On February 11, DGA 1st AD members gathered in the Guild’s Los Angeles Boardroom for a breakfast and discussion event hosted by the AD/UPM Council West’s 1st AD Committee. The breakfast was designed to provide information necessary to stay competitive in today’s workplace. The title of this year’s event was Changing Landscapes, and featured an exploration of the tools and techniques available to 1st ADs that can make them more efficient at their craft.
Following a breakfast/social mixer, 1st AD Committee Co-Chairs Mark Hansson (Happy Endings) and Alan Curtiss (Something Borrowed) welcomed the attendees and introduced the co-hosts for the breakout discussion groups. The co-hosts included: Leo Bauer (Glee), Carol Green (House of Lies), Linda Montanti (American Horror Story), Justin Muller (Twilight: Breaking Dawn), Korey Pollard (Rizzoli & Isles), Richard Rosser (Awake), Daniel Silverberg (Touch), Mike Topoozian (Hemingway & Gellhorn), and Carol Vitkay (Harry’s Law). During the introductions, each of the co-hosts stated their primary work genre and gave a short example of how they had personally used a pre-production tool to achieve a goal in their capacity as a 1st AD, or a good “fast or cheap” situation they’ve encountered where they had to solve the gap between production needs and budgetary constraints.
The attendees were invited to sign up for the discussion groups that followed in several rooms of the DGA headquarters building. Each group then attempted to have a dialogue on the subjects of the day that included: Goals and Tools of Pre-production which explored the topics like the best suggestions and tools for better, more effective prep and reliable systems for organizing the prep period; Walking the Tightrope Between Good, Fast and Cheap, which offered ideas for situations like what one can do when the cast or other departments are causing delays and how to handle a production that's not going well; and New Issues and Challenges in Today’s Workplace that took a look at what skills are now needed to stay employed in a competitive field, and how the Guild can help members in new production formats stay ahead of the curve. Afterward, the groups reassembled in the Boardroom to report the results of their discussions, then opened the room to a wider discussion on what had transpired.
The 1st AD Committee plans to meet in the spring to create a set of “Goals and Tools of Pre-production” suggestions and recommendations generated by the discussions, and then post them on the DGA website.
