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F&TV Peter D Marshall Interview- Veteran First AD & TV Director- Part 2 · FILM&TVREVIEW.COM

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[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome to Part 2 of our exclusive insider chat with Peter Marshall.
1:24
[SPEAKER_03]: Catch Part 1 at filmantiv review.com.
1:28
[SPEAKER_02]: acceleration, do you try and cultivate with your actors from the start?
1:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you, they have their opinion or their read of the script and your, and your kind of responsibility of a story getting from point A to point B to point C?
1:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, what's your process, man?
1:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, from an actors point of view, I do the tea.
1:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, if you can't, if there's no trust and it's just going to be a hard job, a relationship, right?
1:52
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a map, it's all about trust.
1:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I think the starts in the first casting session.
2:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
2:00
[SPEAKER_00]: The very first casting session where there's a whole bunch of people come in, that's where it starts.
2:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And I teach this.
2:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I've done a whole bunch of acting workshops and casting workshops, because casting is the,
2:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Casting is the key, right, you know everybody comes in.
2:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So basically from the casting to the ADR section, that's that's an automatic dialogue replacement at the very end when the movie's done.
2:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's open communication and mutual respect is really important.
2:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's making sure the actors feel safe.
2:35
[SPEAKER_00]: They can take creative risks and explore their characters.
2:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is important.
2:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And for the director, you want to listen to their ideas.
2:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Because we have our own idea.
2:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Because we're sitting at home, you know, writing, and we read the script, and I write objectives, and I write the shots, and I have to do all of that.
2:55
[SPEAKER_00]: But then the actors go, well, I like to go over here.
2:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I like to go to the door, how can I go to the door?
3:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you're blocking scenes, you have to think, okay, is that going to work?
3:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that not going to work?
3:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it a story problem?
3:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you have to be able to do all that.
3:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I find that I'm not over controlling at all.
3:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I like to listen feedback that's guiding.
3:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that actors are very vulnerable people.
3:24
[SPEAKER_00]: We're all vulnerable, but, you know, you, and it's important to, you know, keep everything safe, all of that, and, you know, for many first time direct, I'm not a first time director, but just for first time directors working with well trained and experienced actors can be very frustrating and timidating.
3:44
[SPEAKER_00]: because of all of these, you know, can you communicate your vision and the pressure to meet all these expectations?
3:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's very difficult, but I've always been actor-friendly and I think, you know, because I did so much television as an AD that I just saw how it all worked.
4:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I was standing two feet away and I could see how good directors would work with I saw how bad directors would work with, I saw bad, I saw bad, I saw all combinations.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was like I was being paid to go to school.
4:14
[SPEAKER_00]: learn how to direct the actors, right?
4:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And everything was like two feet in front of me.
4:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was like, just it was a, you know, after 20 years of doing that, you get a feel for it.
4:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what to say?
4:26
[SPEAKER_00]: No, because it's already been done, right?
4:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think, you know, the director's role is active listening.
4:33
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to listen to them, right?
4:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
4:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Show respect.
4:38
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's like, you know, just acknowledge their contributions.
4:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen so much of the opposite.
4:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Just, you know, it's like moving furniture around and all of that.
4:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Have to give clear directions, communicate successfully.
4:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I've seen directors walk up and they want to give a note to an actor, and it's a five-minute speech.
5:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And then director actor has no idea there's like 25 things in there.
5:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's walk up and you give an objective, give a verb, give something, you know, whatever.
5:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to understand the actor's language, provide the feedback.
5:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And you have to understand each actor's process.
5:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Each actor comes in and they develop a role.
5:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And you may not know their process, but when you get them to read, like you're casting for them, and then you have like four actors in a room, and you're on the set, and you're blocking.
5:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Television,
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[SPEAKER_00]: in night television, you don't really have rehearsals, like a week of rehearsals like you do in a future.
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[SPEAKER_00]: So you're kind of blocked and then you start looking and I've got enough experience and okay, that's going to be a problem.
5:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I can see the dynamics of the actors, you know, like all the egos are happening and that's all little subtle.
5:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So you have to be a people person.
6:00
[SPEAKER_00]: and conflict are inevitable and it's a collaborative and a creative environment.
6:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So try to keep everything professional.
6:10
[SPEAKER_00]: and a positive work environment.
6:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of combination, but I listen to the actors.
6:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I, you know, I block the scene, I go, you start here like, because in the scenes as you come through the door.
6:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's where you go, go.
6:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just blocked, let them go.
6:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I know with the DP, I know my shots.
6:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I know I wanna block the scene.
6:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I've done all the work.
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I wanna see what the actors do.
6:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm allowing them,
6:35
[SPEAKER_00]: to play a little bit, right?
6:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And you only have one to rehearsal, like blocking.
6:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you got to start lighting.
6:41
[SPEAKER_00]: But I've done enough of it to say, OK, because they know the script.
6:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it's OK, great, great, great.
6:47
[SPEAKER_00]: What happens if you go start instead of going to the door?
6:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of going to the window on the right, do you want to go the window on the left?
6:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it doesn't matter to them, because I know the DP once we already talked about putting them there, but I'm not going to tell them, start at the door and go to that window.
7:03
[SPEAKER_00]: You see what I'm saying?
7:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to say, go to that window there.
7:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to see how they get there, and if they go to the other one, I know I can tell them.
7:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Then we do the other, the second rehearsal, second blocking, they're all getting up to speed, because the actors know it's for the camera.
7:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So, but they want to be allowed to play a little bit because then new dialogue comes out, little more relationships, and I as a director and any director that worked in so many directors do work that style.
7:32
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, wow, I didn't think of that.
7:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't think of that too in the morning when I was writing my childless.
7:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, let's do this, let's do that.
7:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So, it's really that actors' process that you need to go through, right?
7:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And understand that
7:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is a director, you know, if you're doing a feature film, you can spend an hour blocking a scene with two people because that's the time that you can.
8:01
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're doing that in TV, you're already 45 minutes behind schedule because it should be 50 minute blocking.
8:07
[SPEAKER_00]: You gotta get in and you're saying here, put the marks on the ground and note you go.
8:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So I remember doing, as you're going to TV movie with the featured director and we had two big,
8:18
[SPEAKER_00]: big actors, I can't remember their name, they're big TV actors, and the director said Peter, can you and the script supervisor stay keep everybody out?
8:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to talk for an hour to the actors.
8:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, okay fine, it's fine.
8:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So the script supervisor and I sat there listening to a directing and acting, it was great.
8:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I had these amazing actors and this brilliant director and I think it was like school.
8:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just listening, you know, but we had the time.
8:46
[SPEAKER_00]: and the producers allowed him to do that.
8:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that it's, you know, I think that you have to sort of take, like right now, we have, you know, all of the, there's commercials and all the virtual dramas and all the stuff that's happening in the world right now, what you're just.
9:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, what am I?
9:07
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what am I?
9:07
[SPEAKER_00]: That's Chinese for oh my god.
9:09
[SPEAKER_00]: That's like Desk horrible stuff, but it's the stuff that's happening, right?
9:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And they just you stand here you do this It did it and you know it'll it will at some point even though I think that you know I think it's important to I'm an actor's director and I want to protect the actors.
9:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's my job
9:31
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I mean, it's a follow-on for me, I mean, how would you guide up an access performance who's kind of the most established style, I mean, and with their busy schedules, I mean, you particularly have work with, say, Peter of two, well Gibson,
9:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey and Adam Sandland.
9:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, Sunny for younger directors, when they're dealing with more separate stars, or how would you go about it?
10:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Or what's been your experience in what you intimidated?
10:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not going to tell how Peter or two how to act.
10:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, what's how did you deal with that?
10:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think all of those people you mentioned, except for maybe Kevin Spacey, I was an AD, so I wasn't really directing all of them, but I think that, you know, you're going to get
10:28
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you're going to get actors that of that quality coming into a set and and I think that you you need to to make a little bit of adjustment especially well known actors right and I think that, you know,
10:58
[SPEAKER_00]: maybe directors a little experience will focus more on resulting and wants you to be more angry do that stuff and actors hate that kind of stuff.
11:06
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think that you know I worked with a good example is I worked on a TV movie with you know on old Hollywood director who did a lot of TV.
11:20
[SPEAKER_00]: and he came up to do this TV movie, and there was two really good well-known actors of a female and male actor.
11:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And this disdirector would not, didn't say much to the actors, and it really frustrated the actors.
11:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And he would be sitting in them with the monitors in
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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, go again, go again, okay, go ahead and move on.
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he didn't give any input.
11:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And as the AD, I'm standing on the set by the camera.
11:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm watching them and we got several days.
11:51
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a four-week shoot, so up to in the second week.
11:54
[SPEAKER_00]: The actors were getting very frustrated.
11:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And these were two really, really good actors that well-known.
12:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And they turned to me.
12:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And he goes, Peter, what do you think we should do?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like, and I'm like, four feet away from him.
12:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just, I said, I know what the director wants, but I know what he translate, but he's not telling you.
12:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And, but I can't say it.
12:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, guys, I can't do it.
12:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And they understood.
12:22
[SPEAKER_00]: But that was a frustration of actors a lot, where you get that, and then actors then a lot of times, just have to do it on their own.
12:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I think what I've seen a lot is directors coming in and giving some, a five-minute speech on something.
12:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And the joke is okay, what was the first thing you said again?
12:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I said that already.
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the experience, because if we divide into two categories, experience actors and not, you know, actually actors that haven't had a lot of experience.
12:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Experience actors, because I've seen all of us, I've seen,
12:59
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, not their heads, the given results are actually, I want you to do this if you stab you and they go, yeah, yeah, no problem, no problem.
13:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we, we roll, and they kind of do what they want.
13:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Because they stay within the marks.
13:12
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not going to walk because it's lighting and all of that.
13:15
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not technical, but they will, they will do that.
13:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that there's a couple of actors I worked with.
13:23
[SPEAKER_00]: If you mentioned Kevin and Peter, I have to tell him about Kevin Spacey.
13:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I know he's running a little bit of trouble last few years, but he's still an amazing actor.
13:34
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... we were shooting wise guy uh... this was in the eight mid-eighties and uh... we have guest or guest villains come in on wise guy okay if it was the guest seven they have seven episodes there's the bad guys for seven episodes and so i came in and i went to finish the last episode i go into the office to prep and i go with the exes Kevin nobody heard them well he won a Tony war on broadwares okay he's a he's a he's a is a stage actor okay so finally so he comes in
14:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember Kevin had a big black laboratory dog and he'd walk through the offices, but we did, we didn't know who he was.
14:08
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a nice guy and I think within the first day of shooting and he was like, he had this crazy, this character and he's, I'm going to use the expression on like a light switch, it was like totally amazing like he and we were just sitting there after two days going, who is this guy?
14:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we knew, right, this was his first, I think this was his first time for film, in film, I think before he was all staged and it was just amazing.
14:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think one of the days we were shooting,
14:46
[SPEAKER_00]: The camera's right beside me.
14:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm here.
14:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm rolling Kevin's beside me because he's going to walk into the scene And there's a electrician on a ladder right beside Kevin holding a lamp because we're on studio and Kevin is telling a joke to this Gaffer up on the electric you know up on the he's in the middle of the joke and I'm okay everybody real sound that Are the that you know, okay here we go frame and and the director goes empty and Kevin goes
15:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Walks in and does this amazing scene like your director calls cut and you're just like oh he walks back and finishes the joke to the guy
15:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody in the world can do that and that's when we knew about Kevin Spacey like that was my story I just and I had friends coming down I said act you guys got to come down watch this guy we knew that that point this this guy was amazing And I think another I was doing another TV movie or a movie feature I can't remember was but Kevin So I worked with Kevin twice oh is a movie and There we had a set in the Vancouver we shot Vancouver and there's an aquarium with a killer well
15:58
[SPEAKER_00]: and so the director had this great
16:00
[SPEAKER_00]: down in an office, the bosses office at the aquarium is underneath the water, and there's a big window he could see the killer wheel, go around, right?
16:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is a great location, we loved it.
16:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So the director then obviously there was a scene where somebody was at the desk and Kevin was in front of the window, because that's where the camera was shooting with the whale behind him.
16:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So my job was just to stay just out of camera
16:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And we had a trainer.
16:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you ever want to get a killer well to visit you, this is what you do.
16:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You get a comb.
16:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And the trainer said, you just take the comb and you scratch the window.
16:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they go by sound.
16:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And so what happened was we, and we don't want to waste a lot of films.
16:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So we do it with called tail slate.
16:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So we slate at the beginning.
16:52
[SPEAKER_00]: We just put a slate at the top.
16:53
[SPEAKER_00]: But this all filmed.
16:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
16:55
[SPEAKER_00]: This wasn't digital at this point.
16:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can't.
16:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So what happens is that
17:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I would scrape the thing, I put my hand up, and they were all ready to go, and I would go, boom, and they turned the camera on in a electrical action.
17:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Kevin would read this thing, and the killer will go behind him as it's shot.
17:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And so then the director would cut the cave and then we'd do it, so we did this two, three times, and Kevin was sitting there.
17:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said at one point, this isn't about me, is it?
17:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And we all went, no Kevin, it's about the killer well, okay, good thing, so I just wanted to know that.
17:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So you get actors like that that understand.
17:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And he did like the speeches he did, he was just, we're amazing, like really deep.
17:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but I just love that.
17:48
[SPEAKER_02]: You kind of strong advocate of story, performance, and cinematics hierarchy, and you find that with a lot of young directors or speakers, you do teach obviously when a school, you do kind of a professorship of film school, you know, director tutorials or you have that quite a large part of your career.
18:07
[SPEAKER_02]: So what do you find with there's new directors coming out, Puppy, more visually based rather than story or
18:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a general, I can only give you a general answer because obviously
18:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I think most of the time, it's either people that are really into the director, if you talk about directors, okay, I guess we talk about directors, okay.
18:30
[SPEAKER_00]: We look at either you are three years, four years in a university and you learn all the theory and you do one short film, you know, you're not, you know, and you were the camera operator.
18:43
[SPEAKER_00]: You go to a film like then film school, you're doing it, you're doing it, all the technical, you're working with that, but it's all technical.
18:49
[SPEAKER_00]: There's two sides of the coin, right?
18:53
[SPEAKER_00]: If you are a director, then you have to, there's an actor side, and then there's a technical side.
19:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And you have to know both.
19:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that a lot of,
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think I did this in the beginning because my wife was actor.
19:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I knew a lot of the acting stuff even before when I started directing.
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So I kind of understood that.
19:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And I still stumbled a little bit, you know, with actors.
19:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But I knew a bullet don't result direct.
19:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I knew all the stuff not to say.
19:22
[SPEAKER_00]: But you still have to come up to actors and give them a note.
19:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And if they say, no, what do you say, I don't know.
19:29
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think that the technical, I'm very burst in the technical.
19:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So I focus on more of the acting.
19:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And I can change things around because I know my shots.
19:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I know the continuity.
19:42
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to sort of think about the whole thing.
19:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And if an actor comes in says, you know what, we want to try this, can we try something different?
19:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's also me involving the director of photography because do we change your shot, do we change your time?
19:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to think about what's the scene before, what's the scene after for editing?
20:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, because I don't want to like, like we see films also, it's like a cut that just goes chunk.
20:07
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't feel right, right, so all and and also actors that want to move around a little different than what we talk about the DPS step in and say, yeah, I can put a light there it only take five minutes, right, so you have to, it's a, it's a, you know what it is where do I have in use?
20:26
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a negotiation.
20:28
[SPEAKER_00]: that's a good word.
20:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all it's a negotiation, right?
20:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that actors are aware that it's as a camera there and that there's lighting and that the crew, they have to do certain things.
20:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that you basically, you know, I think most of the actors that I've worked with,
20:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I've never really had any issues.
20:53
[SPEAKER_00]: There's been a few people that may be a little stubborn.
20:55
[SPEAKER_00]: They want to do something.
20:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I say, OK, well, I do what I do is I do the, because I'm an XAD.
21:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I understand time.
21:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm looking at my watch.
21:04
[SPEAKER_00]: OK, I'll do two versions.
21:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Then the actress, I'll do your version.
21:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I'll do my version.
21:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the actress, yeah, but you get the final cut.
21:11
[SPEAKER_00]: That says, well, it's your choice, right?
21:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's all about the politics.
21:15
[SPEAKER_00]: But it is, it's the big thing with the technical and the creative with the game.
21:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I just said, that's not going to change, right?
21:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel sorry for actors right now.
21:28
[SPEAKER_00]: You're crammed in like the vertical dramas.
21:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just you stand here.
21:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Like China is this is really.
21:34
[SPEAKER_00]: awful.
21:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, people are working and don't get me wrong.
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all great and people are loving it and everywhere in the world, but you just, you and you go stand here, say lying over here because they just have no time.
21:46
[SPEAKER_00]: They're doing 60 pages.
21:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the day there's a shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
21:50
[SPEAKER_00]: One take, one take, it doesn't matter.
21:51
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just you're just there, say the lines.
21:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't, you're not worried about blocking anymore.
21:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It's because it's that.
21:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But when you're working with TV shows, TV movies, or bigger movies, actors then have an opportunity to be able to, to, you know, say something.
22:08
[SPEAKER_00]: They're Sean Conner, I never worked for Sean Connery, he was, I can't remember what movie was, but they ended up in this house in Vancouver Island.
22:18
[SPEAKER_00]: in Vancouver, it's just on one of their islands, and it was a big mansion, beautiful vista, and I think there was like a week or two weeks of shooting in the house.
22:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was kind of almost one big scene, it was this big, one big scene.
22:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So when they came in, this is somebody told me this, who was on the set, they said, they all came in,
22:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And all the actors stood around, the all-news and say a week of shooting to do this one scene and Sean Connery sat in a chair.
22:44
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, if it's a week shooting, I'm sitting in a chair.
22:46
[SPEAKER_00]: You guys can stand.
22:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, it was like a great point, right?
22:52
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, I mean, obviously, you probably stood, but he sat, but he wanted to sit down.
22:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Because he said, I'm not standing for 12 hours a day and doing this.
23:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So you get those kind of things.
23:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think that is.
23:04
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I don't think that is.
23:06
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I mean, so, like it's lastly, I mean, could you give us your only or run through a firm personal 10 commandments, also by which it's because you've survived through many decades in a pretty tough industry, and oh, so all kinds of survival tips that cause help you kind of like survive this career.
23:26
[UNKNOWN]: Okay.
23:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's very interesting.
23:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think, yeah, I think that,
23:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I think because I was teaching a lot I think a lot of I've spent a lot like a wrote the book I've done a tons of online stuff and workshops and things and same thing kind of there's a repetition that happens and I've taught you know two or three day workshops virtually around the world into different countries and and some of the same things comes up at all time because I'm talking directing and stuff.
23:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I thought, well, you know what, one day I just sat down and I just started to figure it out.
24:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And so these are my 10 commandments or what I call survival tips that can help any filmmaker to do it.
24:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it's my way of showing anyone how to work and survive in the business.
24:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I said, without getting or giving ulcers, I think there's there's two ways there.
24:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So number one, it's only a movie no one should get hurt.
24:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think of all the work that I've done when you end up on the big, big sets and action car chases, you name it.
24:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I've cars going into water, actions, fire, guys on fire, the world or a one battle scenes.
24:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything, you know, you sort of,
24:47
[SPEAKER_00]: guys jumping out of third floor buildings in the airbags.
24:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you just, you know about safety, fights and all of that.
24:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, this is an obvious one.
24:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And making any kind of film and TV can be risky because there are many natural, first of all hazards on set.
25:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
25:06
[SPEAKER_00]: You can trip on wires.
25:07
[SPEAKER_00]: You can you can I think we've all I was on a platform once and there was a whole room and I skinned my whole leg.
25:13
[SPEAKER_00]: People get burned people like they're just natural things you trip on you trip on cables you all of this stuff.
25:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that that is, that's something to do.
25:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, little story, fly too, working on the fly too.
25:28
[SPEAKER_00]: We did, which was flat of fun.
25:29
[SPEAKER_00]: The fly one was brilliant, fly too, okay, whatever.
25:33
[SPEAKER_00]: But we are in the studio in Vancouver and the pig pods that opened up, the special effects, they had a big hose laid all on the floor about this thick.
25:45
[SPEAKER_00]: All the power cables are about this thick.
25:47
[SPEAKER_00]: and this is about that thick and every day we all walked in everybody tripped over the cable because after 10 years or 20 years on the set you just glide your feet over stuff you know exactly how high it is so it was just very funny I kept tripping over the thing because I wasn't raising my foot okay number two ask a lot of questions and never assume anything
26:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's life, right?
26:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think in any industry, but I know for sure in the film industry, especially creative, and it's not like people can blow up an actor's scream and directors and people get by, there's all this drama, literally.
26:30
[SPEAKER_00]: drama that's not on the camera is drama behind the camera so much of the so many people are afraid to ask questions right so and I think the you know the only dumb question is the one that was never asked I think that's an expression itself so directors and first ADs we have to listen to others but we also have to ask questions right if something doesn't feel right
26:54
[SPEAKER_00]: or it doesn't ring true or it doesn't make sense.
26:57
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to ask a question.
26:58
[SPEAKER_00]: We have to solve it right now.
26:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So don't be afraid, never.
27:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So I've asked a lot of questions.
27:02
[SPEAKER_00]: People who I just told you that, you have to expect that.
27:05
[SPEAKER_00]: But from the AD position, the AD position is the one that all the SHIT gets poured down.
27:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I think any ADs can laugh at that one.
27:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Number three, there are no rules in filmmaking only sins.
27:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, that's not an original.
27:24
[SPEAKER_00]: My quote is from the legendary film director Frank Capra who said there are no rules in filmmaking only sins.
27:31
[SPEAKER_00]: and the cardinal sin is dullness, right?
27:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think, yeah, I just left the only sin here, right?
27:38
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there's just a mistake.
27:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Something happened, somebody gets hurt, somebody's laid something sin or it's a wrong shot.
27:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So there are no rules.
27:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think, I mean, sure, it has to be exposed, right?
27:51
[SPEAKER_00]: You got that, that there's have to, of course.
27:53
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you have to take these with a grain of salt.
27:55
[SPEAKER_00]: They have to be in the right wardrobe.
28:01
[SPEAKER_00]: and things change.
28:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that you kind of look at that a little bit, and I think when Frank Capra said the only Cardinal sin is dullness, whatever you do, don't make a barn.
28:13
[SPEAKER_00]: That's my take on that.
28:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Number four, listen to people who know more than you do.
28:17
[SPEAKER_00]: This is really important.
28:21
[SPEAKER_00]: The crew works and said all the time, that's what they do, so they see
28:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
28:27
[SPEAKER_00]: They know more than you do about their jobs.
28:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So a director comes in to keep key grip.
28:31
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been there for 25 years.
28:33
[SPEAKER_00]: They know their job, right?
28:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You're a first-time director.
28:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So always listen to them, you'll be a better filmmaker.
28:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you come in, you already have the rank of like a, you know, not a general, but your, you know, director, your first-time director, second-time director,
28:49
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, if nobody knows you, they'll say, oh, he's only directed twice.
28:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, well, this guy's new, right?
28:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So I directed all across Canada.
28:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, Montreal, Toronto, half out all the way through back in cities, back in forth, and doing episodic.
29:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, I knew a lot of the crews in Vancouver in Toronto, but all these other cities, nobody knew who I was.
29:09
[SPEAKER_00]: They just say, oh, he used AD, but he did this.
29:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you're running done three or four shows, right?
29:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So you have to almost prove yourself every time you walk in, right?
29:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think because I was an AD, I know what the crews are going through.
29:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I have that mentality.
29:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So seven days perhaps seven days should you kind of work with everybody and and I think that that's that's the, you know, I think that's important, right.
29:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Number five, you have to earn respect not demand it.
29:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's important, the hierarchy is like an army, the general at the top and the privates at the bottom.
29:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And this means there will be people in higher positions you won't like, or you may not be able to deal with them in vice versa.
29:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And then actually continues from what I just talked about, listen to people.
29:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I was shooting a TV series in Montreal.
30:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was a five-day show, and so you don't work on the weekends.
30:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So I did a couple episodes, did one, went back to Vancouver, but a month later it came back, and it's all French crew, the D.P.
30:11
[SPEAKER_00]: is the American, but it's all in English, actors in English, but all the crew are all in French.
30:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know a little bit of French from Canadian.
30:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But, and I think that, and this was Friday was our last shot.
30:22
[SPEAKER_00]: We had two more days, Monday, Tuesday.
30:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think this was, I think for me, just such a fabulous moment,
30:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was just wrapping up my thing at the chair and the gaffer, the gaff, the electrician came over the head, the electrician gaffer.
30:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And he spoke in broken English, he said, do you want a beer with us?
30:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And I go, yeah, so I went into the grip truck.
30:46
[SPEAKER_00]: See, the grip truck and the camera truck or a grip truck or the electric truck, the grips are all the equipment.
30:52
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, this is privilege territory for anybody, especially a bubble line.
30:56
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, wow.
30:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So I went in there and I had a couple of Canadian beer and everybody, nobody, there was hardly anybody's book English and we had a great time.
31:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And to me it was an absolute honor because they didn't have to do that.
31:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just thought, I think, if there's one or two things that for me, like, is there three things that I could say was great in my career ago?
31:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the world where one thing was amazing, I just couldn't.
31:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And going into the with the grip track with the French guys and drinking beer for two hours.
31:31
[SPEAKER_00]: That was that was amazing because that's that's just all equal people like you know I'm saying I don't you know it's just it's just this feeling.
31:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just great.
31:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So
31:42
[SPEAKER_00]: That really made my day.
31:43
[SPEAKER_00]: It made my year.
31:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So number six, don't abuse your power.
31:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Use power through, not power over.
31:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is for everybody.
31:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Like everything I'm talking about here is really.
31:56
[SPEAKER_00]: As a director, you have your very powerful position and producers look to you to make sure the movie comes in on time and a budget.
32:04
[SPEAKER_00]: The cast looks to you to be inspired and creative direction.
32:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
32:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's all of those things that you come in.
32:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of directors I've worked with in 80s, you know, trust me, abusive power, over it's just it's so hard to work with any environment.
32:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And unfortunately, in the film industry is a creative industry.
32:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know I've said this a few times before, I know some people say, I don't, I don't, I just agree with that.
32:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I said that's fine, but the creative industry allows a lot of this kind of stuff to happen.
32:39
[SPEAKER_00]: because we're creative and we blow up and it's like the artist who throws his paint you know and we've all seen the movies right and I think a bit of that is true because you're not you're not building you're not
32:51
[SPEAKER_00]: making a show, you're not construction, putting bolts in the right, like you're making a movie or a TV show, right?
32:59
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like this is, and so it's all important in the pitch.
33:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It's for people to watch, you know, but, you know, a lot of people have their in their heads.
33:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just real important.
33:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and you look, I learned a lot from the cruise.
33:14
[SPEAKER_00]: They elected the camera department, the grip, selectors, hair, makeup, or those are all their cameras.
33:19
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't take the SHAT anymore.
33:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they just stay okay, but they see it more.
33:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, because I'm in the sort of leadership, always a leadership position, but you have to sit and do the stuff so.
33:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I've seen this, you know, I think that's true.
33:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Number seven is, don't be afraid to change your mind.
33:38
[SPEAKER_00]: This is interesting because I read a self-help book that had 10 commandments and one of them was it's okay to change your mind.
33:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, because I'm a director, I idea, come in.
33:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go over here.
33:49
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I think we should go here.
33:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I don't want to say that, but it's better to go here.
33:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But I do it than I lose an hour because I should have said, you know, your mind just goes on and on and on.
33:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So I said, the hell of that, it's just like, oh, guys, stop stuff, stop, we got, we got to do so.
34:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what you think you can swear to me, I don't care, but we got to do this way now.
34:05
[SPEAKER_00]: For whatever reason, right?
34:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So this makes a lot of sense, especially if you're a director, because you're making decisions all day.
34:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You're an AD or even, right?
34:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So some of your decisions may need to change after you get more information from people.
34:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And the problem happens when your ego gets in the way.
34:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've had a couple times where I had a direct TV director, we're doing a TV movie, he was actually a friend of mine, and he was a TV director, he was an AD for a long time, and he directed TV, and we had this big scene at night and he said, Peter, I just don't think we can get this scene.
34:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was tired, and I didn't want to change it.
34:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And I, no, we'll do it.
34:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, we didn't.
34:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is a perfect example, right?
34:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And we had to, I cost the production a few thousand, we had to come back or do whatever it was.
34:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember all the detail.
34:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Just because I was stubborn, I was tired, I didn't want to change my mind, I would just whatever.
35:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I learned, right?
35:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So number eight, a healthy ego is necessary.
35:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Self-importance is unnecessary.
35:13
[SPEAKER_00]: There's two different things.
35:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a distinction between ego and self-importance.
35:18
[SPEAKER_00]: ego can be defined as, I guess, this is your consciousness of your own identity, something like that.
35:26
[SPEAKER_00]: You need an ego in this business because ego is important for us five.
35:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You need an ego almost everywhere.
35:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Everywhere you go, everything you do, you have to have an ego.
35:34
[SPEAKER_00]: But ego helps believe in yourself.
35:38
[SPEAKER_00]: It helps you get up in the morning know that you still have things to learn, but you're good at your job, and you'll get through the day by being fair and respecting other people.
35:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So self-importance and every industry has it, every industry has it, you know, and anything in the creative arts.
35:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know I say that, but there's more, there's a lot more of it there.
36:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Number nine is have a sense of humor, learn to laugh for yourself.
36:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a big fan of this, this real should be number one again, there's a lot of, I think they should all be number one, but making a movie is hard, hard work.
36:16
[SPEAKER_00]: very hard work or TV show or virtual drama does matter what it is.
36:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And the occasional break for stress and it pays for itself over and over again, give it laugh for the crew for that 10 seconds, 20 seconds.
36:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It just breaks the ice a little bit.
36:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So you got to learn to laugh for yourself and I learned that a long time ago, especially as an AD and as a director coming and I would make a mistake and I would admit it or I do something or you know and it just
36:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it takes you off with a pedestal and keeps you with everybody else, right?
36:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think, and number 10 is, take 10 minutes at lunch.
36:55
[SPEAKER_00]: When I'm shooting, I take 10 or 50 minutes, somewhere offset, during lunch, just to sit and recharge my passage.
37:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, 10 feet, you just have to, you just got to walk away.
37:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember shooting Lizzy McGuire movie, it was a Hollywood, it was a Disney movie, we shot
37:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And we were shooting in, oh, it's just crazy.
37:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a telling crew, and we're shooting at Trevy Fountain, which is the famous fountain in, and it's the big, you can't lock it up.
37:26
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, you have 200, 300 tourists and buses coming all the time.
37:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So we had like 200 extras.
37:33
[SPEAKER_00]: to surround our two actors, it could go down.
37:36
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the noise of the fountain is loud, the noise, everything, we had an ADR, all of the actor.
37:42
[SPEAKER_00]: ADR means automatically dialogue replace it, because you could't hear anything.
37:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So that it was just a guy track.
37:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Sounds just got a guy track of the actors, and they did ADR later in LA.
37:54
[SPEAKER_00]: But I remember we broke for lunch, and we were going to come back.
37:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And I remember having lunch in a cafe,
38:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And the food was great.
38:01
[SPEAKER_00]: We're in Rome.
38:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So it was no issue.
38:03
[SPEAKER_00]: But I said to my to I had a Italian first 80 because he I didn't speak Italian.
38:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So you always have an opposite.
38:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So I said I'm just going to go for a walk and you get everybody back to the fountain.
38:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I said I'll meet you there.
38:14
[SPEAKER_00]: He said okay.
38:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So I went somewhere.
38:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And my head was just spinning, you know, the ears, you're just allowed everything.
38:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just found this little doorway, which is about two feet in.
38:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just sat in this doorway in this little place in Rome.
38:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just sat there to my radio off and I just went and breathed for like 10 minutes, 50 minutes.
38:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the intensity, especially ADC, because you're just talking and, you know, like the AD job is just crazy.
38:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Director, every, every D.P.
38:48
[SPEAKER_00]: grips, they're all intense, but the AD, you're, you're the ringmaster.
38:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the director's not the ringmaster, you're the ringmaster, and it's just so hard to control.
39:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So anyways, that was my Rome experience.
39:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, I think that's a great one to us of our tips to pass on as developments.
39:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I think we'll leave it there, Peter, but thank you.
39:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that is obviously a hobby that gave a good glimpse into a huge career and an endless, well, almost of experience.
39:21
[SPEAKER_02]: So maybe later on, you'll join us for another deep dive.
39:26
[SPEAKER_02]: But you do also have the book, making the magic happen.
39:31
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the art and craft of direct image,
39:34
[SPEAKER_02]: I've produced a very, I mean, it's like a go-to textbook if you're of your knowledge in there.
39:40
[SPEAKER_02]: So, and a very good read actually, it's very not too kind of like hard to get into, actually, it's very accessible, but it's a well, thank you Peter, a great guest, and I hope you join us again soon, but for your home, I'll see you next time.
40:01
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40:06
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40:14
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