Last week we shot a short film in downtown Raleigh, N.C. It was my first time in charge of craft services, so I was a little nervous about it. A week later, I’m still over-analyzing how it played out so that I can improve what I offer on the next shoot.

I feel like the food you offer to cast and crew is incredibly important. It’s one way of saying thank you to the cast and crew for the hard work and long hours. It also has a really important function: providing sustenance to keep going even when tired, cranky, and very ready to quit. Good food makes for happy tummies and that helps everyone on set work with a good attitude. It’s important.

busy-bee-by-camden-watts-2

On location at Busy Bee in downtown Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday, January 29, 2013.

So here’s a little run down of how it went.

Breakfast

On this particular shoot I offered coffee, donuts, and fruit in the morning. The coffee was a hit because it was so tasty. One of the guys said, “This coffee doesn’t mess around.” Huge compliment, thankyouverymuch! I love good coffee and want to support the local businesses that make it well.

That good news was countered by a conversation I had later in the day. I learned that one of the guys didn’t know coffee was available. Oh, this broke my heart!

We got on set and started hustling immediately. I made an announcement about the coffee but it probably was too early, like when everyone was still carrying in equipment. Or I announced it too quietly because I can be shy every now and then. So, lesson learned. Next time I’ll put the coffee in a more obvious spot, or make a much louder announcement about it.

On the craft services table was a bag of powdered donuts, which went unopened. The fresh fruit — sitting on the very same table — seemed appreciated. I saw several folks walking around with bananas and apples in hand that morning. I’m glad that I offered a few healthy options.

Conclusions: Set up craft services before crew gets there, if possible. Offer really great coffee. Make announcements about where the craft services can be found if it’s not totally obvious. Offer healthy options. Take extra care to make sure the busiest folks on set have what they need.

All-Day Food / Drink Options

It was important to have things to snack on throughout the day because, well, you just get hungry on set sometimes. So the week of the shoot I did a grocery run. My goal was to find a variety of things that were sweet, salty, crunchy, and healthy. You know, things you could nibble on throughout the day.

The healthy options won out. I saw folks munching on carrots and apples when hunger pains were creeping in before lunch. The chips were opened, but hardly consumed. Most of the candy went untouched.

I later learned that it was hard to see the candy. I had a variety of sweets in a glass jar, thinking that’d be awesome. On a table full of food like that, however, the jar blended in. So, mental note: make food easy to see, grab, and consume.

Bottled water went quickly. I’d like to find a better way to do that next time so that I don’t have to buy bottled water, to make our set more environmentally-friendly. Maybe I could offer cups with people’s names on them? A big pitcher so folks can refill their bottles? I need help on that one.

The soda I brought got consumed for the most part, except for one particular kind. I think next time I’ll stick to one brand (Coke or Pepsi) and offer diet options. Not having Diet on set was kind of a big deal, and I felt pretty bad about having to repeatedly say, “No, we don’t have diet.” Lesson learned.

Conclusions: Make all-day options easy to see, grab, and consume. Offer healthy options. Find a way to offer fresh, cold water. You don’t have to offer every kind of soda, but offering diet and regular is a appreciated.

Catered Lunch

Busy Bee catered our lunch that day. They did a great job! I love their food, which is one of the reasons I wanted to shoot the film there.

The folks at Busy Bee worked with me on the time of the meal, location where it would be offered, head count, cost and menu. Lesson learned? A lot of work goes into planning a good lunch for the cast in crew. Having good people — like the folks at Busy Bee — makes a huge difference!

I also learned some important lessons about communicating the plans for lunch. On my next set I will do two things differently: (1) communicate lunch plans to the director the morning of the shoot so he can plan accordingly and (2) make announcements about lunch so that the cast and crew know the plans when the time is right. Basically: avoid any confusion about lunch, especially when folks are hungry.

Conclusions: Getting lunch catered is great, especially when  you know the folks can deliver amazing food. Cast and crew appreciate a good meal. Communicate plans for lunch clearly to avoid confusion.

Sliders from Busy Bee Raleigh, which catered the lunch on set on Tuesday, January 29, 2013.

Sliders from Busy Bee Raleigh, which catered the lunch on set on Tuesday, January 29, 2013.

Overall Conclusions

The most obvious conclusion is this: put one person in charge of craft services. It would have been really helpful to have one go-to person. That person could tend to the food on the craft services table, communicate with the caterers, and ensure that folks on set know the lunch plans. Obvious, right? Still a good lesson for an indie filmmaker.

There are other folks reading this blog that don’t know much about filmmaking, so I hope this post is interesting enough. This little experiment in filmmaking taught me a lot. I’ll keep writing up the lessons learned and sharing them here, in hopes that it helps other indie filmmakers elsewhere in the world. No matter what, it’s incredibly helpful to me to write this stuff out, share it, and more easily remember it so that I can continue making improvements.