Just had a nice meeting with the guy that it is quite interested in being the 1st Assistant Director.

For those that are unfamiliar with the position, the 1st AD has possibly one of the hardest jobs in the entire shoot. Their job is to create a shooting schedule, aka “Day out of Days”, and then execute on that. They are the link between the director and producers and the rest of the crew on the film. They know the when, where, who, and how for each day. Every minute of the shoot is managed by them to where the load is taken off of the director and producers in that regard.

I give them mad props, since I have been basically filling in as a temp until somebody came onboard and just have a taste of what the job is like. It’s definitely a job suited for those that like to be orderly and neat, and can tell everyone what to do in a concise and consistent manner.

Now that we have a 1st AD, I am getting even more excited, because this is where we all begin to take the words on paper and convert them into images and sounds on the screen for all you fine folks to enjoy.

Oh, and if you are interested in a career as a 1st AD, as many in the business do, and do nothing else but that, then I suggest learning to use Movie Magic Budgeting and Movie Magic Scheduling. Which, by the way, also work with Final Draft. Without a lot of that software, managing even a moderate-sized film can become daunting and quite paper-prone.