4 Habits Greta Gerwig Picked from Other Directors to Run her Set

Oscar-nominated, first time filmmaker, and long-time actress and screenwriter Greta Gerwig talks about the four practical elements she picked from other directors she’s worked with as an actress to run her set on “Lady Bird“

During a SAG conversation, Greta Gerwig, who has been consistently making a name for herself within the indie microcosm for her work as an actress and screenwriter, talked about her journey making Lady Bird her first solo endeavor as a screenwriter and filmmaker.

One of the great question asked was what (if anything) she picked from other directors while working as an actress to use on her set. The four elements Gerwig mentioned, plus the one element she infused based on her own experience as an actor on set are so practical and sound so powerful that I just can’t wait to use them myself.

In the meantime, enjoy and ponder Gerwig’s tool to build a great environment to create a film:

From Mike Mills : Have Every Crew Member Wear a Name-Tag

“I had a really great experience working with Mike Mills. He made me feel very inspired, very free, and he runs a beautiful set. I took from him to have every crew member wear name-tags, including myself. Which sounds like a small thing but actually, especially for actors who are only coming for two or three days, it’s really overwhelming, it’s like 40 or 50 people you’ve never met, you don’t have to know all their names, you feel rude if you say “hey you!”. And I remember thinking (on Mike Mills set) “That is so smart.” It makes everybody an individual, everybody’s got a name and it allows everybody to easily step into the world. And you’re more than your position, you’re a person. So I stole that from him.”

From Noah Baumbach: No Yelling, No Cellphones.

“Noah runs very quiet sets, which I think is helpful. There’s no yelling since there’s never a reason to ever yell. There’s just not. Everybody can talk in normal voice and we can get this movie done. Which I think sounds obvious but I’ve been on a lot of sets… I guess on a big set it makes sense but if you’re on an independent set, they’re all standing right there, there’s no need. No yelling, no cellphones. I don’t have any cellphones on set, which I think for most people is just a relief. I mean if you need to make a call you can leave the area where we’re working.”

From Rebecca Miller: Arrive 1 hour Earlier than Everybody Else on Set

“I stole that from Rebecca Miller. She always arrives an hour before set with her cinematographer and her first A.D. and they would mentally walk through the entire day: every single shot that they were trying to get, the location, what’s the timing of the day. They almost dry run it. And I did that because I felt it made me feel like I was on top of the day. I would also do it on the weekends, we would meet on Sunday and we would do it for the entire week just to have the shape of the week. I knew I had a lot to get through, and I knew that every day I had a lot to get through but I did not want to transmit my panic to my actors. No I’m serious because, that’s a terrible feeling when you’re on set and you feel like “Oh my god we’ve got to get it right now otherwise we’ll never get it…” It’s a terrible feeling and I wanted to be so on top of it that if an actor wanted to walk away from a scene from a second, take a breath, that I wasn’t panicked about time, that I could let them take that time. And it makes you more efficient. If you don’t transmit that panic people can do better work. That was the thinking behind that.”

From her Experience as an Actress: Creating a Seamless Work Environment and Focusing on Each Actor’s Need.

“As an actor you know the order an actor’s day goes in. The first person you see is hair and make-up, so it’s very important to me that I pick every person in that trailer very specifically. It’s not just a resume. There is the first person an actor sees, you want that to be a good place to go into. And I had a beautiful hair and make-up team, they were so wonderful. And then the next person you see is wardrobe. And then the first person you see when you’re actually on set, you go to the sound cart and you get micced. And that person is gonna touch you and mic you up and you want that person… I had a wonderful sound mixer, Amanda Beggs , she is one of the very few lady sound mixers and she’d worked with Sergei before on another film. Thinking about the order of their day to make it really nice as they come in. And then, I love actors, I am an actor, I love them and for me really focusing on the fact that each actor needs something different. It’s not “one size fits all”. Some people wants to be left alone and some people wants guidance and so you’re trying to figure out the way to make them the most comfortable and the way to give them the best opportunity. And I never want to create an environment where they’re going to feel that if they mess up they are in trouble or that they are going to disappoint me in any way. I want to create an environment where it’s like “Try big, crazy things or go in another direction. You’re this character, I don’t have a secret book that tells me when it’s right or wrong. We’re doing this together right now.” So really allowing them to own that is a great pleasure.I just love watching them.”

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You can watch the full SAG discussion below: