Okay, so I caught this interview with Greta Gerwig - yes, the title implies that the main focus should be on writing people letters, and we can discuss this in another post. BUT around 1:08 Greta mentions that she had her crew wear nametags - MIC DROP! What a fantastic idea!
And like a baller, her PA came up with a "question of the day" so that they could include their answer on their nametag. How frickin' cool!
Have you employed something like this on your set? If not, would you? How do you see this improving your set experience?
It's good to know everyone's name, so I like the idea of first name tags. But no more than that. historically one of the reasons that people haven't done that, and why, for example, crew and cast contact info is never laid out on call sheets or contact lists on set is for concerns of privacy, which are justifiably near pathological levels in this industry. As far as a question of the day, I wouldn't do it but others might find it interesting. It smacks a bit grade-school to me and I need to keep a professional attitude on set from top to bottom. But again, your mileage may vary, that's just me.
I feel all these approaches more leans towards HR process. Like some have fun games or common dinning breaks to know each other. In India we all have habit to call with nicknames or pet names tagged along with a respectful pronouns. We got sometimes like wacky fashion shows or sing a song or any show any talent you got if you are late for the place or to do something. Just ways to be more playful, fun..
Yes it does smack a bit of grade school practices but I recently joined a live streaming production with about a dozen players, After a couple of weeks, I'm beginning to get a handle on names. Maybe, I'm just slow.
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Leadership starts at top and flows down. Greta Gerwig is a Boss and if she wants her crew to wear name tags, the crew will.
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Love the enthusiasm - great share!
Since fun sets are often equated to feeling like summer camp, then I take the grade school comparison as a triumph. Also, it depends on the tone of the set. This was for a coming-of-age drama/comedy, with actors between 18 and 22, so that little extra effort is appreciated and reflected in their performances. I don't think I would care to do it for Scorsese's Gangs of New York, ya know?
Been an extra to feature film productions more than dozen times and never had to had any tags on me...yes, director, showrunner is a busy guy or gal, don't need to bug with my name and all, but that's why there's a casting supervisor and guess what - she always remembered us by name...I mean if we were dozens on set, she always exactly know who is named what and what's his/her purpose on set...now, her superpower is called...you ready guys? - Professionalism!
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I've never worn a nametag on set, but I respect Greta and her process. I'm also open to trying new ways of working because improving the set experience is important to me.