Ten Items Every Production Cannot Do Without
Forgot your gaffer’s tape, no biggie. Forget any one of the ten items below and your production is likely doomed. Here’s a must-have list that’ll keep any production running as smoothly as a camera slider.
1. Long Range Walkie-Talkies
You’ll need these babies when the director calls for the lead and the actor’s assistant informs you that he’s three blocks down the street at the local pub.
2. A Motorhome with Internet and Satellite TV
Talent sure can be finicky at times. So be sure to give them all the luxuries of home with a state-of-the-art motorhome. Oh yeah, and a DVR. For those of you who saw Tropic Thunder, you’ll recall how important the DVR can be for certain talent types.
3. 100 Cup Coffee Maker
When call time was 4 am and you find yourself going into “golden time,” the only thing (you hope) most of the cast and crew will be running on is a fresh pot of Dunkin on the crafts table. So be sure to keep a lot of “go juice” on hand around the set.
4. A Smoker
No, not Snoop Dogg, but an actual smoke machine. A smoker is versatile in helping to address almost any studio or network note. Not enough atmosphere? Turn on the smoker. Make it feel creepier? Smoker. Need some weather in this scene? Yeh for the smoker. It can set the tone of any scene, and let’s just all go ahead and admit that they’re cool, too.
5. Cigarette Butt Can
Come on, give a hoot, don’t pollute. In addition, when you all of a sudden have excess light in the shot from a blaze started behind the set by the careless brother of a lead actress (true story), it’ll be a little too late to wish you had a few of these around.
6. Large Bolt Cutter
No shooting permit? No problem, it’s called “guerilla style.” All joking aside, when all of your lights are locked up and the keys are lost, this item will save you more money replacing the lock rather than in wasted time.
7. Wardrobe Steamer
Extras are notorious for not following the rules when it comes to what they can and cannot do in their costumes. Nothing is worse than looking at the dailies and noticing your extras all look like they just woke up from a four-day bender in their outfits. Prevent this hassle by fixing the issue on the spot with a wardrobe steamer.
8. Sandbags
When the Santa Ana winds kick up and your light stands are constantly being blown every which way from Sunday this age-old indispensable piece of equipment will become a life-saver.
9. A Bullhorn
Losing light because you’re having trouble relaying your vision to unfocused actors? Well, fear not, a loud enough bullhorn will have them hanging on to your every word. There’s something about a bullhorn that evokes a latent fear in everybody of those childhood days being yelled at in the schoolyard by a teacher with a bullhorn.
10. 6500 Watt Generator
It would be great if we could just plug everything we need into a socket at the location site. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. So don’t find yourself low on juice — grab a generator.
- Jason Vaughn
