November 28, 2023 • 58 mins
Ever wondered what it takes to pull off a successful film shoot? We had the pleasure of sitting down with assistant director and director, Nick Sasi Romano, who shares his firsthand experience in the film industry. Nick lets us peek behind the scenes, revealing the art of problem-solving that keeps the show running. He shares his unique approach to team management, demonstrating how respect and a positive attitude can be instrumental in creating something cool.
Switching gears, we chat about the contrasts between small grassroots productions and bigger commercial ones. Nick's wealth of experience spans from filming on an indie set to managing large-scale projects. He gives us the lowdown on the unique challenges and rewards each type of production brings. If you're an aspiring filmmaker, you'll want to take notes as we delve into the transition process into the film industry, offering some useful advice on networking, gaining experience, and finding balance.
We also talk about an exhilarating military sci-fi film shot in an abandoned nuclear facility, showcasing the resilience and adaptability required in such demanding situations. Finally, we leave you with a few tips for your next film shoot, focusing on the importance of planning, communication, and time management. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a film enthusiast, this episode has something for everyone. Tune in for an insightful journey into the world of filmmaking.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Vision Maker podcast.
Today we have the chance tospeak with Assistant Director
and Director Nick Sasi Romano.
So pleasure to have you on withus today.
And hey, nick, could you pleaseintroduce yourself to the
audience, give them a littlebackground about yourself, and
(00:22):
yeah, Sure, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
What's up everybody.
I'm Nick.
As stated, I'm an AssistantDirector.
I'm based mostly in New York,born and raised, and yeah, I've
been working in a professionalcapacity in some way in the film
industry for the past six toseven years.
I've dotted around a bunch ofdifferent departments through
that time, but I've now landedon being in AD the last couple
(00:47):
years and it's been a lot of fun.
I work on a variety ofdifferent projects like music
videos, commercials and someshort films and narrative
features when the time arises,and, yeah, we just try to have
as much fun as we can doing it.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Oh, awesome man.
Yeah, I was had a chance to diginto you a little bit and I saw
that you know you've had a lotof fun projects, especially the
last two years or so.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, just about.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I think I think I saw you mention something like 70
projects in 2022.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Right, yeah, just about 70 in 2022, and actually
this year I've just hit 70 now.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
So there's going to be probably a whole nother
quarter, or so my guess is about8590 by the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, oh, that's fantastic.
Yeah, oh man, but that's whatthat's kind of like, the life
we're trying to do here, right?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
As much as we can.
Yeah, try to stay busy.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, and we just say , for a vast majority of those
projects, you were a dean forthem.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, at some point in some level of the AD team,
usually I'm the first, but Idon't obviously turn down any
time being second, second,second or even key PA.
That that's been a lot morerare this year but in previous
years.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Of course, as you're building up 100%.
Yeah, no, awesome, awesome,that's fantastic.
Yeah, ad, that's an interestingone around the film Because I
see a lot of like in a lot ofways you guys really keep those
big sets together Like you guysare really like the glue for the
DP, for the director and likethe whole team as far as keeping
(02:28):
things together.
But you're also like veryconsistently the meme.
You know there's always thestereotype with the AD coming
around things to get things toget right on time.
You know different things likethat.
As far as your experience as anAD, how do you feel like your
(02:48):
interactions with people?
Because I hear, I hear a canbit when it comes to like ADs,
where it's like eithereveryone's stressed and kind of
frustrated with the AD all thetime, like is this just like
orders, orders, orders, or butI've also heard there's some
people is like no, actuallythere's some of them can be
pretty cool too.
So it's like how do you feellike you feel your dynamic with
your teams across all thesedifferent production sets?
(03:11):
Because I've seen you work withsome major brands, some major
artists and also some more local.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, absolutely yeah .
I think that the thing to startwith is obviously just the
stereotype of what you know whatan assistant director is
pulling out.
Even farther than that is likemost people outside the film
industry have no idea what anassistant director does.
Me explaining to my family whatI do like on a daily basis is
like an impossible task becauseI basically have to reduce my
(03:38):
job to like a certain level oflike.
Oh, this is what I do in threesteps, but in fact it's a lot.
And yeah, the big stereotype ofADs is that they're they're loud
, boisterous, they're, you know,constantly yelling at someone's
, you know, always stressingeverybody else out.
And I fully understand thatread and I've know people who
(04:00):
work like that and that istotally their style and if they
get the job done, they get thejob done right, and if someone
wants to hire them for that,that's cool.
My style is a little bit morecasual, but not in terms of
easing the time tension.
It's more of just we couldtreat everybody with respect.
It's not hard to treateverybody with respect.
(04:21):
Everybody is usually here to doa good job and, like you know,
make something cool, and that'sthe thing like.
I try not to attach myself toprojects that I just don't think
will make something cool in theend.
So every single time I'm cominginto something like, okay, if
we get one really cool shot evenout of this, it's worth it.
So let's, let's make sure weget to the fun stuff right.
(04:42):
And obviously, with with beingan AD, you're not only the
person keeping time on set, butyou're also really paying
attention to safety and you'rekind of the liaison for the
production crew and everybodyelse.
Right, you know it's, you'retrying to be this middleman in
the middle of also talking tothe director and everybody else
(05:03):
to try to figure out, like, okay, what's the best thing that we
need right now?
And you can make 800 plans.
I've made pages, long schedulesand two hours it's thrown out
the window because somethinghappened that you're never going
to predict and then you justgot to kind of run with it.
So it's, the job is essentiallybeing a giant problem solver,
and I think that's why I likedit and why I fell into it,
(05:24):
because I've always been a fanof like puzzles and problem
solving and logic and stuff, andso that fit very well with my
personality.
And so coming into this job waslike, oh, I can do that.
I can help solve people'sproblems and help get us to the
finish line, and that's kind ofwhere I've landed on that.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I actually I love one thing you said in there is that
the whole realization of beinga basically a master problem
solver, because I feel like withlogistics, on most things I
come from prior to like reallydoing what I do with the
production company stuff.
I come from an eventsbackground and the one thing I
(06:05):
know about any live production,any live event, it's not if
something goes wrong, it's whensomething goes wrong and that
one thing stops working the wayit should, when that, whatever
the timeline, goes out thewindow pretty quickly.
Usually someone's like whoknows?
And you have to pick it on thespot.
And from what I've learned to isthat production sets are
(06:27):
production sets are no different, and that can really fluster
some people, especially ifthere's something like fully
like scheduled out, like you'vemade the Google sheets, the
Google docs, everyone has theircall sheets, everything like
that, and then the directorcomes in and it's like hey, yeah
(06:48):
, so that's the scene we'regoing to do today.
I don't want to do at all.
We're going to skip forward andgo to do this scene or is like
well, we actually location comesin and says like there's
something going on with thelocation.
We're actually only have it oneday instead of two days, and
you know, like all these things,and you're finding out, like,
as people are arriving, thinkingone thing, and then a lot of it
(07:09):
falls on you, right as to likepivot, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
So how does that?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
how do you, how's your process in that, when those
things really monkey wrench?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, so there's obviously a lot of different
factors and you gave a lot ofexamples before.
What could go wrong, right?
So easiest one is always withmusic videos, especially like
the artist or the talent showsup hours behind schedule.
And you said another one wherethe director is we're shooting
one scene, and I've had ithappen for where we're halfway
(07:39):
through shooting a scene but wewant to get another thing real
quick, so we're going to movethe camera over here and then he
wants to come back.
So, but we got to, we got tocome back, and that's a
ridiculous waste of time but wehave to do it because that's
what the director wants.
All of these things I try to doas much as I can in prep to put
(08:00):
that in the schedule, to try tofigure out, like, ok, if the
artist is someone who's going tocome up late, maybe by you know
, if the reputation is aboutlike an hour or two or more, we
try to put anything that theartist is definitely not in
first, if as much as possible.
If the director has areputation for moving around and
being mobile, that's cool andI'm totally willing to work with
(08:21):
it.
We just have to be as flexiblewith we can.
So I'd be talking to artdepartment and to G&E saying how
many of these sets can weactually get prelit completely
so that way we can be mobile andmove around to set by set?
So it's really just asking theright questions about who, who
and where is the best place tobe given all of the
(08:43):
circumstances.
The thing I tell all ADs thateither I'm talking to, or
training or PAs who are askingme it's mostly all about
questions.
Every single thing about beingan AD is just having your rotary
of questions and just asking asmany of them rapid fires you
possibly can and get as many ofthe answers and retain them.
(09:03):
Retain the answers as much aspossible.
Every time you do a job you'regetting another question.
Whether you know it or not,you're getting another thing to
add to your list.
So it rains during a production.
You've never had it rain duringproduction before.
Okay, cool.
So now you have the list of hey, are we prepared for rain with
(09:24):
pop-up tents and umbrellas?
Does the talent need to beshielded?
Do they need a duplicate set ofclothes if it does rain on them
?
Like all of these things happenjust basically through
experience, but you just getbetter and better as you learn
those questions.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And I feel like that's just an honestly, that's
just a plain important skill asany member of production you
need to constantly be aware of.
Not, you know not, if somethinggoes wrong, when something is
going wrong, how are you goingto pivot?
Because I feel like, even atthe higher levels, it's even
more important than in the sensethat, like, can this guy like
(10:03):
work under pressure?
You know, pivot, is the lighton his feet, adaptable, you know
, because sometimes the talentwants to do one thing.
You know this.
The director, dp, you know, andit's like, can you do that?
And I'm, as someone who's likeas an AD and at the time you
kind of have the pulse on allthe departments, to say the
least, like because you're kindof in charge of making sure that
(10:25):
everyone is where they need tobe, everyone is like working
together.
In that sense, you're themiddle man in a sense, in a lot
of ways.
Yeah, with that Now, but you'vealso worked on smaller
productions, I know.
You know you got stuff withyour band and but you also got
(10:46):
stuff like so we recently hadAnthony Natoli on here and James
Moreno, and I know you'veworked on with their crew for
Sunday, sunday, sunday, and Iknow that was more of a skeleton
crew for the film.
So and other things like that,you know, and, of course, you
have some of your own projects.
(11:07):
So how do you feel is the prosand cons or differences that you
really see from a small, likegrassroots production versus
these bigger commercials thatyou've done for, like New
Balance, nike, spike and allthese guys?
Sure?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
absolutely.
It's just about kind of like,what is the expectation of what
you're trying to get out of it,because everything can be on a
level playing field, and I'msure Anthony and James probably
talk a lot about this, aboutthem being scrappy, them being
kind of like freelance bythemselves and what we were
(11:46):
doing with Sunday Sunday Sundayfor those of you who might not
have seen those episodes SundaySunday Sunday is a movie all
about drag racing, shot oniPhone.
We started shooting that in2016.
And I joined.
I knew Anthony.
We worked together a long timeago now and he brought me in
(12:07):
because I knew he knew I was atthe time studying film.
I was in film school and thatwas it was an interesting way to
start.
My career really is in filmproduction.
It was the first feature I hadreally been on and because it
was like it was everybody'svolunteer.
Actually, everybody was therebecause they wanted to be there,
not because they were expectinga paycheck or really anything
(12:29):
out of it.
They just wanted to helpAnthony make this movie,
including James.
He came down just to make themovie and it was a really cool
environment just to start withfilmmaking, because it was like
this is just people who justwant to make a film, whether
they want to like, elevate andsucceed in film at the end of
the day, who knows?
And I feel like most startingfilmmakers kind of live in a
(12:53):
similar world, where they juststart making, they have their
iPhone or back in the day likean old camcorder and they
started filming things and tryto make something with their
friends and then it grows intokind of more than a passion or
you start making money from itor whatever the path is.
There's obviously hundreds, butyeah, so the difference between
(13:15):
something like that and thebigger productions is just kind
of about scale and expectation.
In my opinion, it's really likewe would show up on a day of
Sunday Sunday, sunday and say,okay, what are we getting, and
we just go for it.
We wouldn't have much prep.
Really, something I tried toask Anthony to do is like,
especially in his continuingprojects, just like, hey, what
(13:36):
are we doing?
Just talk to us about kind ofwhat we're doing.
Obviously, now as an AD, nothaving a schedule going into a
day is like a crazy thought, butyou get a lot done because you
can kind of just go for it withbigger up to union jobs, but
even just like the biggerproductions that I've worked on,
(13:56):
you need a lot of time.
You just need a lot of preptime to just kind of talk it
through, because there are, youknow, at minimum, like sometimes
40 to up to 80 to 100 peoplethat's not even really ever
including talent.
Like you're talking aboutorganizing all of these people
and making sure not only do theyknow what's happening but they
(14:17):
know what's happening in themoment to continually adapt.
Like you are Right, it's onething for me to adapt to a thing
that gets thrown by the wayside, but it's another thing for me
to then update the 100 peoplethat need to also know what's
happening in the shoot.
You know there are some, somelevels of productions where you
can just kind of point thecamera, shoot something and move
(14:37):
around.
That's fun and that's typicallywhat we're actually really.
Where I enjoy Most is when wecan kind of be a little scrappy
with it, a little run and gun,because we can invent things and
we could be a little bit morecreative and I can help suggest
things and I can help make thethings happen.
But there is a level ofstructure and hierarchy when it
(14:57):
comes to the bigger productionsthat you know you will get
things To get like.
You are getting the plan andyou are.
You will shoot what is writtenwhen you're on that level of
production.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Got it, got it, yeah.
No, I can only imagine, likeyou said, like a hundred plus
people, yeah, you have to.
It's like because then it'slike, that's not.
I don't even think that'spossible to organize a day of
Very effectively at least.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, it's.
Um, it can be challenging thethings I've been dealing with a
lot recently.
There was a production I was ona semi recently.
It was about a 50 person crewand then there were 80 extras on
top of that.
So you're not only trying totell the 50 person crew like hey
, we need to be in this setup bythis time, but then you're also
(15:46):
saying like hey, 80 extras, Ineed you to perform this action
in camera and do it so that waywe can get done by this with the
scene by an hour from now.
Right, yeah.
It's just about ever keepingeverybody unified, and the only
way to really do that, I think,in my opinion, effectively is to
again treat everybody withrespect and just kind of keep,
(16:08):
keep the Positivity up, like hey, this is a difficult job,
completely like no matter whatposition you're in, it's
difficult, so as long as we cansay positive about it and like,
hey, we can get it, let's justKeep it.
Keep it focused, though, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I like the, the key points I kind of got from that.
We're, um, you know, obviouslyunderstand what the goal is for
the day.
You know this is, this is whatwe're trying to do, this is the
goal, this is what we're tryingto end up with by the end of the
day.
This is what we're all workingtowards, you know.
And then, but also having Clear, concise communication and just
(16:48):
treating people like people.
I mean, it's always been thecommon thread you want to treat,
you want to just be a goodenergy.
You know people respond well tothat, people more likely to
listen to that, and of courseyou're you're dealing with a
million different personalitiesall at the same time and a lot
of this stuff is gettingtrickled down, I'm sure, and so.
(17:10):
Of course, the clearer you canbe, the more effective in
communication you can be, themore the more things become
streamlined, the less need torepeat and less chance of things
getting skewed in the directionthat you don't need it to go in
totally yeah, I say I mean it'san obvious fact.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
But the AD is kind of just like the manager On the
set right, like any othermanager position at any retail
store or food service oranything like.
It's the same type of Job whereyou're managing a bunch of
people, you're making sure thatthe thing that you're all
working to do is working andthat you can get through the end
of the day Effectively and nothave to close later, whatever.
(17:47):
So it's, it's a similar, it's asimilar structure.
Yeah, and it's justcommunication is everything?
Just sure that everybody knowswhat you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
So to track back a little bit, you mentioned, when
you were talking about Sunday,sunday, sunday, how it was Kind
of your your start, it was yourfirst feature and it was kind of
like where you really, I guess,boasted your, your industry.
I wanted to ask like reallylike, how was that, like how
well, how did you get startedreally in the industry?
(18:20):
And secondly, like how did youfall into becoming a first aid
AD, primarily?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, so through Through.
This goes back, but it isimportant through high school.
I was in a Video club through.
The high school is kind of likethe video news program that
most high schools it seemed tohave.
But we did a lot of like coolentertainment segments and Nice,
we always trying to dosomething new, like a little bit
(18:50):
of sketch comedy, a little bitof news.
I hosted the news like theschool news segment, but At the
end of the day I was the personalso putting the whole thing
together and kind of like an aspider-man, where you see the
little newscast, yeah right.
Yeah, essentially.
So I did a lot of that throughhigh school so I was already.
It wasn't like I just kind ofhit the ground running just
(19:10):
because I liked film.
I had been editing Basicallyfull-time, a 15 minute piece
every two weeks.
So I was in the kind ofworkflow cycle.
Even just through doing schoolregular schoolwork, and and
Right in the interim periodbetween high school and the
beginning of college I startedpicking up a couple of extra
(19:32):
like editing gigs and editingjobs and that was kind of how I
got my break in just a littlebit with people who were who
were doing some film projectsand I was like, oh, this is cool
.
As I said, I met Anthony throughone of my former jobs and we
started doing that stuff, but itdidn't really go anywhere Until
after I really kind of leftschool.
(19:53):
School for me was Everythingkind of.
I went in kind of just wantingto be a director and that's what
a lot of people who do film Ithink want to be.
I don't think anybody goes intoschool Wanting to be a gaffer.
I could be wrong about that,but most of the people that I
Went into school with wanted tobe a director or they wanted to
be a screenwriter.
(20:13):
Which is totally cool and Ifully understand that, and so
did I.
I fell into that same category,right.
But through some of the classesI went to Brooklyn College, by
the way and through some of theclasses that I took there, I
started to realize like, oh,there's, there's a lot of other
things that you can actually doon set.
That was never explained to me,and one of the classes was
taught by this guy, tom Riley.
(20:35):
He was a union first assistantdirector.
He is, I guess, a union firstassistant director.
He worked on like 19 of WoodyAllen's movies and he did a
bunch of other movies on top ofthat.
And he had a class which Ididn't know really he might
treat all of his classes likethis, but the class I took from
him was just called currentcinema and criticism, which
(20:59):
sounds like it's just like yougo to the movie theater, watch a
movie and you talk about it.
But it wasn't that.
It was.
He showed movies that he hadworked on and then talked about
how he Scheduled them and likelogistically, plan them all out.
And that was like an eye-openerclass for me, because I was
like, wait, this is a whole job,like the the ad has previously
(21:21):
on Through all my other shortfilms that I'd done through
school were really just like theperson that just kept the day
moving then Taking this classwas.
It was an eye-opener andreading his books and saying
like wow, okay, there's actuallya lot to this and I've always
been kind of in the leadershiprole in a bunch of different
situations, so I've said thatsounds like a cool job.
(21:42):
I want to kind of pine for that.
So Like for a couple years Iwas just doing like right at the
tail end of school I was doingjust whatever I could to get on
set.
I did sound for a while that waslike my majority of my work to
be on set.
But I also did like I gaffed, Igripped, I did everything but
(22:02):
camera.
Basically I just I got myselfout there and I got enough on
enough sets with enough peoplethat I got the word back that
like hey, I'm actually like I Ilearned to be an ad.
Like I Trained under a couplepeople.
Like I would love to give adinga shot with your next
production.
(22:24):
I took a couple free gigs and Ithink that that's like taboo for
some people, that taking freegigs of just to do it Right, but
I did it at the jump because Ididn't really have any other
option of how to like get to theposition I wanted to and it and
it.
It won't work for everybody andI can't make that a blanket
statement, but it did work forme because I did enough free
gigs and specifically forcertain people I did free gigs
(22:46):
enough where then people werelike, oh I just want to hire you
because you did a good enoughjob, that on ABC production,
that I'm gonna hire you.
Foot going forward.
And then just from there wasthe network.
Just network grew.
I meant more and more and moreand more and more and more
people and more people juststarted recognizing me as the ad
or a person who can be trustedas an ad.
And now we're at the pointwhere just you know it's, it's
(23:10):
full-time ad ad work.
So really to summarize, it waslike I did a bunch of work in a
bunch of other departments, fromediting and sound and all that
stuff, tried to find my footingon set, found what I wanted to
do, and then Kind oftransitioned when I knew the
moment was right or I wanted toget out of the departments I was
already working in.
Yeah, that's, that's, that'sthe start.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Well, no, that's great and it sounds like it's a.
In a big part, it's a ton ofnetworking, of course, yeah, a
ton of, you know, putting yourbest foot forward.
And yeah, like you said, thefree, the free gig type of thing
.
I know it's such a sensitivetopic for some people, but it's
honestly a reality for a lot ofpeople.
(23:54):
In the beginning, you know,yeah, I think people are just.
You know, yeah, I think peoplejust get messed up.
That's like you shouldn't justcontinue to do it.
You know it's a goal is to getsome footing down and then you
work your way out of it you knowyou can't get exploited by it.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I think that's the biggest thing is you don't, you
can't let yourself just fallinto the trap of like, oh, I'll
get a job eventually that willactually give me you know, pay
me back because you know it'scool and it's it's art for
everything, but it also is mylivelihood.
I make you know.
Yeah, my job is being anassistant director, so I have to
, I have to weigh those, thosecosts now, and I think the thing
(24:32):
with that, with the, the freegigs, is like the, the, you have
to know what your limit is.
You kind of to know you have toplay.
Play the cards.
If you think it's gonna helpyou, if you're working with a
client or a director or someonethat you really are interested
in, like, yeah, it might beworth it.
But you have to, you have to,you have to be very careful.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
You really have to, like you said, wave what you're
getting out of it, like yeah,like sometimes, yeah, there's
sometimes the way to think aboutit.
So it's not free.
It's more of a barter, like areyou getting portfolio piece out
of it?
Are you getting a chance tomake a connection?
You're getting a chance to belike oh, I've worked with
so-and-so you know this or thatwould be a good learning
experience.
(25:15):
You know, yeah, or a chance tolearn or do you get a chance to
prove yourself to a person whootherwise you wouldn't get the
time of day from you knowhundred percent.
So no, I think that's smart, Ithink, and then just that's
that's great to hear.
I love how you describe that.
Like you know, that classitself almost sounded.
(25:35):
It sounded like a master class.
Honestly, like really to getlearned for someone in the field
and then go and break downtheir own work is Definitely
like a unique environmentcompared to the typical
Experience in a classroom whereyou have a teacher talking about
everybody else's work and goingthrough the textbook.
So those are, like, honestly,my favorite type of teachers.
(25:56):
I I personally went to schoolfor audio and Definitely my
favorite teachers were the oneswho were working professionally
While they were also teaching,you know, because they always
brought that real-worldExperience into the classroom
and I think those teachersalways make a big difference.
But, yeah, no, and it's such asmall world compared to some of
(26:20):
the people we know.
One thing also I would love tohear a bit about, like so I know
you also have your own band,just like Indie Rock, sal.
I really dig it, and you've donesome music videos for it too as
well, but I'm pretty.
(26:40):
I'm also a musician of my ownband out here on Long Island and
I'm curious to hear, because Iknow for me, my Musicianship, my
view of music.
I'm an audio engineer bybackground, so it's also funny
how to hear that you did somesound Yourself and, of course,
usually I think, feel like oncewe you're trying to become a
(27:02):
musician, you end up becomingsomewhat an audio engineer.
Yeah, but how has that informedyour work as an AD, because I
know how it's informed my workas a cinematographer, as a VP,
is director, on how I viewcertain processes and editing
and my creative aspect.
It's, I feel, music, it's ownlanguage.
(27:24):
So I feel like once you learnthe language it starts to come
out through other things andinform other decisions and
creative outlets.
Especially so I'm curious tohow your musicianship, how your
music and all that has, alsoTranscend it into your line of
work, or has it not at all?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, it has.
It's in interesting ways,though it's not really how you
think I am little plug.
My band's name is slumber, it'sSLM BR and yeah, so I think the
the music side of my life haskind of become just the creative
expression side, because ADingis really less of a creative job
(28:04):
Compared to most jobs in film.
The music has kind of been likethe outlet for for creative
expression and it's always beenthat for me.
I've been writing music since Iwas like 14, 15, but the it's
really now become like thenumber one for that.
But in terms of helping me forfor ADing, it's actually just
(28:26):
kind of given me Almost like anin in certain places or just
kind of talking about languageto people.
So there are things that I know, because I've been playing on
stages as a band for like sevento eight years, that most I
Would assume most ADs won't knowor most production might not
know.
Like just you know you shoot itat a stage venue.
(28:49):
I'm gonna know certain thingsabout what I, what are they,
what's there, what the back lineis like, what I'm expecting to
walk into when I show up at thatat that venue.
But even just talking to artistsfor music videos.
Like just having a conversationwith them, just musician to
musician and I don't plug myband to, like you know, the top
ten artists that I work with butjust kind of being able to have
(29:12):
a conversation about like, hey,do you actually like if they're
doing a performance scene andthey, they need some sort of,
some sort of playback option forthemselves, like being able to
have a, have a conversationabout that.
Like saying, yeah, you know, Iknow you might want headphones
for this, or you know this istoo loud, or you know you need
more on the left side or likethe speaker for some reason is
(29:33):
only panning the left side andit's not panning the right side
so they can't hear the vocals.
Like well, the little stuff thatI know just doing band and
music, that that stuff does comein handy, but it's like the
little tidbits, like everythingelse that I do, it's like the
little trivia that helps kind ofbring my position to the next
level.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
I totally, I totally hear that, because it just gives
you that extra level connection.
Like you said, especiallyworking with music videos, I
feel like as any person onproduction Working with an
artist the second you can kindof communicate in their language
.
They also just immediately likeRelax a little more.
(30:13):
Yeah, because I think, becausesometimes, because they all they
know is that so they're tryingto talk to you in your language
and they're struggling, but whenyou can meet them on their
level, they're also like oh, oh,you know, you know, you know,
you know, and it's, and itdefinitely helps make things
flow easier and better, becausethen they feel more comfortable
telling you as they would say it.
(30:34):
And Then, of course, you canalso now you become more of an
asset to communicate to theother people on the crew.
You know almost translate funnyenough, you know yeah.
Yeah, no, I definitely can seethat and plus, I think people
can always relate to Musiciansand like when people, that's
(30:55):
always a connecting point, Ifeel with people.
It's like, oh, you play music.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yeah, there's art, isn't?
It's not a contained box.
You're never gonna work onsomething and then just like, oh
, that's it.
You know just gonna keep it inthis little hole and just that's
, that's it doesn't affectanything?
No, of course not.
Like painters are seeing thethings that they want to paint
in real life, or you know justabstractions of what they're
going to paint in real life.
And you know, as a songwriter,I'm walking down the street in
(31:21):
work, I'm coming up with littlelike the amount of times that
I've written a single lyric Justfrom something that either
happened or I saw it work.
Just I type it in the notes appand just keep moving on.
Right, so it works in theopposite way too, right?
So you know the the filmmakingis influenced by the people who
are around them.
And if these people that aroundthem not not just me, but the
(31:41):
artists on set, or just thetalent, the models, all these
people that are artistic people,inherently it's gonna color.
It's gonna color the discussionin a certain way, and that's
kind of why I like New York isJust operating and living and
working in New York is there'sso many creative people and
working on set.
As I said, I did a job with 80extras.
(32:01):
Like, all of these people arecreative people in some way.
Yeah, even if the only thingthey do is modeling, they're
still modeling in in for a musicvideo.
Right, let's say there, it'sjust it.
There's constantly creativity.
Sometimes you can get run intotrouble because then everybody
has an artistic thing to say andeverybody has a creative thing
to push, but it generally it'spositive because, again, most
(32:24):
people are trying to makesomething that's cool.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
At the end of the day , yeah, there's that, there's
that undertow Common alley justflowing and it's a synergy
because everyone's, you knowit's like, hey, we're all in
here because from one to onelevel or another, there's a
level like a creative person whowants to try to Make a living
out of that To a certain degreeor another Is there, it.
(32:49):
Is there any particular project?
I know you've had amazingopportunities to work with a ton
of brands and artists this year.
Is there any particular projectfrom this year that you're,
particularly we're we're veryexcited to be a part of or are
very excited to be a part ofcurrently?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Yeah, totally.
There's so much stuff.
I do a lot of really funprojects.
I mean a lot of reallyinteresting people.
It's kind of cheating becauseit was December 2022, but that
is still technically within thelast 12 months.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I'll give it to you.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, we'll take it right.
One of the things I'm mostexcited to finally share with
people when it's done.
I did a.
I did a fan project Turned intofeature film, basically called.
It's called stalker.
The subtitle is shadow of thezone.
It was a crowd-funded projectthat kind of became this, this
(33:54):
big film project.
It was pitched to me as a shortbut, as per our, as per our
production members, I won't saymore than this.
But it's it's.
It's not short.
And reading the script when Iread there so, like this is not
a short film and it's excellent,I'm glad we did it, but we
basically the.
(34:14):
The project ended up being wewent down to South Carolina for
three and a half weeks and weshot a, we shot a, we shot a
movie.
We shot a movie in SouthCarolina, one location on an
abandoned nuclear facility,which was kind of an interesting
location to be on.
We lived on the campus.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
In South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
It's.
It's basically become.
It's basically become like agovernment training facility.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
They use it for like tactical Things and when you say
nuclear, you mean like a powerplant, or do you mean yeah, like
they it was?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
it was Shut down, I think in the 70s or the 80s or
something like that, but it was.
It's a wild location with a lotof really cool looks for the
property and for the film thatwe were going for.
But yeah, it's a, it was amilitary sci-fi film and we just
lived that film.
We lived it.
So, again, we lived on thecampus, there was nothing around
and we were almost completelyisolated, with the whole crew
(35:11):
there, and it was Stressful ashell.
I got COVID on the job and wekept working through it because
we had to and he had no otheroption and and it was.
It was a lot of fun.
It was really cool.
We did some stuff that weshouldn't have been able to pull
off, given our crew size andour budget and all that stuff
(35:35):
and and the time we, we, we shotin it was, it was three weeks,
we were there, basically total,and we did not have a Lot of
leniency on that.
And it was we, we, we gotthrough it and it was.
I can't I'm trying to avoid,like some of the yeah.
Yeah specific details, but theproject should be out semi soon.
(35:56):
From what I'm being told and II have not seen a single thing
basically from it.
I've seen a frame or two andall of the cast is is so great.
They're always posting BTSphotos, but it's the thing I'm
like most excited to see thatI've worked on.
It's like one of the featuresthat I've done that feels like
wow, this was like an effort,but we we got it like we locked
(36:18):
that in.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
That's awesome, awesome.
Yeah, I'm already sold militarysci-fi right up my alley done.
But, um, oh, that's so cool.
You know, it's always funny tome how I'm Asking this question,
like most of the time it's thatproject that was like
Crowdfunded.
You know, everyone got together.
It's not the biggest orcraziest screw, but it's like,
(36:44):
yeah, we just did this in threedays or we did this and like,
really like crazy circumstancesand you guys just put everything
you had on the field and itmakes the most exciting Projects
.
And sometimes you you surpriseyourself when you're under that
kind of pressure and then, I'msure, getting sick on the job
(37:05):
and everything.
But you guys were already stucktogether, so, yeah, so, since
you guys are all isolated, youwere basically quarantining,
quarantine anyways, yeahessentially.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Yeah, we, the we were , we were down, down in it.
A couple of a couple of the keycrew members got COVID and it
was.
It was a little bit tough, butwe were in the woods for like
the majority of what we weredoing, so we just stayed back.
I called it from you know, safeCOVID, safe distance away?
Yeah, basically, and I don'tuse a megaphone, that's like one
(37:36):
of my big things, I try reallymake a phone Basically ever.
Yeah, I that's a huge stigma forme, like I think.
Unless it's absolutelynecessary, I try not to use it
because I think that if you'retrying to command attention,
people should actually listen toyou and not hear like a
bullhorn or whatever.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
I got you.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
It's a personal thing , but I just I like not using it
, so that way people can kind oflike hear me and they're
looking for the person actuallytalking.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
That's respectful.
Yeah, I get that.
I get that.
It's like, um, it reminds me ofwhen teachers are like you know
, they refuse to speak up.
So it's like, well, I'll waittill you guys are at a talking
volume.
I'm really continued class,yeah, but no, it's, it's a.
It's a smart psychologicalthing.
I dig that.
What was the?
(38:21):
What would you say is probablythe, and so when does that
release, by the way, you know?
Speaker 2 (38:27):
It was, I was told, a premier date, and then it did
not happen.
So we're waiting.
We're waiting, standing by forit.
I'm very excited for it, whichis why it still falls within
these 12 months we're gonna.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Where can people keep track of it?
So that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I believe if you just go, if you, if you find stalker
shadow of the zone it, they allthe updates should be.
I think they mostly dokickstarter Updates and stuff
that they have to okay.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Awesome.
What would you say, is probablythe biggest crew you've ever
had to work with.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Oh boy um Biggest crew size.
Uh, Probably, I think, thebiggest I've had like.
Under me First is like a 70, 75, which?
Speaker 1 (39:20):
is a lot it.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
I haven't gotten to the triple digits yet.
That's really like the unionlevel stuff.
Like, yeah, any project I'veever been on that really
requires that many people.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, but yeah, I mean, 75 is still pretty big.
It's a lot to think about for alike Was that for like, a
commercial or for a two-dayshoot?
Yeah, there's a two-daycommercial shoot.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
A lot of g&e.
That's really why, like, youstart to balloon the numbers
when you have 15 members of g&eOn the shoot, and then you start
to like, start breaking it down.
You have 20 p A's, or you knowit's like you start to get crazy
yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Yeah, okay, wow, yeah , 20 p A's.
But.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
I gotta get those lockups.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that's a crazy number.
So and um, but commonly whatwould you say is like the
average crew size for most ofthese.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Uh, For non-union productions that I work mostly
in and around, I'd say theaverage crew size is anywhere
from like 35 to 45 somewhere inthat range Like that's, that's
kind of common.
I, I do, you know I'll.
I'll take jobs that are Eightpeople, eight to 12 people, and
we're just kind of runningaround the city.
I get a lot of those,especially with new york.
(40:36):
People just want to see thecity right.
They just want to go throughbrooklyn and minhat and just
kind of see as many of theskylines and the cool iconic
things as possible.
So I'll get a lot of the shootswhere it's just like, hey, just
, we just want to see, if it's acommercial, the product and
this you know, or if it's amusic video, the artist in this
space and just live in in newyork like I do a lot of that
(40:58):
stuff.
But the stuff that's not that,or maybe a little bit more in
studio or bigger setups or moreelaborate things.
Yeah, typically around 35 to 45.
Um, but you know it again.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
it scales, scales, yeah, production needs of course
.
Yeah, okay, no, awesome, um,yeah.
With that I mean like so as afirst ad, you know.
So you're trying to, obviously,I guess, as the crew scales up,
you're probably your prep timescales up.
I mean, in a lot of ways I meanyou got a batman, this stuff a
(41:30):
lot, yeah, um.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Yeah, prep time is an interesting is an interesting
game because, um, I try to getas much of it as I can.
I try to.
I try to plan for as much of itas I can.
I do get a lot of my workWithin a week or two of the job
that happens, so I don'ttypically get a lot of, uh, a
ton of lead.
Um, one of the features thosehave been those are always like
(41:55):
the things that have the mostprep time.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Um, yeah, because those have to have the scripts
already laid out.
Yeah, they do a ton of pre-profor those things, but 100, and
that's why I like doing features.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
Basically more than anything, because I can give
myself the time to kind of likeSit down and go through it all.
Besides, the fact thatstructurally for Planning out a
feature is kind of one of thethings I like most about the job
, um, just kind of being able toshuffle things around and
problem-solving that way, um.
But in terms of other prep time, it's really.
It's really an interesting game, um, because prep days can land
(42:32):
on scout days for other jobs orhey, this client is only going
to be in town the day beforethis job, and now we got a scout
like literally 12 hours beforethis job happens.
But oh wait, I am still shootingon something else, and so we
have to figure it out.
I I've recently, especiallythis year, have run into that a
(42:56):
lot.
Um, and it's, it's been aninteresting challenge to kind of
Problem-solve.
Yeah, sometimes I know other edswill like have a second and
they'll put their second on thescout Um so that way they can
relay the information back tothe first Um I've seconded.
I've been the scout person tobe the second on the actual day
of the job.
Um, I've done every version ofit.
(43:17):
It's really just about whatdoes the job actually require
and how much Can you possiblyget out of it.
I just try to talk to theproducer and the director as
soon as I possibly can Witheverything and just kind of
again ask all those questionsabout how much you can get out
of it Everything and just kindof again ask all those questions
that I possibly can, firstbefore we even talk about being
(43:38):
there on location or do anythinglike that, and then when we get
to location scout it's likeokay, so we know what we're
talking about.
Now let's kind of like put itall in context basically.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
It's always a battle to get as much prep time as I
can for some of these, with someof these productions.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
No, 100%.
I mean, um, actually, you knowsomething that would even help
me as someone who is constantly,you know, dealing with multiple
departments.
You know, and a lot of theheads of these departments, like
your director, your dp, your,the lead electric, the lead
(44:16):
gaffer, all these guys right,sound, um, because everyone and
the actors and stuff I had inthe casting director and those
people who are super supervisingum, what is it?
What are maybe some of thethings you kind of wish they
would already have unlocked thatwould make your life easier,
(44:38):
like I'm sure that there'smultiple times that you have to
like almost make sure you're ontop of From certain people, to
be like because you know it'sgoing to interfere with what
you're doing.
And I feel like, becausesometimes I get this feeling, um
, we usually do smaller crews,so sometimes I am, we're doing
(45:01):
our own directing and dp'ingsimultaneously and I know
sometimes it's like With some ofmy regular season guys, they
kind of already know how I likecertain things and different
things like that, so so it'slike they're already kind of on
top of certain details, butyou're popping in, of course,
with different people all thetime, and so it's like if there
(45:22):
is there things that you feellike you know make the day go
smoother If the dp or the cameraops already had this on lock
ahead of time, or the directorkind of had to sell, or the
script supervisor or whatever,um, what do you feel like?
Some of those things that waslike you know that this would be
, this would be helpful, youknow, make everybody like, if
(45:42):
you want to be a dp, that everyad comes in contact and loves
you because you're like, oh, Ialready got on lock, like what
are those things?
If you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
Yeah, I have a couple um, and none of them all of
them are in good faith Um ofcourse, of course always.
Number one is always read thecall sheet.
You'd be surprised at how manypeople don't read the call sheet
enough to know like what stuffI've specifically put in there.
So that way, like it answersquestions that people might have
had before the whole call sheet.
Yeah, read usually the callsheet that I put out.
(46:13):
If I, if I'm doing this callsheet, there's a schedule on it
or at least like a reducedschedule.
So at least we have the orderof events, locations and stuff.
So all the easy basic questionsare out of the way, right?
Um, and then kind ofsupplementally, like the shot
list and the schedule, like readthe schedule that I have
hopefully spent a ton of timeputting out and creating, and
(46:37):
then the shot list is not for me, but anybody who works with me
knows I have to bully the shotlist from them, from the lowest
to the biggest productions.
I've had trouble getting a shotlist in my hands accurately to
the time of production.
So that's like my number onething Like I just need.
(46:57):
All I wanna know is what youwanna shoot.
I'll make it happen.
No matter what you give me, Iwill try to make it happen.
But I need to know what yourexpectation of the day is,
because if you give me a shotlist that has 80 shots and it's
a one day shoot, it's not gonnahappen, or at least it's gonna
be.
We're gonna have to move eithervery quickly or we're gonna
have to shoot it in a way thatis a little bit more flexible
(47:21):
than maybe you were anticipating, right, like that's.
It's a third of my repertoireof how to approach a job.
Is that shot list my only otherlike?
I guess not only, but I guessone of the other things I could
say to most departments is just,people giving me accurate times
, right, knowing your job enoughto know how much time to give
me.
(47:42):
Another big AD stereotype isjust like walking up to the
genie guy standing on a ladderand saying like 15 minutes and
then walking away and it's like,well, that didn't help anybody.
Like that didn't help youbecause you're looking bad in
front of them.
You didn't ask them how longthey needed, right?
So, and if this doesn't work,so for me it's like asking the
keys, like the keys of everydepartment hey, how much time do
(48:04):
you need?
And obviously, if it changes orfluctuates, that's fine.
It happens all the time andthings change and whatever.
But if X department tells me,hey, 10 minutes, and then I come
back in 10 minutes and thenthey're like, oh, actually 30.
It's like, well, that was a badestimate.
Like what happened between thelast 10 minutes that changed it
(48:26):
to triple the time that you toldme.
So just knowing your departmentand your job enough just to
communicate accurate with me.
I'll be cool with you no matterwhat you tell me.
I just want to know the numberso that way I can kind of like
build the rest of the daybecause I can shuffle things
around right If we have a bloodwound coming from all the way
down your arm, all the way hereand I estimated that for an hour
(48:48):
and we talked about it to be anhour and then we get there on
the day and we realize, oh wait,the skin isn't gonna like it's
not gluing correctly.
I've had this happen exactlybefore.
It's actually gonna be like atwo and a half hour move.
Great, cool, I want to makethis happen.
I want this to look dope whenwe go out and get it in camera.
What else can we shoot?
What else can we rotate thedate around to get this thing
(49:10):
here?
I'm not gonna wait two and ahalf hours for big blood gash as
long as I don't have to.
So it's accurate times or like akiller on set if I don't get
those as often as I can, but itworks both ways.
Like I have to communicate thatwith the crew Like, hey, I
really need this is my timeparameter, this is what I'm
(49:31):
looking to get done before lunchor within this period of the
day.
Can this happen?
And if the answer is no, wehave to redirect.
And ideally most of thishappens before we're even there,
on before the shoot day orshoot days.
But if we get to the day and werealize that's really not
possible, how do we adjust?
(49:52):
What can we do?
Yeah, and that just talks withthe director, the producers and
everybody around.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
No, I think.
I mean, I think all those arereally great points.
I think it really comes down toagain, infective communication,
but in the sense that, likeyou're putting things out there
to smooth the day out as far asthe schedule call sheet,
different things like that.
So of course, if people arecoming back to you with
(50:22):
questions that were answeredpreviously already in those
sheets, you know it slowseverything down, because then
you're trying to reiteratesomething that you've already
have the document for, you know,and they're now like why aren't
they in position?
They didn't know they had to be.
It's like because it's on theschedule, but they didn't look
that far because they thoughtthey only had this position.
(50:42):
So they saw their name, it'shere, that's it.
That's all they saw.
But of course it doesn't worklike that, I feel like.
So I think that's definitely asa crew member in general.
If you're just fully aware ofwhat the day is supposed to look
like, then you look like avaluable asset on any crew.
I think.
If you're already on top oflike, oh yeah, I know the whole
(51:02):
schedule, I know you're whereeverybody else is supposed to be
too.
It's like the shot list thingis an interesting point, but I
can definitely see that that is100% like your, your a lot of
your decisions are dependent onthat.
So, definitely, being on top ofthat and knowing your job well
(51:28):
enough to give realistic times,and also, I think that also
plays into I think people tendto try to underestimate and over
deliver because they want to,they want you to not look at
them badly and they, they getthat.
Self-consciousness is like, oh,I'm not the bad actor here, so,
(51:51):
but what really happens is whenyou can't deliver on the time,
you say, then you become the badactor without, when you're
trying to avoid it.
But it's even better if you sayit's going to take me an hour,
but it took you 45 minutes, andit's like, great, 15 minutes
ahead of time, like, but you'retrying to just problem solve.
You're not like trying toattack anyone, it's just like I
(52:13):
just need to know so I can, likeyou said, we can shift this
whole thing over.
It's like, oh, I can get, okay,now I know if I have to wait an
extra hour.
It's like, well, I have enoughtime actually to do this now, so
we're going to go do this, youtake the time you need.
Finish that, because we're ateam, we're trying to work
together and make this thinghappen as best as possible, and
(52:34):
I'm going to try to hinder yourjob, so.
But of course, you can't dothat effectively if you're
getting ineffective times forsure.
Speaker 2 (52:44):
So the yeah, I say it to everybody all the time like
we're here to make art and Ijust want to get you to see the
family or eat dinner at hometonight.
You know it's like it's it'sit's very easy, but it's just
like the general structure ofthe day only works if we can do
that and there's a big asteriskon everything.
I just said the only thing islike people who've worked with
me multiple times know the drill.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
And they get the vibe quickly, like if I'm walking up
to them, they know what theyanswer, you know, they know what
question I'm about to ask them,that kind of thing.
Yeah, it's like a saying likethe season Big shout out to
everybody who, yeah, big shoutout to my, to my frequent flyers
, on my, on my regular crew,that everybody knows who you are
.
Respect everybody.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Awesome, awesome.
So what do you feel?
What does the future look likefor you?
What is the direction you'retrying to head in, ultimately,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
So it's an interesting question.
It's one I ask myself daily.
I, I I've seen myself a D for along time.
I like the job a lot and Iwould love to do bigger and
bigger projects, Like I wouldlove to eventually be an AD on,
like an action movie.
Some of the stuff I've I'vegotten tastes of it I've done
fight, choreography, I've donecar stuff.
(53:56):
You know I've done some stuffin in my role and I've been very
thankful to.
But I want to do bigger andbigger stuff and I I'd love to
get to the level where I'm doingsome crazy blockbuster film.
That'd be just cool to do atleast once.
Right.
But I also it's a very stressfuljob and my partner doubles me
(54:18):
on on some of the stuff whereshe's concerned about this
statistic.
But it's an unfortunatestatistic that, like ADs, don't
have a huge life expectancy.
It's a terrible.
It's a terrible stat but it's.
It's a very stressful job andit gets to you and I feel it now
at my age, which is relativelyyoung, and I know that I don't
(54:42):
want to just burn myself out for, you know, 30, 40 years just
doing this like nonstop,especially because I've already
been doing it, basically rightthis, even before I finished
school I was doing productionworks.
I don't want to just go full,full ramp all the time.
One of the goals I would havefor myself is like direct a
(55:03):
little bit, write and direct todoing my own things.
It was subbing out between ADing, so like when I'm not actually
in progress shooting somethingof my own, I'm ADing.
And then when I can, or when Ihave the next project ready to
go and I'm like, yeah, I feelgood about this, taking some
time and doing some directing orsome music or whatever feels
(55:24):
natural to me, but just beingable to still feel like I have
that creative outlet, like Ialways have that creative center
.
Because, again, ADing is it canbe creative, but it's not as a
job.
You're not looking at it like.
You're not being asked as an ADto input creativity.
You're going to be there,You're probably going to give
(55:46):
creative solutions to problems,but it just comes with the
territory.
I'm sorry.
So, yeah, I always want to makesure that there is that
alternate for me at some point,just to flip off, Just be like
hey, you know what I just gotoff of a six month feature.
(56:07):
I'm going to go and write fortwo months just to do something,
just to kind of be in aseparate space.
I love that and that to me feelscomfortable for me in my future
.
As of now I don't know.
Life and family might changethat Never know, Then we get a
whole different situation.
Speaker 1 (56:23):
Yeah, I absolutely love that.
I mean, I feel very similar tojust like always maintaining
that creative outlet, becausewhen work is still work, even if
you're on the creative side,you know what are you doing for
somebody else.
It's their creative.
It's not your creativeessentially, but it's still.
It's just maintaining that foryourself, I think.
(56:46):
So it's an important part of aholistic life.
So I love that and definitely,of course, like you know,
exploring other avenues, likeyou said, taking a step by step.
Yeah, no, with all that, I dowant to thank you for coming on
today.
I think we have.
I could be asking you like amillion more questions.
(57:08):
Honestly, there's so many greatprojects.
Speaker 2 (57:10):
You ask whatever you want.
I know you have your time too,but you can ask me whatever
you'd like.
Speaker 1 (57:15):
No, I appreciate that , but that is the time we do
have for today, so I appreciateyou coming on.
You, please, real quick.
Just let everybody know wherethey can find you, where they
can pursue your creative efforts, and just keep track of what's
going on with Nick.
Speaker 2 (57:34):
Sure, so you can find me on most platforms, but
generally my central platform isInstagram.
It's just my name, but it's alittle long.
It's Nsassiromano, soN-S-O-S-S-I-R-O-M-A-N-O.
That's kind of like myportfolio, like Work Hub.
It also has my Vimeo link inthere if you want to see any of
(57:54):
the directing stuff that I'veworked on in the past.
And, as I said before, I'm in aband and you can find us at
Slumber Music SLMBR Music andfind us on Spotify and whatever
else at Slumber.
Yeah, we play shows all thetime in New York too, so that's
fun when we mix some video stuffand whatever.
(58:15):
And, yeah, if you are a NewYork production member or not,
if you are in anywhere and arein need of an AD, I would be
more than happy to talk to youabout your next project.
Speaker 1 (58:28):
Awesome, Awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
As always, you can always findus at Vision Maker Podcast and
our other creative members atVision Maker Productions.
Thank you so much and have agreat night everyone.
Speaker 2 (58:43):
Thanks for having me Talking to you again today.
Welcome to the Vision Maker podcast.
Today we have the chance tospeak with Assistant Director
and Director Nick Sasi Romano.
So pleasure to have you on withus today.
And hey, nick, could you pleaseintroduce yourself to the
audience, give them a littlebackground about yourself, and
(00:22):
yeah, Sure, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
What's up everybody.
I'm Nick.
As stated, I'm an AssistantDirector.
I'm based mostly in New York,born and raised, and yeah, I've
been working in a professionalcapacity in some way in the film
industry for the past six toseven years.
I've dotted around a bunch ofdifferent departments through
that time, but I've now landedon being in AD the last couple
(00:47):
years and it's been a lot of fun.
I work on a variety ofdifferent projects like music
videos, commercials and someshort films and narrative
features when the time arises,and, yeah, we just try to have
as much fun as we can doing it.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Oh, awesome man.
Yeah, I was had a chance to diginto you a little bit and I saw
that you know you've had a lotof fun projects, especially the
last two years or so.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, just about.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I think I think I saw you mention something like 70
projects in 2022.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Right, yeah, just about 70 in 2022, and actually
this year I've just hit 70 now.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
So there's going to be probably a whole nother
quarter, or so my guess is about8590 by the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, oh, that's fantastic.
Yeah, oh man, but that's whatthat's kind of like, the life
we're trying to do here, right?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
As much as we can.
Yeah, try to stay busy.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, and we just say , for a vast majority of those
projects, you were a dean forthem.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah, at some point in some level of the AD team,
usually I'm the first, but Idon't obviously turn down any
time being second, second,second or even key PA.
That that's been a lot morerare this year but in previous
years.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Of course, as you're building up 100%.
Yeah, no, awesome, awesome,that's fantastic.
Yeah, ad, that's an interestingone around the film Because I
see a lot of like in a lot ofways you guys really keep those
big sets together Like you guysare really like the glue for the
DP, for the director and likethe whole team as far as keeping
(02:28):
things together.
But you're also like veryconsistently the meme.
You know there's always thestereotype with the AD coming
around things to get things toget right on time.
You know different things likethat.
As far as your experience as anAD, how do you feel like your
(02:48):
interactions with people?
Because I hear, I hear a canbit when it comes to like ADs,
where it's like eithereveryone's stressed and kind of
frustrated with the AD all thetime, like is this just like
orders, orders, orders, or butI've also heard there's some
people is like no, actuallythere's some of them can be
pretty cool too.
So it's like how do you feellike you feel your dynamic with
your teams across all thesedifferent production sets?
(03:11):
Because I've seen you work withsome major brands, some major
artists and also some more local.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, absolutely yeah .
I think that the thing to startwith is obviously just the
stereotype of what you know whatan assistant director is
pulling out.
Even farther than that is likemost people outside the film
industry have no idea what anassistant director does.
Me explaining to my family whatI do like on a daily basis is
like an impossible task becauseI basically have to reduce my
(03:38):
job to like a certain level oflike.
Oh, this is what I do in threesteps, but in fact it's a lot.
And yeah, the big stereotype ofADs is that they're they're loud
, boisterous, they're, you know,constantly yelling at someone's
, you know, always stressingeverybody else out.
And I fully understand thatread and I've know people who
(04:00):
work like that and that istotally their style and if they
get the job done, they get thejob done right, and if someone
wants to hire them for that,that's cool.
My style is a little bit morecasual, but not in terms of
easing the time tension.
It's more of just we couldtreat everybody with respect.
It's not hard to treateverybody with respect.
(04:21):
Everybody is usually here to doa good job and, like you know,
make something cool, and that'sthe thing like.
I try not to attach myself toprojects that I just don't think
will make something cool in theend.
So every single time I'm cominginto something like, okay, if
we get one really cool shot evenout of this, it's worth it.
So let's, let's make sure weget to the fun stuff right.
(04:42):
And obviously, with with beingan AD, you're not only the
person keeping time on set, butyou're also really paying
attention to safety and you'rekind of the liaison for the
production crew and everybodyelse.
Right, you know it's, you'retrying to be this middleman in
the middle of also talking tothe director and everybody else
(05:03):
to try to figure out, like, okay, what's the best thing that we
need right now?
And you can make 800 plans.
I've made pages, long schedulesand two hours it's thrown out
the window because somethinghappened that you're never going
to predict and then you justgot to kind of run with it.
So it's, the job is essentiallybeing a giant problem solver,
and I think that's why I likedit and why I fell into it,
(05:24):
because I've always been a fanof like puzzles and problem
solving and logic and stuff, andso that fit very well with my
personality.
And so coming into this job waslike, oh, I can do that.
I can help solve people'sproblems and help get us to the
finish line, and that's kind ofwhere I've landed on that.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
I actually I love one thing you said in there is that
the whole realization of beinga basically a master problem
solver, because I feel like withlogistics, on most things I
come from prior to like reallydoing what I do with the
production company stuff.
I come from an eventsbackground and the one thing I
(06:05):
know about any live production,any live event, it's not if
something goes wrong, it's whensomething goes wrong and that
one thing stops working the wayit should, when that, whatever
the timeline, goes out thewindow pretty quickly.
Usually someone's like whoknows?
And you have to pick it on thespot.
And from what I've learned to isthat production sets are
(06:27):
production sets are no different, and that can really fluster
some people, especially ifthere's something like fully
like scheduled out, like you'vemade the Google sheets, the
Google docs, everyone has theircall sheets, everything like
that, and then the directorcomes in and it's like hey, yeah
(06:48):
, so that's the scene we'regoing to do today.
I don't want to do at all.
We're going to skip forward andgo to do this scene or is like
well, we actually location comesin and says like there's
something going on with thelocation.
We're actually only have it oneday instead of two days, and
you know, like all these things,and you're finding out, like,
as people are arriving, thinkingone thing, and then a lot of it
(07:09):
falls on you, right as to likepivot, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
So how does that?
Speaker 1 (07:13):
how do you, how's your process in that, when those
things really monkey wrench?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, so there's obviously a lot of different
factors and you gave a lot ofexamples before.
What could go wrong, right?
So easiest one is always withmusic videos, especially like
the artist or the talent showsup hours behind schedule.
And you said another one wherethe director is we're shooting
one scene, and I've had ithappen for where we're halfway
(07:39):
through shooting a scene but wewant to get another thing real
quick, so we're going to movethe camera over here and then he
wants to come back.
So, but we got to, we got tocome back, and that's a
ridiculous waste of time but wehave to do it because that's
what the director wants.
All of these things I try to doas much as I can in prep to put
(08:00):
that in the schedule, to try tofigure out, like, ok, if the
artist is someone who's going tocome up late, maybe by you know
, if the reputation is aboutlike an hour or two or more, we
try to put anything that theartist is definitely not in
first, if as much as possible.
If the director has areputation for moving around and
being mobile, that's cool andI'm totally willing to work with
(08:21):
it.
We just have to be as flexiblewith we can.
So I'd be talking to artdepartment and to G&E saying how
many of these sets can weactually get prelit completely
so that way we can be mobile andmove around to set by set?
So it's really just asking theright questions about who, who
and where is the best place tobe given all of the
(08:43):
circumstances.
The thing I tell all ADs thateither I'm talking to, or
training or PAs who are askingme it's mostly all about
questions.
Every single thing about beingan AD is just having your rotary
of questions and just asking asmany of them rapid fires you
possibly can and get as many ofthe answers and retain them.
(09:03):
Retain the answers as much aspossible.
Every time you do a job you'regetting another question.
Whether you know it or not,you're getting another thing to
add to your list.
So it rains during a production.
You've never had it rain duringproduction before.
Okay, cool.
So now you have the list of hey, are we prepared for rain with
(09:24):
pop-up tents and umbrellas?
Does the talent need to beshielded?
Do they need a duplicate set ofclothes if it does rain on them
?
Like all of these things happenjust basically through
experience, but you just getbetter and better as you learn
those questions.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And I feel like that's just an honestly, that's
just a plain important skill asany member of production you
need to constantly be aware of.
Not, you know not, if somethinggoes wrong, when something is
going wrong, how are you goingto pivot?
Because I feel like, even atthe higher levels, it's even
more important than in the sensethat, like, can this guy like
(10:03):
work under pressure?
You know, pivot, is the lighton his feet, adaptable, you know
, because sometimes the talentwants to do one thing.
You know this.
The director, dp, you know, andit's like, can you do that?
And I'm, as someone who's likeas an AD and at the time you
kind of have the pulse on allthe departments, to say the
least, like because you're kindof in charge of making sure that
(10:25):
everyone is where they need tobe, everyone is like working
together.
In that sense, you're themiddle man in a sense, in a lot
of ways.
Yeah, with that Now, but you'vealso worked on smaller
productions, I know.
You know you got stuff withyour band and but you also got
(10:46):
stuff like so we recently hadAnthony Natoli on here and James
Moreno, and I know you'veworked on with their crew for
Sunday, sunday, sunday, and Iknow that was more of a skeleton
crew for the film.
So and other things like that,you know, and, of course, you
have some of your own projects.
(11:07):
So how do you feel is the prosand cons or differences that you
really see from a small, likegrassroots production versus
these bigger commercials thatyou've done for, like New
Balance, nike, spike and allthese guys?
Sure?
Speaker 2 (11:24):
absolutely.
It's just about kind of like,what is the expectation of what
you're trying to get out of it,because everything can be on a
level playing field, and I'msure Anthony and James probably
talk a lot about this, aboutthem being scrappy, them being
kind of like freelance bythemselves and what we were
(11:46):
doing with Sunday Sunday Sundayfor those of you who might not
have seen those episodes SundaySunday Sunday is a movie all
about drag racing, shot oniPhone.
We started shooting that in2016.
And I joined.
I knew Anthony.
We worked together a long timeago now and he brought me in
(12:07):
because I knew he knew I was atthe time studying film.
I was in film school and thatwas it was an interesting way to
start.
My career really is in filmproduction.
It was the first feature I hadreally been on and because it
was like it was everybody'svolunteer.
Actually, everybody was therebecause they wanted to be there,
not because they were expectinga paycheck or really anything
(12:29):
out of it.
They just wanted to helpAnthony make this movie,
including James.
He came down just to make themovie and it was a really cool
environment just to start withfilmmaking, because it was like
this is just people who justwant to make a film, whether
they want to like, elevate andsucceed in film at the end of
the day, who knows?
And I feel like most startingfilmmakers kind of live in a
(12:53):
similar world, where they juststart making, they have their
iPhone or back in the day likean old camcorder and they
started filming things and tryto make something with their
friends and then it grows intokind of more than a passion or
you start making money from itor whatever the path is.
There's obviously hundreds, butyeah, so the difference between
(13:15):
something like that and thebigger productions is just kind
of about scale and expectation.
In my opinion, it's really likewe would show up on a day of
Sunday Sunday, sunday and say,okay, what are we getting, and
we just go for it.
We wouldn't have much prep.
Really, something I tried toask Anthony to do is like,
especially in his continuingprojects, just like, hey, what
(13:36):
are we doing?
Just talk to us about kind ofwhat we're doing.
Obviously, now as an AD, nothaving a schedule going into a
day is like a crazy thought, butyou get a lot done because you
can kind of just go for it withbigger up to union jobs, but
even just like the biggerproductions that I've worked on,
(13:56):
you need a lot of time.
You just need a lot of preptime to just kind of talk it
through, because there are, youknow, at minimum, like sometimes
40 to up to 80 to 100 peoplethat's not even really ever
including talent.
Like you're talking aboutorganizing all of these people
and making sure not only do theyknow what's happening but they
(14:17):
know what's happening in themoment to continually adapt.
Like you are Right, it's onething for me to adapt to a thing
that gets thrown by the wayside, but it's another thing for me
to then update the 100 peoplethat need to also know what's
happening in the shoot.
You know there are some, somelevels of productions where you
can just kind of point thecamera, shoot something and move
(14:37):
around.
That's fun and that's typicallywhat we're actually really.
Where I enjoy Most is when wecan kind of be a little scrappy
with it, a little run and gun,because we can invent things and
we could be a little bit morecreative and I can help suggest
things and I can help make thethings happen.
But there is a level ofstructure and hierarchy when it
(14:57):
comes to the bigger productionsthat you know you will get
things To get like.
You are getting the plan andyou are.
You will shoot what is writtenwhen you're on that level of
production.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Got it, got it, yeah.
No, I can only imagine, likeyou said, like a hundred plus
people, yeah, you have to.
It's like because then it'slike, that's not.
I don't even think that'spossible to organize a day of
Very effectively at least.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, it's.
Um, it can be challenging thethings I've been dealing with a
lot recently.
There was a production I was ona semi recently.
It was about a 50 person crewand then there were 80 extras on
top of that.
So you're not only trying totell the 50 person crew like hey
, we need to be in this setup bythis time, but then you're also
(15:46):
saying like hey, 80 extras, Ineed you to perform this action
in camera and do it so that waywe can get done by this with the
scene by an hour from now.
Right, yeah.
It's just about ever keepingeverybody unified, and the only
way to really do that, I think,in my opinion, effectively is to
again treat everybody withrespect and just kind of keep,
(16:08):
keep the Positivity up, like hey, this is a difficult job,
completely like no matter whatposition you're in, it's
difficult, so as long as we cansay positive about it and like,
hey, we can get it, let's justKeep it.
Keep it focused, though, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I like the, the key points I kind of got from that.
We're, um, you know, obviouslyunderstand what the goal is for
the day.
You know this is, this is whatwe're trying to do, this is the
goal, this is what we're tryingto end up with by the end of the
day.
This is what we're all workingtowards, you know.
And then, but also having Clear, concise communication and just
(16:48):
treating people like people.
I mean, it's always been thecommon thread you want to treat,
you want to just be a goodenergy.
You know people respond well tothat, people more likely to
listen to that, and of courseyou're you're dealing with a
million different personalitiesall at the same time and a lot
of this stuff is gettingtrickled down, I'm sure, and so.
(17:10):
Of course, the clearer you canbe, the more effective in
communication you can be, themore the more things become
streamlined, the less need torepeat and less chance of things
getting skewed in the directionthat you don't need it to go in
totally yeah, I say I mean it'san obvious fact.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
But the AD is kind of just like the manager On the
set right, like any othermanager position at any retail
store or food service oranything like.
It's the same type of Job whereyou're managing a bunch of
people, you're making sure thatthe thing that you're all
working to do is working andthat you can get through the end
of the day Effectively and nothave to close later, whatever.
(17:47):
So it's, it's a similar, it's asimilar structure.
Yeah, and it's justcommunication is everything?
Just sure that everybody knowswhat you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
So to track back a little bit, you mentioned, when
you were talking about Sunday,sunday, sunday, how it was Kind
of your your start, it was yourfirst feature and it was kind of
like where you really, I guess,boasted your, your industry.
I wanted to ask like reallylike, how was that, like how
well, how did you get startedreally in the industry?
(18:20):
And secondly, like how did youfall into becoming a first aid
AD, primarily?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, so through Through.
This goes back, but it isimportant through high school.
I was in a Video club through.
The high school is kind of likethe video news program that
most high schools it seemed tohave.
But we did a lot of like coolentertainment segments and Nice,
we always trying to dosomething new, like a little bit
(18:50):
of sketch comedy, a little bitof news.
I hosted the news like theschool news segment, but At the
end of the day I was the personalso putting the whole thing
together and kind of like an aspider-man, where you see the
little newscast, yeah right.
Yeah, essentially.
So I did a lot of that throughhigh school so I was already.
It wasn't like I just kind ofhit the ground running just
(19:10):
because I liked film.
I had been editing Basicallyfull-time, a 15 minute piece
every two weeks.
So I was in the kind ofworkflow cycle.
Even just through doing schoolregular schoolwork, and and
Right in the interim periodbetween high school and the
beginning of college I startedpicking up a couple of extra
(19:32):
like editing gigs and editingjobs and that was kind of how I
got my break in just a littlebit with people who were who
were doing some film projectsand I was like, oh, this is cool
.
As I said, I met Anthony throughone of my former jobs and we
started doing that stuff, but itdidn't really go anywhere Until
after I really kind of leftschool.
(19:53):
School for me was Everythingkind of.
I went in kind of just wantingto be a director and that's what
a lot of people who do film Ithink want to be.
I don't think anybody goes intoschool Wanting to be a gaffer.
I could be wrong about that,but most of the people that I
Went into school with wanted tobe a director or they wanted to
be a screenwriter.
(20:13):
Which is totally cool and Ifully understand that, and so
did I.
I fell into that same category,right.
But through some of the classesI went to Brooklyn College, by
the way and through some of theclasses that I took there, I
started to realize like, oh,there's, there's a lot of other
things that you can actually doon set.
That was never explained to me,and one of the classes was
taught by this guy, tom Riley.
(20:35):
He was a union first assistantdirector.
He is, I guess, a union firstassistant director.
He worked on like 19 of WoodyAllen's movies and he did a
bunch of other movies on top ofthat.
And he had a class which Ididn't know really he might
treat all of his classes likethis, but the class I took from
him was just called currentcinema and criticism, which
(20:59):
sounds like it's just like yougo to the movie theater, watch a
movie and you talk about it.
But it wasn't that.
It was.
He showed movies that he hadworked on and then talked about
how he Scheduled them and likelogistically, plan them all out.
And that was like an eye-openerclass for me, because I was
like, wait, this is a whole job,like the the ad has previously
(21:21):
on Through all my other shortfilms that I'd done through
school were really just like theperson that just kept the day
moving then Taking this classwas.
It was an eye-opener andreading his books and saying
like wow, okay, there's actuallya lot to this and I've always
been kind of in the leadershiprole in a bunch of different
situations, so I've said thatsounds like a cool job.
(21:42):
I want to kind of pine for that.
So Like for a couple years Iwas just doing like right at the
tail end of school I was doingjust whatever I could to get on
set.
I did sound for a while that waslike my majority of my work to
be on set.
But I also did like I gaffed, Igripped, I did everything but
(22:02):
camera.
Basically I just I got myselfout there and I got enough on
enough sets with enough peoplethat I got the word back that
like hey, I'm actually like I Ilearned to be an ad.
Like I Trained under a couplepeople.
Like I would love to give adinga shot with your next
production.
(22:24):
I took a couple free gigs and Ithink that that's like taboo for
some people, that taking freegigs of just to do it Right, but
I did it at the jump because Ididn't really have any other
option of how to like get to theposition I wanted to and it and
it.
It won't work for everybody andI can't make that a blanket
statement, but it did work forme because I did enough free
gigs and specifically forcertain people I did free gigs
(22:46):
enough where then people werelike, oh I just want to hire you
because you did a good enoughjob, that on ABC production,
that I'm gonna hire you.
Foot going forward.
And then just from there wasthe network.
Just network grew.
I meant more and more and moreand more and more and more
people and more people juststarted recognizing me as the ad
or a person who can be trustedas an ad.
And now we're at the pointwhere just you know it's, it's
(23:10):
full-time ad ad work.
So really to summarize, it waslike I did a bunch of work in a
bunch of other departments, fromediting and sound and all that
stuff, tried to find my footingon set, found what I wanted to
do, and then Kind oftransitioned when I knew the
moment was right or I wanted toget out of the departments I was
already working in.
Yeah, that's, that's, that'sthe start.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Well, no, that's great and it sounds like it's a.
In a big part, it's a ton ofnetworking, of course, yeah, a
ton of, you know, putting yourbest foot forward.
And yeah, like you said, thefree, the free gig type of thing
.
I know it's such a sensitivetopic for some people, but it's
honestly a reality for a lot ofpeople.
(23:54):
In the beginning, you know,yeah, I think people are just.
You know, yeah, I think peoplejust get messed up.
That's like you shouldn't justcontinue to do it.
You know it's a goal is to getsome footing down and then you
work your way out of it you knowyou can't get exploited by it.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I think that's the biggest thing is you don't, you
can't let yourself just fallinto the trap of like, oh, I'll
get a job eventually that willactually give me you know, pay
me back because you know it'scool and it's it's art for
everything, but it also is mylivelihood.
I make you know.
Yeah, my job is being anassistant director, so I have to
, I have to weigh those, thosecosts now, and I think the thing
(24:32):
with that, with the, the freegigs, is like the, the, you have
to know what your limit is.
You kind of to know you have toplay.
Play the cards.
If you think it's gonna helpyou, if you're working with a
client or a director or someonethat you really are interested
in, like, yeah, it might beworth it.
But you have to, you have to,you have to be very careful.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
You really have to, like you said, wave what you're
getting out of it, like yeah,like sometimes, yeah, there's
sometimes the way to think aboutit.
So it's not free.
It's more of a barter, like areyou getting portfolio piece out
of it?
Are you getting a chance tomake a connection?
You're getting a chance to belike oh, I've worked with
so-and-so you know this or thatwould be a good learning
experience.
(25:15):
You know, yeah, or a chance tolearn or do you get a chance to
prove yourself to a person whootherwise you wouldn't get the
time of day from you knowhundred percent.
So no, I think that's smart, Ithink, and then just that's
that's great to hear.
I love how you describe that.
Like you know, that classitself almost sounded.
(25:35):
It sounded like a master class.
Honestly, like really to getlearned for someone in the field
and then go and break downtheir own work is Definitely
like a unique environmentcompared to the typical
Experience in a classroom whereyou have a teacher talking about
everybody else's work and goingthrough the textbook.
So those are, like, honestly,my favorite type of teachers.
(25:56):
I I personally went to schoolfor audio and Definitely my
favorite teachers were the oneswho were working professionally
While they were also teaching,you know, because they always
brought that real-worldExperience into the classroom
and I think those teachersalways make a big difference.
But, yeah, no, and it's such asmall world compared to some of
(26:20):
the people we know.
One thing also I would love tohear a bit about, like so I know
you also have your own band,just like Indie Rock, sal.
I really dig it, and you've donesome music videos for it too as
well, but I'm pretty.
(26:40):
I'm also a musician of my ownband out here on Long Island and
I'm curious to hear, because Iknow for me, my Musicianship, my
view of music.
I'm an audio engineer bybackground, so it's also funny
how to hear that you did somesound Yourself and, of course,
usually I think, feel like oncewe you're trying to become a
(27:02):
musician, you end up becomingsomewhat an audio engineer.
Yeah, but how has that informedyour work as an AD, because I
know how it's informed my workas a cinematographer, as a VP,
is director, on how I viewcertain processes and editing
and my creative aspect.
It's, I feel, music, it's ownlanguage.
(27:24):
So I feel like once you learnthe language it starts to come
out through other things andinform other decisions and
creative outlets.
Especially so I'm curious tohow your musicianship, how your
music and all that has, alsoTranscend it into your line of
work, or has it not at all?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, it has.
It's in interesting ways,though it's not really how you
think I am little plug.
My band's name is slumber, it'sSLM BR and yeah, so I think the
the music side of my life haskind of become just the creative
expression side, because ADingis really less of a creative job
(28:04):
Compared to most jobs in film.
The music has kind of been likethe outlet for for creative
expression and it's always beenthat for me.
I've been writing music since Iwas like 14, 15, but the it's
really now become like thenumber one for that.
But in terms of helping me forfor ADing, it's actually just
(28:26):
kind of given me Almost like anin in certain places or just
kind of talking about languageto people.
So there are things that I know, because I've been playing on
stages as a band for like sevento eight years, that most I
Would assume most ADs won't knowor most production might not
know.
Like just you know you shoot itat a stage venue.
(28:49):
I'm gonna know certain thingsabout what I, what are they,
what's there, what the back lineis like, what I'm expecting to
walk into when I show up at thatat that venue.
But even just talking to artistsfor music videos.
Like just having a conversationwith them, just musician to
musician and I don't plug myband to, like you know, the top
ten artists that I work with butjust kind of being able to have
(29:12):
a conversation about like, hey,do you actually like if they're
doing a performance scene andthey, they need some sort of,
some sort of playback option forthemselves, like being able to
have a, have a conversationabout that.
Like saying, yeah, you know, Iknow you might want headphones
for this, or you know this istoo loud, or you know you need
more on the left side or likethe speaker for some reason is
(29:33):
only panning the left side andit's not panning the right side
so they can't hear the vocals.
Like well, the little stuff thatI know just doing band and
music, that that stuff does comein handy, but it's like the
little tidbits, like everythingelse that I do, it's like the
little trivia that helps kind ofbring my position to the next
level.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
I totally, I totally hear that, because it just gives
you that extra level connection.
Like you said, especiallyworking with music videos, I
feel like as any person onproduction Working with an
artist the second you can kindof communicate in their language
.
They also just immediately likeRelax a little more.
(30:13):
Yeah, because I think, becausesometimes, because they all they
know is that so they're tryingto talk to you in your language
and they're struggling, but whenyou can meet them on their
level, they're also like oh, oh,you know, you know, you know,
you know, and it's, and itdefinitely helps make things
flow easier and better, becausethen they feel more comfortable
telling you as they would say it.
(30:34):
And Then, of course, you canalso now you become more of an
asset to communicate to theother people on the crew.
You know almost translate funnyenough, you know yeah.
Yeah, no, I definitely can seethat and plus, I think people
can always relate to Musiciansand like when people, that's
(30:55):
always a connecting point, Ifeel with people.
It's like, oh, you play music.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yeah, there's art, isn't?
It's not a contained box.
You're never gonna work onsomething and then just like, oh
, that's it.
You know just gonna keep it inthis little hole and just that's
, that's it doesn't affectanything?
No, of course not.
Like painters are seeing thethings that they want to paint
in real life, or you know justabstractions of what they're
going to paint in real life.
And you know, as a songwriter,I'm walking down the street in
(31:21):
work, I'm coming up with littlelike the amount of times that
I've written a single lyric Justfrom something that either
happened or I saw it work.
Just I type it in the notes appand just keep moving on.
Right, so it works in theopposite way too, right?
So you know the the filmmakingis influenced by the people who
are around them.
And if these people that aroundthem not not just me, but the
(31:41):
artists on set, or just thetalent, the models, all these
people that are artistic people,inherently it's gonna color.
It's gonna color the discussionin a certain way, and that's
kind of why I like New York isJust operating and living and
working in New York is there'sso many creative people and
working on set.
As I said, I did a job with 80extras.
(32:01):
Like, all of these people arecreative people in some way.
Yeah, even if the only thingthey do is modeling, they're
still modeling in in for a musicvideo.
Right, let's say there, it'sjust it.
There's constantly creativity.
Sometimes you can get run intotrouble because then everybody
has an artistic thing to say andeverybody has a creative thing
to push, but it generally it'spositive because, again, most
(32:24):
people are trying to makesomething that's cool.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
At the end of the day , yeah, there's that, there's
that undertow Common alley justflowing and it's a synergy
because everyone's, you knowit's like, hey, we're all in
here because from one to onelevel or another, there's a
level like a creative person whowants to try to Make a living
out of that To a certain degreeor another Is there, it.
(32:49):
Is there any particular project?
I know you've had amazingopportunities to work with a ton
of brands and artists this year.
Is there any particular projectfrom this year that you're,
particularly we're we're veryexcited to be a part of or are
very excited to be a part ofcurrently?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Yeah, totally.
There's so much stuff.
I do a lot of really funprojects.
I mean a lot of reallyinteresting people.
It's kind of cheating becauseit was December 2022, but that
is still technically within thelast 12 months.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I'll give it to you.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Yeah, we'll take it right.
One of the things I'm mostexcited to finally share with
people when it's done.
I did a.
I did a fan project Turned intofeature film, basically called.
It's called stalker.
The subtitle is shadow of thezone.
It was a crowd-funded projectthat kind of became this, this
(33:54):
big film project.
It was pitched to me as a shortbut, as per our, as per our
production members, I won't saymore than this.
But it's it's.
It's not short.
And reading the script when Iread there so, like this is not
a short film and it's excellent,I'm glad we did it, but we
basically the.
(34:14):
The project ended up being wewent down to South Carolina for
three and a half weeks and weshot a, we shot a, we shot a
movie.
We shot a movie in SouthCarolina, one location on an
abandoned nuclear facility,which was kind of an interesting
location to be on.
We lived on the campus.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
In South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
It's.
It's basically become.
It's basically become like agovernment training facility.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
They use it for like tactical Things and when you say
nuclear, you mean like a powerplant, or do you mean yeah, like
they it was?
Speaker 2 (34:49):
it was Shut down, I think in the 70s or the 80s or
something like that, but it was.
It's a wild location with a lotof really cool looks for the
property and for the film thatwe were going for.
But yeah, it's a, it was amilitary sci-fi film and we just
lived that film.
We lived it.
So, again, we lived on thecampus, there was nothing around
and we were almost completelyisolated, with the whole crew
(35:11):
there, and it was Stressful ashell.
I got COVID on the job and wekept working through it because
we had to and he had no otheroption and and it was.
It was a lot of fun.
It was really cool.
We did some stuff that weshouldn't have been able to pull
off, given our crew size andour budget and all that stuff
(35:35):
and and the time we, we, we shotin it was, it was three weeks,
we were there, basically total,and we did not have a Lot of
leniency on that.
And it was we, we, we gotthrough it and it was.
I can't I'm trying to avoid,like some of the yeah.
Yeah specific details, but theproject should be out semi soon.
(35:56):
From what I'm being told and II have not seen a single thing
basically from it.
I've seen a frame or two andall of the cast is is so great.
They're always posting BTSphotos, but it's the thing I'm
like most excited to see thatI've worked on.
It's like one of the featuresthat I've done that feels like
wow, this was like an effort,but we we got it like we locked
(36:18):
that in.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
That's awesome, awesome.
Yeah, I'm already sold militarysci-fi right up my alley done.
But, um, oh, that's so cool.
You know, it's always funny tome how I'm Asking this question,
like most of the time it's thatproject that was like
Crowdfunded.
You know, everyone got together.
It's not the biggest orcraziest screw, but it's like,
(36:44):
yeah, we just did this in threedays or we did this and like,
really like crazy circumstancesand you guys just put everything
you had on the field and itmakes the most exciting Projects
.
And sometimes you you surpriseyourself when you're under that
kind of pressure and then, I'msure, getting sick on the job
(37:05):
and everything.
But you guys were already stucktogether, so, yeah, so, since
you guys are all isolated, youwere basically quarantining,
quarantine anyways, yeahessentially.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Yeah, we, the we were , we were down, down in it.
A couple of a couple of the keycrew members got COVID and it
was.
It was a little bit tough, butwe were in the woods for like
the majority of what we weredoing, so we just stayed back.
I called it from you know, safeCOVID, safe distance away?
Yeah, basically, and I don'tuse a megaphone, that's like one
(37:36):
of my big things, I try reallymake a phone Basically ever.
Yeah, I that's a huge stigma forme, like I think.
Unless it's absolutelynecessary, I try not to use it
because I think that if you'retrying to command attention,
people should actually listen toyou and not hear like a
bullhorn or whatever.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
I got you.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
It's a personal thing , but I just I like not using it
, so that way people can kind oflike hear me and they're
looking for the person actuallytalking.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
That's respectful.
Yeah, I get that.
I get that.
It's like, um, it reminds me ofwhen teachers are like you know
, they refuse to speak up.
So it's like, well, I'll waittill you guys are at a talking
volume.
I'm really continued class,yeah, but no, it's, it's a.
It's a smart psychologicalthing.
I dig that.
What was the?
(38:21):
What would you say is probablythe, and so when does that
release, by the way, you know?
Speaker 2 (38:27):
It was, I was told, a premier date, and then it did
not happen.
So we're waiting.
We're waiting, standing by forit.
I'm very excited for it, whichis why it still falls within
these 12 months we're gonna.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Where can people keep track of it?
So that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I believe if you just go, if you, if you find stalker
shadow of the zone it, they allthe updates should be.
I think they mostly dokickstarter Updates and stuff
that they have to okay.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Awesome.
What would you say, is probablythe biggest crew you've ever
had to work with.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Oh boy um Biggest crew size.
Uh, Probably, I think, thebiggest I've had like.
Under me First is like a 70, 75, which?
Speaker 1 (39:20):
is a lot it.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
I haven't gotten to the triple digits yet.
That's really like the unionlevel stuff.
Like, yeah, any project I'veever been on that really
requires that many people.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, but yeah, I mean, 75 is still pretty big.
It's a lot to think about for alike Was that for like, a
commercial or for a two-dayshoot?
Yeah, there's a two-daycommercial shoot.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
A lot of g&e.
That's really why, like, youstart to balloon the numbers
when you have 15 members of g&eOn the shoot, and then you start
to like, start breaking it down.
You have 20 p A's, or you knowit's like you start to get crazy
yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Yeah, okay, wow, yeah , 20 p A's.
But.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
I gotta get those lockups.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that's a crazy number.
So and um, but commonly whatwould you say is like the
average crew size for most ofthese.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Uh, For non-union productions that I work mostly
in and around, I'd say theaverage crew size is anywhere
from like 35 to 45 somewhere inthat range Like that's, that's
kind of common.
I, I do, you know I'll.
I'll take jobs that are Eightpeople, eight to 12 people, and
we're just kind of runningaround the city.
I get a lot of those,especially with new york.
(40:36):
People just want to see thecity right.
They just want to go throughbrooklyn and minhat and just
kind of see as many of theskylines and the cool iconic
things as possible.
So I'll get a lot of the shootswhere it's just like, hey, just
, we just want to see, if it's acommercial, the product and
this you know, or if it's amusic video, the artist in this
space and just live in in newyork like I do a lot of that
(40:58):
stuff.
But the stuff that's not that,or maybe a little bit more in
studio or bigger setups or moreelaborate things.
Yeah, typically around 35 to 45.
Um, but you know it again.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
it scales, scales, yeah, production needs of course
.
Yeah, okay, no, awesome, um,yeah.
With that I mean like so as afirst ad, you know.
So you're trying to, obviously,I guess, as the crew scales up,
you're probably your prep timescales up.
I mean, in a lot of ways I meanyou got a batman, this stuff a
(41:30):
lot, yeah, um.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Yeah, prep time is an interesting is an interesting
game because, um, I try to getas much of it as I can.
I try to.
I try to plan for as much of itas I can.
I do get a lot of my workWithin a week or two of the job
that happens, so I don'ttypically get a lot of, uh, a
ton of lead.
Um, one of the features thosehave been those are always like
(41:55):
the things that have the mostprep time.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
Um, yeah, because those have to have the scripts
already laid out.
Yeah, they do a ton of pre-profor those things, but 100, and
that's why I like doing features.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
Basically more than anything, because I can give
myself the time to kind of likeSit down and go through it all.
Besides, the fact thatstructurally for Planning out a
feature is kind of one of thethings I like most about the job
, um, just kind of being able toshuffle things around and
problem-solving that way, um.
But in terms of other prep time, it's really.
It's really an interesting game, um, because prep days can land
(42:32):
on scout days for other jobs orhey, this client is only going
to be in town the day beforethis job, and now we got a scout
like literally 12 hours beforethis job happens.
But oh wait, I am still shootingon something else, and so we
have to figure it out.
I I've recently, especiallythis year, have run into that a
(42:56):
lot.
Um, and it's, it's been aninteresting challenge to kind of
Problem-solve.
Yeah, sometimes I know other edswill like have a second and
they'll put their second on thescout Um so that way they can
relay the information back tothe first Um I've seconded.
I've been the scout person tobe the second on the actual day
of the job.
Um, I've done every version ofit.
(43:17):
It's really just about whatdoes the job actually require
and how much Can you possiblyget out of it.
I just try to talk to theproducer and the director as
soon as I possibly can Witheverything and just kind of
again ask all those questionsabout how much you can get out
of it Everything and just kindof again ask all those questions
that I possibly can, firstbefore we even talk about being
(43:38):
there on location or do anythinglike that, and then when we get
to location scout it's likeokay, so we know what we're
talking about.
Now let's kind of like put itall in context basically.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
It's always a battle to get as much prep time as I
can for some of these, with someof these productions.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
No, 100%.
I mean, um, actually, you knowsomething that would even help
me as someone who is constantly,you know, dealing with multiple
departments.
You know, and a lot of theheads of these departments, like
your director, your dp, your,the lead electric, the lead
(44:16):
gaffer, all these guys right,sound, um, because everyone and
the actors and stuff I had inthe casting director and those
people who are super supervisingum, what is it?
What are maybe some of thethings you kind of wish they
would already have unlocked thatwould make your life easier,
(44:38):
like I'm sure that there'smultiple times that you have to
like almost make sure you're ontop of From certain people, to
be like because you know it'sgoing to interfere with what
you're doing.
And I feel like, becausesometimes I get this feeling, um
, we usually do smaller crews,so sometimes I am, we're doing
(45:01):
our own directing and dp'ingsimultaneously and I know
sometimes it's like With some ofmy regular season guys, they
kind of already know how I likecertain things and different
things like that, so so it'slike they're already kind of on
top of certain details, butyou're popping in, of course,
with different people all thetime, and so it's like if there
(45:22):
is there things that you feellike you know make the day go
smoother If the dp or the cameraops already had this on lock
ahead of time, or the directorkind of had to sell, or the
script supervisor or whatever,um, what do you feel like?
Some of those things that waslike you know that this would be
, this would be helpful, youknow, make everybody like, if
(45:42):
you want to be a dp, that everyad comes in contact and loves
you because you're like, oh, Ialready got on lock, like what
are those things?
If you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
Yeah, I have a couple um, and none of them all of
them are in good faith Um ofcourse, of course always.
Number one is always read thecall sheet.
You'd be surprised at how manypeople don't read the call sheet
enough to know like what stuffI've specifically put in there.
So that way, like it answersquestions that people might have
had before the whole call sheet.
Yeah, read usually the callsheet that I put out.
(46:13):
If I, if I'm doing this callsheet, there's a schedule on it
or at least like a reducedschedule.
So at least we have the orderof events, locations and stuff.
So all the easy basic questionsare out of the way, right?
Um, and then kind ofsupplementally, like the shot
list and the schedule, like readthe schedule that I have
hopefully spent a ton of timeputting out and creating, and
(46:37):
then the shot list is not for me, but anybody who works with me
knows I have to bully the shotlist from them, from the lowest
to the biggest productions.
I've had trouble getting a shotlist in my hands accurately to
the time of production.
So that's like my number onething Like I just need.
(46:57):
All I wanna know is what youwanna shoot.
I'll make it happen.
No matter what you give me, Iwill try to make it happen.
But I need to know what yourexpectation of the day is,
because if you give me a shotlist that has 80 shots and it's
a one day shoot, it's not gonnahappen, or at least it's gonna
be.
We're gonna have to move eithervery quickly or we're gonna
have to shoot it in a way thatis a little bit more flexible
(47:21):
than maybe you were anticipating, right, like that's.
It's a third of my repertoireof how to approach a job.
Is that shot list my only otherlike?
I guess not only, but I guessone of the other things I could
say to most departments is just,people giving me accurate times
, right, knowing your job enoughto know how much time to give
me.
(47:42):
Another big AD stereotype isjust like walking up to the
genie guy standing on a ladderand saying like 15 minutes and
then walking away and it's like,well, that didn't help anybody.
Like that didn't help youbecause you're looking bad in
front of them.
You didn't ask them how longthey needed, right?
So, and if this doesn't work,so for me it's like asking the
keys, like the keys of everydepartment hey, how much time do
(48:04):
you need?
And obviously, if it changes orfluctuates, that's fine.
It happens all the time andthings change and whatever.
But if X department tells me,hey, 10 minutes, and then I come
back in 10 minutes and thenthey're like, oh, actually 30.
It's like, well, that was a badestimate.
Like what happened between thelast 10 minutes that changed it
(48:26):
to triple the time that you toldme.
So just knowing your departmentand your job enough just to
communicate accurate with me.
I'll be cool with you no matterwhat you tell me.
I just want to know the numberso that way I can kind of like
build the rest of the daybecause I can shuffle things
around right If we have a bloodwound coming from all the way
down your arm, all the way hereand I estimated that for an hour
(48:48):
and we talked about it to be anhour and then we get there on
the day and we realize, oh wait,the skin isn't gonna like it's
not gluing correctly.
I've had this happen exactlybefore.
It's actually gonna be like atwo and a half hour move.
Great, cool, I want to makethis happen.
I want this to look dope whenwe go out and get it in camera.
What else can we shoot?
What else can we rotate thedate around to get this thing
(49:10):
here?
I'm not gonna wait two and ahalf hours for big blood gash as
long as I don't have to.
So it's accurate times or like akiller on set if I don't get
those as often as I can, but itworks both ways.
Like I have to communicate thatwith the crew Like, hey, I
really need this is my timeparameter, this is what I'm
(49:31):
looking to get done before lunchor within this period of the
day.
Can this happen?
And if the answer is no, wehave to redirect.
And ideally most of thishappens before we're even there,
on before the shoot day orshoot days.
But if we get to the day and werealize that's really not
possible, how do we adjust?
(49:52):
What can we do?
Yeah, and that just talks withthe director, the producers and
everybody around.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
No, I think.
I mean, I think all those arereally great points.
I think it really comes down toagain, infective communication,
but in the sense that, likeyou're putting things out there
to smooth the day out as far asthe schedule call sheet,
different things like that.
So of course, if people arecoming back to you with
(50:22):
questions that were answeredpreviously already in those
sheets, you know it slowseverything down, because then
you're trying to reiteratesomething that you've already
have the document for, you know,and they're now like why aren't
they in position?
They didn't know they had to be.
It's like because it's on theschedule, but they didn't look
that far because they thoughtthey only had this position.
(50:42):
So they saw their name, it'shere, that's it.
That's all they saw.
But of course it doesn't worklike that, I feel like.
So I think that's definitely asa crew member in general.
If you're just fully aware ofwhat the day is supposed to look
like, then you look like avaluable asset on any crew.
I think.
If you're already on top oflike, oh yeah, I know the whole
(51:02):
schedule, I know you're whereeverybody else is supposed to be
too.
It's like the shot list thingis an interesting point, but I
can definitely see that that is100% like your, your a lot of
your decisions are dependent onthat.
So, definitely, being on top ofthat and knowing your job well
(51:28):
enough to give realistic times,and also, I think that also
plays into I think people tendto try to underestimate and over
deliver because they want to,they want you to not look at
them badly and they, they getthat.
Self-consciousness is like, oh,I'm not the bad actor here, so,
(51:51):
but what really happens is whenyou can't deliver on the time,
you say, then you become the badactor without, when you're
trying to avoid it.
But it's even better if you sayit's going to take me an hour,
but it took you 45 minutes, andit's like, great, 15 minutes
ahead of time, like, but you'retrying to just problem solve.
You're not like trying toattack anyone, it's just like I
(52:13):
just need to know so I can, likeyou said, we can shift this
whole thing over.
It's like, oh, I can get, okay,now I know if I have to wait an
extra hour.
It's like, well, I have enoughtime actually to do this now, so
we're going to go do this, youtake the time you need.
Finish that, because we're ateam, we're trying to work
together and make this thinghappen as best as possible, and
(52:34):
I'm going to try to hinder yourjob, so.
But of course, you can't dothat effectively if you're
getting ineffective times forsure.
Speaker 2 (52:44):
So the yeah, I say it to everybody all the time like
we're here to make art and Ijust want to get you to see the
family or eat dinner at hometonight.
You know it's like it's it'sit's very easy, but it's just
like the general structure ofthe day only works if we can do
that and there's a big asteriskon everything.
I just said the only thing islike people who've worked with
me multiple times know the drill.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
And they get the vibe quickly, like if I'm walking up
to them, they know what theyanswer, you know, they know what
question I'm about to ask them,that kind of thing.
Yeah, it's like a saying likethe season Big shout out to
everybody who, yeah, big shoutout to my, to my frequent flyers
, on my, on my regular crew,that everybody knows who you are
.
Respect everybody.
Speaker 1 (53:26):
Awesome, awesome.
So what do you feel?
What does the future look likefor you?
What is the direction you'retrying to head in, ultimately,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
So it's an interesting question.
It's one I ask myself daily.
I, I I've seen myself a D for along time.
I like the job a lot and Iwould love to do bigger and
bigger projects, Like I wouldlove to eventually be an AD on,
like an action movie.
Some of the stuff I've I'vegotten tastes of it I've done
fight, choreography, I've donecar stuff.
(53:56):
You know I've done some stuffin in my role and I've been very
thankful to.
But I want to do bigger andbigger stuff and I I'd love to
get to the level where I'm doingsome crazy blockbuster film.
That'd be just cool to do atleast once.
Right.
But I also it's a very stressfuljob and my partner doubles me
(54:18):
on on some of the stuff whereshe's concerned about this
statistic.
But it's an unfortunatestatistic that, like ADs, don't
have a huge life expectancy.
It's a terrible.
It's a terrible stat but it's.
It's a very stressful job andit gets to you and I feel it now
at my age, which is relativelyyoung, and I know that I don't
(54:42):
want to just burn myself out for, you know, 30, 40 years just
doing this like nonstop,especially because I've already
been doing it, basically rightthis, even before I finished
school I was doing productionworks.
I don't want to just go full,full ramp all the time.
One of the goals I would havefor myself is like direct a
(55:03):
little bit, write and direct todoing my own things.
It was subbing out between ADing, so like when I'm not actually
in progress shooting somethingof my own, I'm ADing.
And then when I can, or when Ihave the next project ready to
go and I'm like, yeah, I feelgood about this, taking some
time and doing some directing orsome music or whatever feels
(55:24):
natural to me, but just beingable to still feel like I have
that creative outlet, like Ialways have that creative center
.
Because, again, ADing is it canbe creative, but it's not as a
job.
You're not looking at it like.
You're not being asked as an ADto input creativity.
You're going to be there,You're probably going to give
(55:46):
creative solutions to problems,but it just comes with the
territory.
I'm sorry.
So, yeah, I always want to makesure that there is that
alternate for me at some point,just to flip off, Just be like
hey, you know what I just gotoff of a six month feature.
(56:07):
I'm going to go and write fortwo months just to do something,
just to kind of be in aseparate space.
I love that and that to me feelscomfortable for me in my future
.
As of now I don't know.
Life and family might changethat Never know, Then we get a
whole different situation.
Speaker 1 (56:23):
Yeah, I absolutely love that.
I mean, I feel very similar tojust like always maintaining
that creative outlet, becausewhen work is still work, even if
you're on the creative side,you know what are you doing for
somebody else.
It's their creative.
It's not your creativeessentially, but it's still.
It's just maintaining that foryourself, I think.
(56:46):
So it's an important part of aholistic life.
So I love that and definitely,of course, like you know,
exploring other avenues, likeyou said, taking a step by step.
Yeah, no, with all that, I dowant to thank you for coming on
today.
I think we have.
I could be asking you like amillion more questions.
(57:08):
Honestly, there's so many greatprojects.
Speaker 2 (57:10):
You ask whatever you want.
I know you have your time too,but you can ask me whatever
you'd like.
Speaker 1 (57:15):
No, I appreciate that , but that is the time we do
have for today, so I appreciateyou coming on.
You, please, real quick.
Just let everybody know wherethey can find you, where they
can pursue your creative efforts, and just keep track of what's
going on with Nick.
Speaker 2 (57:34):
Sure, so you can find me on most platforms, but
generally my central platform isInstagram.
It's just my name, but it's alittle long.
It's Nsassiromano, soN-S-O-S-S-I-R-O-M-A-N-O.
That's kind of like myportfolio, like Work Hub.
It also has my Vimeo link inthere if you want to see any of
(57:54):
the directing stuff that I'veworked on in the past.
And, as I said before, I'm in aband and you can find us at
Slumber Music SLMBR Music andfind us on Spotify and whatever
else at Slumber.
Yeah, we play shows all thetime in New York too, so that's
fun when we mix some video stuffand whatever.
(58:15):
And, yeah, if you are a NewYork production member or not,
if you are in anywhere and arein need of an AD, I would be
more than happy to talk to youabout your next project.
Speaker 1 (58:28):
Awesome, Awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
As always, you can always findus at Vision Maker Podcast and
our other creative members atVision Maker Productions.
Thank you so much and have agreat night everyone.
Speaker 2 (58:43):
Thanks for having me Talking to you again today.
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