The Best Things You Can Do For Your DP Career Off-Set, Part 1: Relationships
These four types of relationships are critical to the
longevity of your cinematography career.
Working as a DP has those magical moments: thick into the
third cup of coffee with a director during a shotlisting session as you
gleefully realize you both get excited about zoom out reveals; helping sail
that set ship in stormy conditions as a crew comes together well; and the
surprise kiss of a lens flair while operating a perfect dolly move right into
the heart of the story.
If you could play all day panning and tilting and lensing
and lighting your way to using visual storytelling to change the zeitgeist of
our times—and pick up an Oscar nod or two as you go—you probably would! But for
most cinematographers, there is a ton of time and work that goes into their
craft and their careers while they are off set. This time can be broken down
into two broad categories: relationship-building, and craft-enhancement.
In the long run,
success in this business combines cinematic artistry with relationship prowess.
Here we’ll focus on the former, with an eye towards advice
for newer and mid-level DPs, and offer some big picture thoughts and some
practical suggestions. We look to the camera-focused Panavision and the
Brooklyn-based Lightbulb Grip & Electric Co for advice on developing
working relationships with rental houses. The jobs that will come your way
often stem from recommendations by your peers, your films are often only as
good as your crew, and directors and producers are looking to hire someone they
like being around. In the long run, success in this business combines cinematic
artistry with relationship prowess. Here are four types of relationships you'll
want to foster to move ahead in this business.
1. The Lighting House
Adam Richlin works as a Director of Photography and he has
had short films screen at prestigious festivals Cannes, Tribeca, and Toronto.
He also runs Lightbulb Grip. A rental house can help you stretch your budget,
and can also be a source of technical knowledge. The folks on the floor handle
hardware all day and know a variety of gear, and they can offer advice on
particular rigging setups you are looking to do. They may also be able to
suggest ways of achieving the look you are going for on a cheaper budget by using
different tools, hence freeing up funds to be allotted elsewhere.
Everyone knows brand names like Arri and Kino Flo, but if
you need to be budget conscious, perhaps there’s an off-brand tool at 70% of
the cost that can create the same effect.
“Boutique rental houses will have more time to talk with you about
conceptual lighting and filmmaking design than larger houses,” Richlin
believes. “There will be more shared expertise and more flexibility that you
can benefit from.”
From a career perspective, sticking with a small number of
rental houses makes the most sense. You’ll establish a relationship, and when
you are a consistent customer, the house will be more likely to give you a deal
on those passion projects. With more lights at your disposal, you’ll have more
choices on set, and this influences the look you can achieve and the time it
takes you to light—arguably the two main things, after being a charming person,
that your career depends on.
Pro tips? Richlin
suggests working out your entire lighting plan before you bid a project. “It
costs me a lot of time to do back and forth over a budget,” he shares. “If you
get known as someone who comes in with one gear list and sticks to it, it’s a
lot easier to work with you and a lot easier for me to give you a discount in
the future.” Let the lighting house know what are your wants versus your needs.
As the DP, you don't want to take on responsibility for the budget, but it is helpful if your producer's agreeable
to letting the gear budget be shared with the person putting your quote
together, so they have a goal to aim for to make everyone happy.
2. The Camera House
Camera rental houses are also places to build relationships
and seek professional advice. Meg Kettell is a freelance DP whose work spans narrative,
vérité documentaries, commercials, and branded content, and she co-chairs the
Eastern Regional Women’s Committee of the International Cinematographers Guild.
Kettell came up through the union ranks working as a camera assistant. “I feel
lucky because I met all these people when I was a union AC working on
fully-funded projects, and I worked on a lot of films out of Panavision and
Arri CSC,” Kettell says.
When she switched to shooting, she found support through
those same connections. “Recently I shot a three-day short film and I got
hooked up with an Arri ALEXA and a great set of lenses. If I didn’t have that
relationship, we’d have been shooting on a Sony A7S.”
DP Meg Kettell
shooting on Arri. Photography by Josh Canizalez
Jim Roudebush, Marketing VP at Panavision, says there's
sometimes a sense around the industry that his company is reserved for studio
pictures, whereas he feels establishing relationships with emerging talent is
at the core of what he does. Panavision's New Filmmaker Grant lets indie
filmmakers and students access high-level gear at little or no cost.
"A lot of the customers I have now called when they
were younger and asked if they could come in and do camera tests on their own
time," Roudebush shares. These shooters were building their knowledge
bases, and forming a connection with the company. "Now they're shooting
features and are members of the ASC." When Panavision supports a project,
they want it to end up on the DP's reel and help propel the DP to the next job.
"We want to establish a relationship and keep it going forever."
Pro tip? If you're
asking for a great deal, be flexible, both with your gear list and, if
possible, your timing. A rental house is better able to offer support during a
slow period, whereas during pilot season there may not be any gear left to
give.
"There are a lot of people at companies like Panavision
who have expertise and can help people when they feel like they're
underwater."
Of course, you can begin conversations at any time, but keep
in mind that a rental house may not be able to confirm a great deal until a few
weeks before your shoot begins. Depending on your project (and your director
and producer) this won't be a good fit for all shoots. Everyone wants to shoot
with the latest and greatest gear, but if you have only a DSLR budget to offer
and you're asking for an ALEXA, consider going for the original body instead of
the most current model, as that may be easier for a rental house to confirm.
"Whether or not we can support a low-budget project is often less about
what the camera rents for," Roudebush says, "and more about what we
have on the shelves."
Roudebush also stressed testing. "It's the wild west
with the variety of lenses, formats, camera, everything! There is so much out
there to read it can get confusing. There are a lot of people at companies like
Panavision who have expertise and can help people when they feel like they're
underwater." He encourages cinematographers to look at the Panavision site
first to get a sense of the product range and to get a feel for the business,
and then to come in with questions. PANALAB LEARNING CENTER features reference
documents, videos, and technical information.
3. Your Peers & Crew
Christine Ng is a DP shooting commercials, music videos,
narratives, and documentaries, including the Emmy-nominated doc Everything is
Copy, produced for HBO. For her, the single most important asset a DP has is
her crew. “Some people may think that having the best camera gear and a great
lighting package is the key to achieving your best work,” she reflects. “But
the crew of people I can count on has proven time and again to be the answer to
most of my on-set issues—and they’ve also become some of my closest friends.”
Ng finds that little gestures—buying a coffee, sharing a
beer—go a long way towards fostering relationships with colleagues. “I also
want my crew to know that if they ever need a hand on their shoots, I’d be
willing to help out,” Ng says. “You never know if your AC has a script they’ve
been working on, making them the next hit director.”
Christine Ng climbs
to the top with the support of her crewCredit: Graham Burt
Richlin highly recommends getting to know people off-set who
you think are smart and who you like personally, regardless of what their
on-set job is. “I think the most important thing I’ve gotten out of being DP is
learning how important building relationships is,” Richlin reflects. “Get out
on the days you aren’t working and go get coffee, and lunch, and beers, with as
many people as you possibly can because you never know which one knows a
producer or a director who is looking for a DP.”
If you are in the beginning stages of your career, or in a
famine curve of the feast-or-famine work cycle, you may be rich in time, and
asking people you like being around to hang out in the interest of helping each
other isn’t a bad way to spend an hour.
Adam Richlin offers an example of taking a PA for beers—and two months
later the fellow was asking him advice on renting cameras. Shortly after that,
Richlin found himself shooting the director's cultural documentary all over
Central America—and years later they returned to Belize to shoot a well-paid
commercial. “Nearly half the world travel I’ve done in my life is because I
asked Milton out for a beer,” Richlin recalls, “because he seemed like an
interesting guy.”
Adam Richlin with
friend and fellow shooter Kate Montgomery.Credit: John Pope
Richlin also stresses sharing expertise and skills among
peers. On Facebook, he moderates the groups Grip and Electric, NYC Filmmakers,
and Grip, Electric and Camera. He is part of over 40 film-related groups, and
contributes “as much knowledge as I can to help other filmmakers. If you ask
for help, people will help you once and then there’s no connection. If you help
them when they need it, they’ll remember you.” I’ll back that up: I make my
living as a cinematographer in New York and Richlin has given me very
supportive deals on lower budget projects and has always been generous with his
time when I am looking to talk out a particular lighting quandary, and hence he
has become the first person I call when we are looking to rent grip and
electric gear.
“Nearly half the
world travel I’ve done in my life is because I asked Milton out for a beer.”
Meg Kettell stresses the importance of peer-to-peer
relationships and recommendations. “Physically meeting people is a huge part of
my work, be it when we're having a drink at a New York Women In Film And
Television event or when we’re in the same room at Ellen Kuras’ house as part
of a union meet up. Meeting face-to-face
enables people to get to know one another and know who would be a good fit to
recommend personality-wise. When friends have to replace themselves or take a
personal day on a job, they recommend me, and that’s where a lot of my work
comes from.”
4. Directors and Producers
Kettell believes the vast majority of work for DPs comes
from producers and directors—and once you build those relationships you’re in
it for the long haul. “Moreso than the script, a lot of the work I take is
based on wanting to collaborate with those directors or producers,” Kettell
shares. “If we’re on a commercial that doesn’t blow me away because I’m not
excited about the product, I’m still giving 200% because I’m working on those
relationships.”
Putting DPs in the same room as directors and producers
enables people to meet face to face. If you live somewhere with a lot of
filmmakers, look to join groups, and if there aren’t already meet-ups happening
between cinematographers and above-the-line folks, consider becoming the person
to step up and help with that coordination. In NYC, Kettell is striving to
connect various women filmmakers across departments, bringing together groups
such as the Producers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, and the
camera union.
While face-to-face often resonates the strongest, there are
also a number of Facebook groups where you can meet people and build
relationships. On set, Richlin often meets people who know him though they’ve
never been introduced, as they recognize his name as a helpful voice from a
Facebook group.
If you're going for in-person meetings, while you want to be
cognizant of people’s time, one-on-one meetings are often the best. Chase
Bowman is an LA-based DP who has shot 18 feature films and worked with
directors such as Joss Whedon. “Take lunch and coffee meetings with directors
and producers you have worked with and want to work with,” Bowman advises. “I
just started doing it after years of sort of avoiding it and it’s awesome what
it does to your network.”
If you could play all day panning and tilting and lensing and lighting your way to using visual storytelling to change the zeitgeist of our times—and pick up an Oscar nod or two as you go—you probably would! But for most cinematographers, there is a ton of time and work that goes into their craft and their careers while they are off set. This time can be broken down into two broad categories: relationship-building, and craft-enhancement.
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