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 (“Legal Minds,” “Chicago P.D.”). When he’s not on set, Cassar spends his time sharing what he’s realized from his expertise with youthful administrators, instructing courses geared towards filmmakers simply starting in tv who wish to learn to maintain their careers.
One in all Cassar’s instructing instruments is a listing of 31 guidelines he lives by when directing, a listing that he shared on a current 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 that they had in frequent was that they solely had directed a handful of episodes, wherever from 1 to five. Lots of the guidelines are cryptic and designed to guide me into explaining what they’re.”
Cassar’s first rule of TV directing is without doubt one of the most essential: 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, no less than,” Cassar stated. “If you must set vehicles [to appear in your shot], possibly 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 every little thing modifications when the actors come again.”
A technique Cassar retains a watch on any potential issues is to ensure he stays on set whereas the crew is establishing pictures. “I don’t go to a trailer,” he stated. “I by no means depart the set. And I’m watching, so now I can see that what I designed has acquired slightly little bit of an issue. I can go to the operator straight away and say, okay, let’s carry it over a bit. I’m even watching the growth man, I’m watching the shadows. We rehearse the cues for the lighting [and the blocking], so once we do it the primary time we will say we acquired 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 significant time saver. “I’m not the type of director that wants 5 or 6 takes earlier than I do know what the shot is,” he stated. “I nearly 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 digital camera operator, Cassar seen that some administrators would take an excessive amount of time at the start of the day, when it appeared like that they had on a regular basis on the earth, after which get into hassle later when there wasn’t sufficient time left to get their protection. “I come out of the gate transferring quick,” Cassar stated. “That manner 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 loads of protection, as a result of that provides you a large number in submit.”
Wanting loads of protection doesn’t imply losing time on pointless pictures, nevertheless — considered one of Cassar’s different guidelines is to know when to give up. “Know when to maneuver on,” he stated. “I by no means take a look at my watch, ever.” Cassar realized early in his profession that it was a mistake to work from a preconceived timeline and hold taking pictures a scene as a result of the timeline stated he had the time — regardless that he actually had every little thing he wanted. “I stated, ‘Okay, nice. Let’s get one other shot over there. Certain sufficient, once 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 to don’t miss a single episode of Filmmaker Toolkit, subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favourite podcast platform.