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In December 2023, I was lucky enough to secure myself a three day runner job on a production in South London. This was a short film being directed by Rosie Day, who I managed to get onto the production through after messaging her for a while due to family connections, starring Alistair Petri and Amber Anderson. This short film was produced with the intention of promoting to gain support so I can hopefully become a feature. Over the three days, I was able to learn from everyone in the 19 people cast and crew. Through this production, I have kick started my industry network and have been offered to work with many of them in future. Previous to those three days, most of the crew didn’t know each other so it was interesting to listen in to everyone’s separate experiences and gage the path I want to go down. In this write up, I will lay out the jobs that the crew had me doing and what I learned from the experience.
Day 1: 10:30am Call time in Primrose Hill, London. Exterior shoot.
I arrived 2 hours early Pub meeting point due to trains being strangely on time. When we were able to get into the pub, as we had upstairs for equipment, I was able to meet everyone and make a good first impression by helping them and their kit inside through the rain. This was an excellent start as timing on set is everything if you want to build good connections. As everyone was getting set up and acquainted, Rosie asked me to do the rounds of breakfast orders. This gave me a chance to get basic information of who everyone was and I kept lists on my phone of preferences in case there were issues. I’d been given the script and call sheet by Becky, 1st AD, the day before so had spent time trying to learn names and jobs so it was now a chance to attach a name to a face. We had issue with the food orders as not everything that was ordered was delivered but I had my list so was able to look back through and reorder what was missing. My planning made problem solving easier.
The next major job after making everyone comfortable and acquainted was given by Katie, the producer, who sent me to post letters about us filming to all the houses around the block we’d be using. What I found about all the jobs I did is I didn’t second guess anything and just jumped them which was a massive confidence boosted and demonstrated my want to work. This also gave me a chance to see the location before everyone back and I reported anything that could be an issue, including the fact there was a carol concert happening outside in the area when we intended to film in the evening. When I got back, I helped move people and equipment to location, doing many shuttle runs, setting up a gazebo to keep equipment dry, drinks runs and escorting a child actor over.
Shoot began at 11.40ish, slightly later than planned do to the weather but we worked it to our advantage and began. Between shots, I was on duty with an umbrella for Amber. She was really friendly and talked to me about the industry which I didn’t expect as she’s an actress and I just a runner. For the shoot, we got various camera angles of a stairway to a house and it was interesting to see the camera team and cinematographer, who didn’t know each other, work out shots. There were 4 monitors around to see the shot, one of which was for the focus puller which is an area I didn’t know about previously. There are far more jobs on professional sets, especially at larger budgets, that really mean you’re there for one particular task and must stand around a lot of the time. I was told by Becky that I’d be doing way less than I was on a larger production which is strange to me. Being one of two runners that day, there were many things to do that kept me busy. As it was an external location, I was on lock off during the shoot. I wasn’t aware before of how crucial the 1st AD is in calling the day and timings.
Lunch was organised by the pub but during the break it was time for me to run drinks and really socialise and network. I found it strange how quickly everyone cooperated and launched into familiarity. In the evening, I had a look into some of their works so I had questions for them the next day. When it got darker, it was back outside in the dark for a night shoot with a retro car. This was a point where I was intrigued by the lighting set up with various blackouts and bar lights to intensify the street lamps. Here, there was the carols issue but the team were able to time things so we didn’t need audio during that period. Overall, I was able to problem solve, follow direction from Becky and use my initiative to ask to help when needed. This was an excellent first day of work that showed me a glimpse into the industry and relit my spark.
Day 2: 7:30am Call time in Sydenham, London. Interior shoot.
Due to the earlier start and the further distance to travel, I had little faith I’d make the call time but made sure to give myself a spare train in case issues and made it with plenty of time to spare, once again getting lucky with trains but having back up options available. For days 2 and 3 there was another runner, Mia, working with me who also hadn’t worked on a production before. Due to my experience the day before, I was able to help her out with names as she was shyer and we made a good team. The most of the day was spent with Kit, the Production Designer, as we needed to dress the set, turning a modern London living room into a 1960s aesthetic. We had control of this house for two days so were able to move everything around and help Kit create the right shot. There was lots of problem solving involved which got us thinking outside the box. For example, we made a table out of the camera crew’s boxes with a painting laid on top and table cloth. Kit had bought a set of supplies for set decoration but sometimes we had to improvise and use other things we found in the space.
As well as set dressing, I did drink orders which ended up being a Starbucks 10 minutes down the road. I was sent out a few times as well as shopping trips for candles and lighters in a candlelit scene. I needed to budget well and make sure I was quick to support the production. During the candlelit scene, for continuity, we had to blow out the candles between each take so they remained the same height. We also had a bottle of whiskey in the scene which was actually a tea solution that, once again, we would top up for continuity. During this scene, there was also a baby involved so we needed to make sure she would be comfortable and do anything her mum needed.
I couldn’t get involved in the shoot much in the morning as it was in the hallway which was mainly blocked off due to black screens for lighting. The lighting crew used some different techniques that I wasn’t used to. They had a square reflector on a stick that allowed them to cause moonlight shots with ease. It’s interesting to see the film in production and the cheats you take to make things work on screen. Another one of these was the location as we were inside a different house to the exterior shot and the rooms upstairs and downstairs are representing the opposite. During the day, I also helped Katie organise lunch to be bought in and made sure the house was as stated on the rules when we left.
Day 3: 7:30am Call time in Sydenham, London. Interior shoot.
This was the same location and third day working with this crew so I felt I fit in. I received some lovely feedback through Rosie from everyone about how I was doing and overall I was more relaxed. However, this was our busiest day. A lot of the shots we needed to do were inserts. Mainly, we had to use the attic to act as a downstairs room. Our main issue with set dressing was the narrow and windy staircase that we weren’t able to get many items up so there was more improvising. For some of this shoot, we dealt with red haze as a special effect. This day was fairly similar to previous as it was set dressing, food and drink runs, and undressing the set at the end of the day. There were several different situations which made each day completely unique but for this write up there isn’t more necessary detail. At the end of the day, I found it strange that everyone just packed up their stuff and left with no proper goodbyes or anything. Most of them probably won’t work together again as the industry is so fluid but for me this is a base set of contacts who could take me on in future.
Rosie was able to give me the shot list so I can compare the formatting to my own as well as a list of everyone’s contact details. As a first production, I had an incredible and eye opening experience that will inform how I see film going forward, especially in my college context. I feel this is a necessary step for any film student and many don’t experience their first proper set until they’re out of university which doesn’t allow them to truly understand the process. From here, I gained confidence and willing contacts that gives me a boost to look for more work.
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