Dealing With The Late-Comers

 

While you'd think that cast and crew tardiness would be strictly a problem for volunteer projects, that's not necessarily the case.

Many a low-budget film on a tight schedule has had to rush through scenes thanks to a few people who think that an 8am call time translates into "sometime around eight-ish".

Often these folks don't think that being late is really a big deal. They don't think about the daily expenses and careful planning that goes into shooting even just a short film.

One method that seems to cut down on these problems is to schedule call time at least 15 minutes before you actually need everyone to be there. The extra time allows your cast and crew to grab some coffee and chit-chat while the habitually tardy are more likely to arrive in time to start the day proper.

If you are the director and/or producer, being early is a must. As a rule of thumb you should be the first one in and last one out.

 Another trick to thwart the habitually late cast member is to schedule his/her scenes later in the day and set their call time an hour earlier than you normally would. That way your crew is busy doing something rather than flirting with diabetes with the donuts of the crafty table while waiting to get started.

The possible downside to this is that if someone begins to catch on that they are doing nothing for the first hour or so, it may encourage them to just arrive later anyway.

The hard truth is that you can often identify your troublesome cast or crew members before the cameras start rolling if they are always late to meetings and rehearsals. It may be a very hard call to make, but if you are on a really tight schedule and can't afford to tack on extra hours (or days) to accommodate people who don't seem to care about making people wait around for them, you may want to consider replacing them before you start shooting. 

 

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