I’ve been thinking about what it takes to do good work on set and obviously the word ‘craft’ comes to mind. Not just get through a shoot day — but actually being able to craft something.
This word ‘craft’ is illusive – it often gets squeezed to the edges by logistics, curveballs, last-minute requests, and a hundred other distractions.
The truth is, I rarely arrive on set in a perfect state of creative clarity. There are usually a few unresolved questions, a lingering wardrobe note, or a location tweak we didn’t expect. That’s the honest reality. And it’s why I want to say up front: this isn’t a how-to. It’s a North Star. Something I’m trying to build toward, job by job. But, when it happens and when we do give ourselves the time to craft on set, then you do see it in the final product.
For me, it comes down to a simple principle: The fewer decisions you have to make on the day, the more energy (and time) you have to focus on craft. That means fewer debates about options that should have been decided in pre-prod. Fewer last-minute pivots because we didn’t get clarity early enough. Fewer questions flying at the director or producer when they should be focused on nuance.
Pre-production isn’t just prep — it’s subtraction.
We tend to think prep is a planning phase. But actually, prep is the process of eliminating everything you don’t want to deal with on the day. It’s not about keeping options open. It’s about closing them, one by one.
That means locking wardrobe, confirming hair and makeup, choosing angles and lensing preferences, aligning on look and feel. No “we’ll just see what feels right on the day.” No “we’ll decide in the morning.” Because we all know those loose ends become distractions. They become bottlenecks. And they almost always take more time and energy to solve in the moment than they would have in the room.
But here’s the catch: those decisions aren’t always yours to make. Production is inherently collaborative. And a huge part of this, especially in commercial work, is getting agency and client to align.
This is the dance. You reach the PPM with three wardrobe options for a character, and someone says, “Let’s just choose on the day.” That’s your cue. That’s the moment to say: “Let’s make this call now. We’ll have a backup ready just in case, but let’s make a decision together now so we don’t lose momentum later.”
It’s not about being difficult — it’s about making everyone’s life easier, especially on the day. This is what the meeting is for. This is what pre-production is for.
Structure is not the enemy of creativity. It’s the thing that protects it.
There will always be surprises. There will always be instinctive changes, gut calls, beautiful accidents. That’s part of the job. But those things live in the space you create for them.
If everything else is unresolved and your day is already overflowing with decisions then you don’t have time or mental bandwidth to respond with care.
When the foundational decisions are made, you’re free to really see, to listen, to adjust, to respond. That’s what craft is like on set.
It’s hard to get this right. Most jobs don’t. It’s probably one in five jobs (maybe less) where the day really opens up and feels creatively available. But those are the days I want more of. That’s the goal.
And it starts with a shift in mindset: pre-production isn’t about preparing to make decisions — it’s about making them. And the more you make upfront, the more you unlock on the day.
So no, this isn’t easy. It’s not perfect. But when the conditions are right, the work is better.