Rolling up!

I’m back in my home country, already missing a weird English land.

Now, I will scribble something about my work placement on set of Lime Pictures’ production “Hollyoaks”.

I was assigned to the production department and across the week I was shadowing several 3rd ADs and 2nd ADs. Sometimes there wasn’t many things to do as they were rushing everywhere, running to find the actors or God knows who. I felt like a bit of an obstacle, trying to help out but not really knowing what to do. However, I sort of smoothly jumped in the shoes’ of 3rd ADs and I gradually took up doing most of the things (sometimes forcing myself through embarrassment as I can get pretty shy. Bad, bad thing). Thank to that I could take care of the “background” (extras) – I took them to set, signed them out, chased and phoned the late ones. I also did cross off the scene (hehehe, it sounds like it’s something terribly victorious),  but it’s indeed a part of this job! I did run for the coffees and biscuits and it’s actually pretty rewarding, because then you’re the one that everyone loves “Oh my, I dreamt about some nice biscuit”, “Thanks, you’re a life saver!”.

It can obviously get pretty stressful when 1st AD wants one of the cast member “NOW” and that person just disappeared. I took part in a big search twice. Once I even found the missing actress! Oh, I was also a “traffic stopper” as well. If such word even exists.

As between the takes I had not much to do I decided to shadow script supervisor. It turned out a very good idea. The job I didn’t know much before really got me involved. It requires a lot of practice as you’re responsible for the continuity, lines and all the important notes sent from the set to the edit suit. One of the girls I did shadow on the last day said that with a bit of practice it becomes like a second nature. “It’s like driving a car” – you need to do many things at the same time. She also said that the most important thing in her job is the actual knowledge of editing rules. As when you know if you can edit around certain mistake there is no need to bother 1st AD and director to do another take.

Another Script Supervisor also told me a very important thing. The diplomacy is the key on set. Mistakes can’t be just pointed out, they could be suggested. Before you even suggest them it’s best though to double-check as you might be too eager and everyone is actually aware of mentioned “mistake”. Maybe it’s how it’s supposed to be? It sounds like a common sense, but it’s not easy when in a nervous and stressful situation instead of saying “Wrong lines” you have to use something more diplomatic to not get the actor and director and everyone else annoyed. So. Diplomacy. She also said that I shouldn’t be scared of making mistakes. However, admitting of making them is essential.

I was surprised by how many people where stopping by to ask me how am I doing and then actually listening back to all my miserable thoughts about my future. They were giving me a lot of tips and support and the thing that came up quite few times was to just keep knocking to as many doors as possible. The worst thing you can hear is NO. Still – something you know, but when you hear it from people who actually did that and now they’re working full-time doing what they enjoy, it has different impact on you.

I like the team feeling among the crew. The cast is different, but you can also find some lovely and polite people there (poor girls in little dresses when it was freezing cold). There are jokes going around, gossips, nerves. It’s great when you can work with people you like (well, mostly).

So I hope it was a step forward.

“Hollyoaks” it’s one of those in UK that everyone at least heard of but it’s sort of “embarrassing” to watch. In Poland we have plenty of those, e.g. “M jak Miłość”, which I actually do watch. Despite what I have learnt job-wise, I also tried to explore this phenomenon. I got it. After two days of being on set I was asking a various members of crew about the storyline as I wanted to know who is this girl in the scene we’re shooting and why she is with this old guy if she obviously wants to be with his son?! It can get pretty addictive. Watching “Homeland” that is believed to be one of the highest quality TV Shows is sometimes nerve-wrecking, leave you drained! Watching “Hollyoaks” can actually help your brain turns off completely after a long and stressful day.

In the meantime I have to prepare myself for Screenwriting Festival which is happening in just two weeks time! The schedule went on live yesterday. It will be hard to choose between the sessions, I know that for sure.