, time is money. When we're not filming, you should remain relatively quiet and focused so that the DHs can have what's called working quiet. Our brains sometimes need you to shut up so we can think at full strength.

Six, you may feel that yelling STOP! and telling everyone to take five while you powwow with the other department heads to get on the same page is wasting time, but it's actually going to save you time. We should have done that last night.

Seven, you may think you have a good idea for my actors and obviously it's a good idea to pipe up and talk. As a director, you have no idea how frustrating and angering it is to have people talking to my actors. What would you do if someone stepped in and started trying to do your job when you are perfectly capable of doing it yourself? And when they have no idea what's really going on. Also, when I pause before giving feedback, it's not because I don't know, it's because I'm replaying things in my head and working out what worked, what didn't, and how I want to fix things. A major thing to remember is that on a normal Hollywood set, talking to actors if you're not the director can get you kicked off set instantly.

As a young director, I'm learning in leaps and bounds on this project. Sometimes that's a frustrating place to be, and other times it feels like the best possible place. Last night I learned far more than I would have liked to, and in the worst way possible. I'm still rather upset about it, and to be honest I don't want to look at the footage from last night because I'm so angry about it.