Thursday, April 1, 2021

Don't Lose Your Keys!

You know how it goes on the set of a project that has a budget that wouldn't buy a decent meal in L.A.  Everyone is running around doing multiple jobs and eventually that must-have-now item is locked in somebody's car. (Or worse, somebody's car has to be moved) and that somebody is completely indisposed at the moment. 

So the car owner hands over the keys to a very busy PA and by wrap time they have not made it back to the owner. Somewhere there's a PA walking around with several sets of keys in his pocket and with any luck he hasn't already left for the day.

This isn't fool-proof, but investing in a key fob with your name clearly marked on it can save you a lot of headaches.

When that flustered PA realizes that he's jingling around like Christmas and pulls out his new key collection, you'll be among the first people he looks for.

Another keychain trick is to get a bunch of cheap plastic tags from a hardware store and write your name and crew position on them. This is really handy if you  change positions from one production to the next.

In a world where a lot of people drive cars that look the same at a glance, another time-saving tip is to put something visible on your car to identify it as yours.

Just telling the PA that "it's the white Honda" could have him out for quite some time trying your keys in the half-dozen white cars scattered around the location.  There are many people who aren't savvy to make and models too, so saying "It's the white Honda Accord." might not be as helpful as you'd think.

You can get a custom bumper stickers made for around $8.00 (or less) at any number of online print-on-demand shops.  Just attach it to a magnetic strip and slap it on the back of your car when you're working on location.

You can use just your name or get creative with a slogan. Anything that stands out so all you have to tell the PA is the color of the car and what the bumper sticker says.


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