Since making his debut in Canadian tv again within the early Nineties, Jon Cassar has directed over 200 episodes of TV, starting from his groundbreaking (and Emmy award-winning) motion filmmaking on “24” to the sci-fi comedy of “The Orville” and a few of community TV’s hottest procedurals (“Felony Minds,” “Chicago P.D.”). When he’s not on set, Cassar spends his time sharing what he’s discovered from his expertise with youthful administrators, educating lessons geared towards filmmakers simply starting in tv who wish to discover ways to maintain their careers.
Considered one of Cassar’s educating instruments is an inventory of 31 guidelines he lives by when directing, an inventory that he shared on a latest episode of IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “I created it for a masterclass I did for the DGC,” Cassar instructed IndieWire. “It was a bunch of about 20 administrators of various ages. What they’d in widespread was that they solely had directed a handful of episodes, anyplace from 1 to five. Lots of the guidelines are cryptic and designed to steer me into explaining what they’re.”
Cassar’s first rule of TV directing is without doubt one of the most necessary: See issues earlier than they occur. Cassar says that it’s a easy rule, however important. “ The primary factor I say to each director is get to the set an hour early, a minimum of,” Cassar mentioned. “If you must set vehicles [to appear in your shot], perhaps an hour and a half. I’ll are available in and set all of the vehicles, so the second we do a blocking the vehicles are there, you’re not pretending the place the vehicles are going to be. After which all the pieces adjustments when the actors come again.”
A technique Cassar retains an eye fixed on any potential issues is to verify he stays on set whereas the crew is establishing photographs. “I don’t go to a trailer,” he mentioned. “I by no means depart the set. And I’m watching, so now I can see that what I designed has bought just a little little bit of an issue. I can go to the operator instantly and say, okay, let’s deliver it over a bit. I’m even watching the increase man, I’m watching the shadows. We rehearse the cues for the lighting [and the blocking], so after we do it the primary time we will say we bought it and transfer on.”
Cassar says that staying on set always and thoroughly working with the crew proper up till the second the actors arrive on set is a serious time saver. “I’m not the form of director that wants 5 or 6 takes earlier than I do know what the shot is,” he mentioned. “I just about rehearse it in order that when the actors are available in we will rehearse it as soon as and roll. Typically we don’t even rehearse it, we simply go.” That results in one other of Cassar’s guidelines: Go quick all day.
When he was a digicam operator, Cassar seen that some administrators would take an excessive amount of time originally of the day, when it appeared like they’d on a regular basis on this planet, after which get into bother later when there wasn’t sufficient time left to get their protection. “I come out of the gate shifting quick,” Cassar mentioned. “That means all my scenes have the identical quantity of protection. I’m not giving up on one as a result of I took too lengthy on one other one. They’ve all of the protection I would like and I like a whole lot of protection, as a result of that offers you a large number in put up.”
Wanting a whole lot of protection doesn’t imply losing time on pointless photographs, nonetheless — certainly one of Cassar’s different guidelines is to know when to give up. “Know when to maneuver on,” he mentioned. “I by no means take a look at my watch, ever.” Cassar discovered early in his profession that it was a mistake to work from a preconceived timeline and maintain taking pictures a scene as a result of the timeline mentioned he had the time — regardless that he actually had all the pieces he wanted. “I mentioned, ‘Okay, nice. Let’s get one other shot over there. Positive sufficient, after I wanted that hour on the finish of the day I didn’t have it.”
To listen to all 31 of Jon Cassar‘s guidelines for TV administrators and be sure you don’t miss a single episode of Filmmaker Toolkit, subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favourite podcast platform.
