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Personally, I’m a big believer in bringing along the creative team whether it’s MOS or not (if budget allows). Whether CW or AD, my assumption is their goal is to be a creative director. And I’d prefer they have on-set experience when that day comes. Just my 2 cents.
It’s honestly a budget thing, usually.
Writers should be there for last minute rewrites.
It always boils down to money. If there isn’t much money, lower level creatives stay home and the CD who has a relationship with the client goes.
And unfortunately it’s usually the CD who makes that judgment call. If you’re under a CD who is insecure or narcissistic, they’ll convince themselves its more important they go than you.
Two points on this:
1. Good scriptwriters seldom make good directors. They are consulted on everything, but the director and editor get the final say because writers are too attached to every single detail, which can become constraining.
2. A good CD will ensure taking on board max input from their writer while filming, either in person or on call, even as they will bring their special magic to the final product. It’s a collaboration after all.
This
I’m a writer and have always been asked to attend shoots. I think it’s really small-minded to assume the writer is only the creator of the words as my partner and I come up with ideas as a team. In my experience, it’s incredibly important for the writer to look for great performances and do as much as possible to understand what else is going on during filming. I’d be insulted if someone went in my place and I’m sorry if you’ve been excluded! If you need help advocating for yourself to attend a future shoot, feel free to DM me.
If you can position yourself as a qualified script supervisor, you'll be the best $1000/shoot day in time spent on the shoot.
Note, you're not there to "make sure" the shoot lives up to your vision of what the video should be. You're there to ensure complete editorial coverage of everything the script and more importantly, the shooting storyboard gets shot to the CD's satisfaction.
Being able to turn over good scripty notes will save at least an hour *per shot* in edit time by capturing what worked on every take, which take the director or client client identified as good/better/best.
The CD doesn't have the skillset or the attention span, and your camera department (whether internal or a hired crew) wants to focus on shooting rather than working down a checklist.
You mean if a writer isn’t seasoned enough to be deemed worth having on set, that changes because they can take script notes? On what planet does a lack of experience qualify as being able to produce useful notes that are worth a damn? You and BL1 work at the same place? I can just see it: You to director: “this is our writer whose here to take script notes—so please let him/her know which takes to circle.” Director: how nice (please, god, keep this moron out of my sight).
Could be a lot of things. If you get dropped from the shoot, stay mature about it and continue to be engaged through edit and post. It’s also probably not a bad idea with the CD to see if there’s a reason you weren’t brought on the shoot. Lets them know you care.
Depends. On the set you can check that the script is respected, that everything is going ok etc. But you are not usually as useful as an art director. So you are basically an assistant to the CD, or a substitute of the CD in case he’s not coming.
Sometimes going to the set can be a reward for the good job you’ve done (if the location or the project is cool), sometimes quite the opposite (I had to shoot a digital campaign during Xmas holidays... that was not a reward haha).