Assistant Director… a true picture required?
iView Author: Deepak (Mumbai, India)
Email: deepakmetro2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
Assistant Director… a true picture required?
Hi PFC family, Thanks for replying to my previous post and bringing more clarity to that
Today I just put a small effort to share some experiences and wanted all of seniors and juniors as well to draw a true picture about the “ROLE AND SCOPE OF AD-ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN A PROJECT”.
It’s a magical transition of mine from a hard core engineer to becoming a Director. Still doing my daily 9 to 5 job and saving every bit of money to land to the city of Dreams, MUMBAI. It all was started 3 years ago and I joined a theatre group, started with acting I find myself attracted towards direction & writing more than anything else. Written few plays(all commercial) and received a reasonable appreciation and that enforced more me to push to next level.Therfore I started participating in Film festivals (though still didn’t win any till now but received a good response).
Due to my JOB as engineer, I cannot go to a FILM school and had a formal education in direction so I assist few senior people on DD and STAR and horn my skills and learn a meaningful things.
FROM HERE THINGS ARE CHANGED. NOW I DON’T WANT TO JOB ANYMORE IN MY CURRENT PROFILE. My Filmy Kida is on high pace so I took few trips to MUMBAI and was lucky to know some fellows from industry. As I want to become a director FINALLY but after knowing it is not possible to climb the ladder before you put first step on floor so I decided to assist somebody. But I was not sure what an AD should know, though did a bit of research.
So eventually I was on the sets a commercial movie with a good banner. one of my friend is an artists in that movie so he just pick me to explain the environments on sets .I have seen few ADs who are taking care of lot of things on shoots like dresses, junior artists, makeups and every small work. As I was explained by my friend already that it’s all part of job and I do feel that it is important but my worry is DID YOU GET ANY TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE DOING ALL THESE THINGS OR HOW ONE CAN LEARN DOING THESE ACTIVITIES??????
Then I meet a senior Actor/producer through a reference and I come to know that many AD on sets are not even getting paid and few of them will get conveyance only (if they are lucky enough).in a city like Mumbai how one can survive on conveyance???. But if these are the rules then who am I to complain?:-)
Then I met a Director of a serial with biggest daily soap makers, he took a very genuine interview asking about what I had done before .then I inform him that I am just on a small trip to analysis the scenario. He laughed and after that he explain is too horrible. he told me that it is good you come for analysis, people come here and did it for 1 or 2 years and go back , so you may also try the same.
Then I ask him what an AD should know before applying. He told me “usay ma bahan ki gali sunni aani chaiye (he must be ready to get abused every time with or without reason) coz director will outsource every frustration of him to AD. AD is the person who is less important in a project and always left thankless. Then he explains that I should not be expected to get paid and work hour could be anything between 14 to 24 hours.
*I strongly appeal that above is not write to create a bad image of anybody but being a part of this industry I just wish to get a good guidance.
THOUGH THE ABOVE IS NOT SO BIG TO CHANGE MY MIND COZ I DECIDE TO EITHER DO OR DIE FOR MY PASSION. BUT I WISH & HOPE IF ANY SENIOR FELLOW CAN ADD LITTLE GUIDANCE ABOUT, WHAT AN AD SHOULD TAKE CARE WHETHER HE IS CLIMBING ON RIGHT PATH AND NOT WASTING HIS OR HER TIME. WHAT SHOULD BE A GOOD LEARNING PATH?
I APPEAL AGAIN TO PEOPLE JUST COME AHEAD AND SHARE YOUR EXP AS AD TO BENEFIT EVERY NEW ASPIRANT.
Rgds,
AN AD.
Tags: Assistant Director
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
what is your definition of an a.d.
the problem here is a lot of people become assistants to learn, the job of an assistant like in any profession is to assist, help create the environment where the director can focus on the film and his actors.
Surely you do not expect the director to take time off his shoot to teach you and then pay you for teaching you.
when i wanted to join in , the criteria was always the project and not the money.. the kind of films we sit and talk about here more often than not have no money to begin with, you need to know what is it that you want..to make films or survive.. because surviving is easy .. live on the streets , pile on to friends, live off vada pavs, and walk whereever you want to get to.. even today one can survive in twenty bucks if one wants to.. i have done that for more than two years.. i on principle do not hire an AD whose first question is , how much will i be paid. if i see you are really interested in the process of filmmaking, i will hire you.. anything else , i don’t care.
@Deepak,
Some 710 days before during the initial phase of PFC, we had discussed this case of ADs.
Its so old discussion and thoughts of every contributer there might have been changed by now. But still somebody’s thoughts in the comment section there can help you.
http://passionforcinema.com/assistant-directors-in-hindi-cinema-are-they-paid-enough-to-live-with-self-respect/
This can be an exaggeration that ADs dont get any payment at all. It can be less payment. situation should differ from person to person and case to case.
*****I simply couldn’t believe that I got my first reply through you Anurag sir, my motive is achieved to a big extent.
I even appreciate and amazed to read about yourself that you have no resistance to say that how you passed your time on vada pavs. Though I am agree that nobody pays for teaching but how a new fellow will ensure that he is in right environment if you can please code your or many of your AD’s example who are without doubt making films as independent directors today.
AND IF THAT LAST LINE IS FOR ME (LUCKILY), THEN I REQUEST PL LET ME KNOW HOW I CAN JOIN YOU.
My definition of AD is simply who assist the director in administration & technical as well and organize the full environment on sets like
1. Script break down
2. Location hunting
3. Call sheet
4. Take care of equipments on site
And after a good amount of exp., one may contribute in Script continuity, work with camera man and art director on setting frames, work with writer on dialogues on the set, check costume continuity during a scene, semifinal editing (work with editor), Post production (work with sound, music and songs with sound manager), closely follow the whole production process.
WITH BEST REGARDS
AD
Dear Anurag,
Agreed. ADs are there to learn but there is something called ’stipend’ that is offerred to such learners in many industries. How about giving that to ADs? An absolute rookie may not be paid for first film or first 6 months in case of TV or some such initial period but after he learns the ropes and starts playing an important role in the production, he should be paid some decent amount. ADs are an important part of any production and no production can happen without ADs. Director cannot keep track of everything and look into every small detail or go on doing mundane but necessary tasks. Have you heard of the ‘Raamsetu’ story where Bhagwan Ram acknoledged the contribution even from a squirrel. ADs are much more than that and that should be acknowledged.
An AD with 1 year experience in TV or 2 films experience should be paid an amount slightly more than is necessary to cover his basic expenses. This amount should increase with senioirty. I think TV producers pay that way.
Every AD may not get a chance to become a director. If he spends some years in the business and the experience and expertise that he gets by doing this is recognised, he can remain AD all his life and still feel happy and successful.
The basic question here, Deepak, is what do you want to do?
-
You want to become an assistant director. Why? Because you want to become a director. Why do you want to become a director? To direct. What will you direct? Actors, crew, girls etc etc. Why would you want to do that?
Is it an ego trip? Money&power trip? What exactly? First know why you want to become a director.
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To my mind, the simplest reason would be to tell stories.
Now do you have stories to tell, stories that have never been told before, really really good stories? You first have to check this. This is the most important thing. Are your stories magnificent?
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Let’s assume that you are indeed a keeper of magnificent stories. Great. You just need the right break. To get that right break, you need to know how things work. To know how things work, you become an AD — but knowing fully well that it won’t pay much. If you are ok with that, then go right ahead. ADing doesn’t need you to have any professional degree like for the camera or editing team. Practically anybody with enthusiasm and stamina is welcome.
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The directors too have the field wide open while choosing ADs as opposed to DOPs or editors, who require assistants with some basic technical knowledge (and a diploma or two). So there is a distinct difference in what is demanded of a new AD and what is demanded of a new AC/AE, with the monetary scales just about favouring the latter, but not by much. Bottomline is that, as you gain experience your market price rises. Experienced ADs may be better off than you expect them to be, some even running families! So you take the AD route and wait for the big break.
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But ADing is not the only way. A more fruitful path would be through short films, lots of them. You just need a handycam, computer and friends. It will give you an opportunity to present your story-telling abilities to the world. You yourself would get to know, if you are brutally honest, whether you have the temperament to be a filmmaker, and whether your stories connect with complete strangers.
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All this while we were assuming that you are a keeper of magnificent stories. Now, let us consider for a moment that you are not. That you don’t have any talent. That you are deluding yourself into thinking that your stories are awe-inspiring. What do you do then? Will it help becoming an AD? Will it even help becoming a director?
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The answer is no. But the tricky part is how do we find that the answer is no? Who will tell us if our stories are garbage? Who will bell our creative cat? You just can’t trust anybody on this. Not your family, not your friends, not your enemies, not even people who are ready to pay you money for your garbage. Only one person can give you the correct answer. Are you really listening to that person?
@All
Still our industry people got to learn that film and film making is just like any other industry and we got to respect each other as fellow workers.
Unfortunately, the same sought of (director) rudeness and fuck u kindaa attitude towards his AD’s is shown in their work as well.
@Deepak
Peice of advice: dont work for anyone mate…when da Industry sucks..so whts da point in licking.
Do something independent like short movies or documentaries n stuff..your work will take you to places n u will find a dear producre as well.
Or count your days untill you a some film maker who can understands your instincts n invites you with the passion of learning.
Deepak…
the true picture is – unlike acting which needs looks (and gets u money, fame), and unlike the other technical departments which need a sound knowledge of the field (and get you credits, respect), being an AD is all about passion ….else you (and i don’t mean YOU, just like Anurag doesn’t) will end up being a witless humorless chum making ‘Deshdrohi’ and similar stuff 10-years down the line.
And i think AD is just the person who is NOT YET a director, but will be someday. So, if an aspiring AD (whatever that means) asks what all should he know, i wud say – you should know.
And as for money, i think business of cinema has a model that doesn’t make it possible to pay all the people at all the times. And esp. for the films which are made for reasons of Cinema than for the reasons of ‘paisa lagaana’, these issues are starker.
Just an unrelated aside: what the fuck is this ‘Deshdrohi’ promo? Who’s that guy? why are the kids not warned in advance?
don’t diss deshdrohi…it could be the nest clerk…..:)
i love the way he says is desh mein 6 dharm hai and shows the 5 fingers of his right hand in the promo,,,,,def has the potential to join the so bad its club
i meant the so bad its good club
its simply ‘no pain no gain’ deepak..
being an ad this what i would suggest.
Well, my heart says it’s a spoof (Deshdrohi)…somebody (like MTV) pulling a fast one on us unsuspecting viewers…but my mind says otherwise. There are still enough para-chutiyas out here to make this kind of stuff seriously…
Either ways, looking (un)forward to it. :[]
manjusha.. everyone gets paid for there work, more than the stipend, problem is in my experience, any ad who has talked money before anything else is not the one to hire until and unless he is qualified.. most directors always have a complete team of ad ’s.. but new guys come and keep insisting that you take them on… you take on someone in whom you see the desire and willingness to go through it.. what you say sounds great, this country seriously lack good ad’s.. it’s rare to find a good one, who does his job.. most of them try to get closer to the monitor or impress the director, not do there job..
TNX ALL FOR POSSIBLE HELP
Though I knew much as written above but I wanted if one can write his true experience like Anurag sir pointed out.
RaviG put a great amount of light, see I always believe I made movies for ppl not for me so I never get over the top with my stories and the way I tell them. One should treat his scripts and movies very rudely so that outer world cannot do that. To be a good craftsman, you should love to get criticized. SO I AM VERY MUCH LISTENNG TO THAT FELLOW.
Srikanth dada I must keep your advice in mind and doing the same you may watch some of my movies below.
Varun , you may be right but there are lot of strange stuff coming these days so all have their space yaar, who are we to compmain.:-)
But I still belive one should always assist somebody good before landing up to an independent project.
i already made few short movies for film festival kindly review it if possible
*ye hain meri kahani-this is my stroy* win second prize
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q77EfRQ_BcU
*3′o clock*
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz_-ARvr7n4
(part-1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzKEguRYpB0
(part-2)
i guess if you make shorts and good ones at that, good enough to impress a production house or a start-up, you dont need to be an ad….as far as i can tell an ad’s work is more logistics management than anything and he/she has little or no creative input…..a friend of mine basically made a couple of shorts and pitched a script to a start up …he’s making a feature film, pretty much based on his script and those shorts…….i may be wrong though….
ANURAG SIR ..HERE IS A NEW POINT ..IF ONE IS CAPABLE ENOUGH AND CAN MKE GOOD SHORT MOVIES..DO YOU FEEL THERE IS NO NEED TO ASSIST…..COZ I STILL FEEL A NEED ????..
i already made few short movies for film festival kindly review it if possible
*ye hain meri kahani-this is my stroy* win second prize (8 MIN)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q77EfRQ_BcU
*3′o clock*
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz_-ARvr7n4(15 MIN)
(part-1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzKEguRYpB0
(part-2)
no need to assist, if you know what you want to make and have a script.. i would say work on a film in the production department to get the hang of it.. and how a set functions
thanks anurag for making that point . because i read ur first comment first and wanted to question you ..and then i saw this last comment and it sorta answers or seconds my opinion . its a misconception that all AD’s can direct .and ad or not an ad one can learn . being an AD ,may be just one of the ways to learn without formal training but we often make it out to be the only way other than formal training. an dthats where problems are . producers do not trust someone who has not assisted easily . first they cant gauge a good script from a bad one . then short films somehow owing to their smaller set ups do not qualify most short filmmakers for these producers . so we may see bad film from some AD to a prominent director but may not see a good film from an independent filmmaker because no producer would be interested.
I believe only passion for cinema is required for an AD. Say, you find the person and the person does is given a profile to manage call sheets but the person doesn’t even know what call sheet is, how long does it take to teach,i assume max one minute.
In all Asian countries the path to being a director is via the AD route whereas in Europe and Hollywood AD’s end up being Production Managers or Producers. Nothing really prepares you for being a director apart from directing so keep making your own films to hone ur craft before making a feature. Having said that there is no substitute for being on set and observing how a good director does blocking and work with his actors.
The most imp skill of being a director in my opinion is being able to communicate your vision with the rest of the crew and sadly not all directors are able to do it.
AK..dont understand, why would you be so averse of a rookie AD asking for the pay? Maybe you had bad experiences, but, dont you think he by asking the pay is just making sure of his immediate future?
I AM AGREED WITH SAGS…
nobody belive if you havn’t assisted a good director before …but i even feel director is also right on the point , they can’t teach evrything on sets…coz i know the pressure at that time from my own experince.
BUT MY POINT IS ,,LEAVE MONEY BUT IS IT TRUE THEY EVEN DIDNT GET RESPECT AND CREDIT MOST OF THE TIMES….
Assistant Director : Here in India its a definition of a free helper(pardon my language) ; you have to compromise initially to learn because you have no choice. But my point is that a director always have multiple assistant so do you actually get a chance to sit with director and discuss next scenes and other areas of film making ?
In Hollywood, assistant director’s name is pretty much highlighted to give his/her due credits but we still seek them for a use. I think if an assistant director have a vision of even 10% of main director, 5 assistant directors can make movie of 150% potential than that of original one provided we seek and utilise(nt use) such ppl.
Deepak I watched your short films, those were great one. Keep up the good work. Anurag Sir, I would request you too to watch it as this guy has done a gr8 job.
The first and foremost thing that the AD should realise is that his primary job is to facilitate the vision of the director. His job is to create that environment, wherein his director can focus completely on his job which are the performances and the techniques. In an ideal scenario, everything else is pre planned and is on paper. The AD should understand why everything is planned as they are so as to augment its proper implementation(and maybe take it further) on time. By doing so he is helping him or herself to grasp the vision and thus the craft and pushing the implementation as best as he can within a time frame thus grasping the art of management which is as vital as the craft.
When I first started working as an apprentice, I had a daily “beta” of thirty rupees. In fact I did not know it was thirty for a month as my senior used to nick off ten rupees and handover the rest to me ;-) The best thing was…The vehicle which used to pick the director used to pick up all the assistants too and then drop them back home so there was worry for travel expenses.
Breakfast and Lunch was free and I used to pray that we shoot all night so I can have my dinner free too! If not, ten rupees out of twenty used to be for my dinner and other expenses! HAHA!! Yes, I found this place in Chennai (It’s a handcart basically) where they used to sell 3 parothas and curry for 5 rupees. Now you know why my stomach is so strong!
Well, during that shoot, I did almost everything. I did not stick to only what I was told. I lifted lights…yes..10kv ones…I lifted set equipment…When we had to clean the ground, I was the first to run and take a jhaadu and sweep it off, even though it was the job of set assistants.
What did I learn in terms of film making? Nothing…What did I learn to become a director? A LOT! Cos that experience made me understand what each department goes through and taught me a lot of humility.
And listen what happened in the end…A fairy tale ending…After the shoot, the production manager comes and tells me that the producers want to meet me in their office. I asked my director and he smiled but did not say anything.
I went to their office and these 3 producers were sitting in the cabin. They took out an envelope and told me that even though I was an apprentice and my director had informed them that they need to pay me in the beginning, they had noticed how hard I worked and told me to accept their gift. The envelope contained cash of five thousand rupees.
So…If you want to work in the film industry, NEVER think about money. If you work hard enough, money will follow you. You need to think about Saraswati before Laskhmi.
And Anurag, it was nice bumping into you at Barista the other day
@24,
Interesting tale!
Machchar Sir,
what is happening to your own film?
Story kahan tak pahunch gayee hai? or Success story is at which stage?
Machchar ji …I like the humorous way of your own real experiences. You are the first man who put his real experience and that was the aim of my article.
Thanks for your useful words for lot of ppl like me..pl add more about your today’s happening ..What are you doing right now!!!!
nice tale machchar…………
hey guys.. do lemme know ur opinion abt these short videos i uploaded…
A Monsoon Evening
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU4oEaPvxrs
Noise
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbq1aVAuLh4
Shallow Depths
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=O6g6Ru2ojiQ
Thanks RK…Still struggling! sigh…
Deepak, all the best and hope you make some great movies! What I am doing right now? Well, nothing path breaking at the moment….
love know more about film making