the two faces of tom

I love my crew. I keep saying it, and everybody wants to know why. So I’ll tell you, one blog at a time.

 
TOM PRATT, 1ST AD

​Tom’s Greatest Challenge: Being mean. This was his first crack at being a 1st and he did an admirable job with logistics and organizing and making sure the cast was happy and the director was never caught carrying stuff. 

But being a 1st also means that sometimes you have to be mean like that drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket  to make sure the set runs smoothly. And Tom is nice. Oh, how hard he tried to be mean. Sometimes he scowled. But he’s not a mean guy.

Look below, for a time Tom was mean. He gives us what-for at 19 seconds.

Pensive, yes. Mean, no.

The Thing That Made Tom Mean: A series of unfortunate events, on a day that pushed nearly everyone to the brink.

• Our lead actress ran out a gate that was supposed to slam behind her, and it did. But then it got stuck, and she was trapped on the other side. In the rain. With no umbrella. Tom always took the actors’ safety and comfort very seriously. We got the gate open in about 30 seconds, but it was probably the longest 30 seconds of Tom’s life, and it set him up for Unfortunate Event #2.

• ​That time we got Lauren to rattle the gate. This time, Tom wasn't worried about the actress, he was worried about the gate. It was old. And the more she rattled it, the more worried he got. Until he snapped. Or got very very stern. There would be no more gate rattling. But it's ok. We got the shot.​

Tom’s Biggest Regret: That he didn’t get to go in the camera boat on the last day. He really wanted to, and he deserved to, but it wasn’t big enough and the water was choppy. Sorry, Tom. My next film will have water in it too. You can go in the boat then.

An Important Thing An Anonymous Crew Member Said About Tom: That it’s good he wasn’t like that drill sergeant. That his pleasant personality helped us. The crew worked hard, and this was not a big budget film. If somebody was yelling at them all the time, they might not have stayed. But they did stay, because Tom helped to make it a nice set to be on. I love it when niceness wins.