A large segment of the population believes that working with movie directors is very glamorous. Then there's the segment that has actually done it. It can be rewarding to work closely with the person calling “action” and “cut.” It can also be funny when they call “action” when they mean “cut.” The key there would be to not laugh unless the director's laughing too.
If you're working closely with a director on a film shoot, you may be fortunate enough to have a chair with your name on it. If your name's spelled correctly you're either well known in the industry, or at the very least by someone in the art department who made the name cards for the chairs. If you're seated behind the monitors with the director, script supervisor, director of photography and producers, then you're part of “video village.”
Aside from whatever tasks are expected of you by virtue of your job, the only other thing you need to do as part of this exclusive club is to look sufficiently outraged if a cell phone rings during a take, unless of course it belongs to one of your fellow video villagers, in which case you should comment on their cool ring tone.
Another advantage of being close to the director is that you won't be ignored by craft service, which is the department that serves trays of food continually to video village, and occasionally to other departments such as the grips and electricians. You'll also be included in the Starbucks runs, when a production assistant while carefully take your specialty coffee order.
He's basically on the low end of the totem pole; in the film set food chain, he's parsley. If you'd like to impress a production assistant, introduce yourself to him. Keep in mind if you do it again twenty minutes later, he'll be considerably less impressed.
Finally, you'll part ways with the director when the project is over. Traditionally this is the time when all differences on set have been set aside or even forgotten. It's also customary to indicate to people you've just worked with how happy you were with their performance and to suggest you'd love to do it again in the future.
So knowing film set jargon comes in handy if your last encounter with the director involves him or her hugging you, sincerely looking you in the eye and saying “I want you on my next big one!”
