The Unwritten Rules of a Film Set
Episode 8 of 10
Corporate sets aren’t film sets, and the crew who understand the difference keep getting called back.
More on this: corporate video production.
Transcript
Most video work outside Hollywood isn’t film work at all. You’re in an office at a tech company, or a consumer goods brand, or a real estate firm. They’re not making next summer’s blockbuster, they’re training staff or explaining a product or raising a round. And the crew who understand that difference are the ones who keep getting booked.
The most important thing about a corporate set is that you’re a guest in somebody’s workplace. People are trying to do their jobs around you. Nobody has agreed to be part of a production; they’ve been told there’s filming today.
That changes the etiquette in ways film sets don’t prepare you for.
Be early, obviously, but understand why it matters more here. On a film set an hour of setup is normal. In an office, an hour of you rearranging furniture is an hour of visible disruption, and the client is calculating what this is costing them in staff time while they watch.
Be quiet between takes. On location the crew chatter that’s normal on a closed set carries across a floor of people on calls.
Dress like you belong in that building. Not corporate, but not like you rolled off a music video either. You’re the outside company in their office and people form a view of your client’s judgement based on how you look.
Cultural awareness is the one that separates people who work a lot from people who work once. You’re dropping into an organisation with its own norms, and you don’t know them. Some offices are quiet by default. Some have a floor you genuinely cannot film on. Some have someone who’ll be upset about a cable across a doorway and is completely right to be. Ask at the top of the day rather than discovering it at eleven.
The other habit is telling people what’s happening. Not the client, the people who aren’t part of this. A sentence to the person whose desk you’re about to light, before you light it, buys you the entire day. Skipping it buys you somebody standing behind the camera with their arms folded.
And on conduct between takes, the standard on a corporate floor is higher than a closed set, not lower. On a set everyone’s there for the same reason. In an office you’re the interruption, and the volume you’d think nothing of on a stage carries across a room full of people on calls.
And know who’s in charge, which is rarely the most senior person in the room. There’s usually a marketing manager who owns this project and whose neck is out. They’re your client, not the executive wandering past.
One more, and it’s the one people find hardest. Know when to say the day isn’t working. If the light’s gone, or the subject is struggling, or the schedule has slipped past the point of rescue, the professional move is to say so early rather than push through and hand over something nobody’s happy with. Clients forgive a call made at two o’clock. They don’t forgive discovering it in the edit.
None of this is about being deferential. It’s that conduct on set is part of what a production company sells. We say that on our own site, and we mean it in a specific way. Clients remember whether the day felt organised. That memory decides the next booking more often than the footage does.
And on timing, nobody remembers whether you started on time. They remember whether you finished when you said you would. Running over reads as poor planning even when it’s caused by the client, and the person who has to explain the overrun to their boss is the same person deciding who to book next time.
We’re Luma Creative in San Francisco. We crew up around the Bay all year and we rent gear, so if you’re working out here, find us at lumacreative.com.