New blog post on how to feed your cast and crew when the budget is tight: How to Feed Your Cast and Crew on a Tight Budget
-
READ BEFORE POSTING!
- If posting a video, please post HERE, unless it is a video as part of an advertisement and then post it in this section.
- If replying to threads please remember this is the Promotion area and the person posting may not be open to feedback.
How to Feed Cast & Crew on a Tight Budget
- Thread starter seanmannion
- Start date
I never understand this at all, Ive been on many films from big studio films to small no budget z movies and only 1 ever fed us (a multi million budget indie) and virtually nobody ate, we where wasting time sat around that we could be shooting which was pissing everyone off since we where already running late and many of us had to leave soon
also if I did get fed on set then give me pizza and energy drink, that's litrally what we all want/need to go buy in down time anyway and the thing about actors not eating junk is so wrong (some somewhere may but its definitely not the 'norm') but I don't know any that live like that, we eat more junk than practically anyone else and Ive never worried about dieting or healthy foods when im working 12-14 hour days of often physical excersize
the other thing that blows my mind is that I see articles that say with a £5000 budget you cant afford to pay your skeleton cast and crew (say 2 cast + 5 crew) so spend over half on food - I tell you now id rather bring a sandwich and be paid a % of that £2500 in cash... craft tables don't pay my bills but £357 is almost a months rent though
ill just never understand this logic and its definitely not common on any UK shoot Ive ever done
also if I did get fed on set then give me pizza and energy drink, that's litrally what we all want/need to go buy in down time anyway and the thing about actors not eating junk is so wrong (some somewhere may but its definitely not the 'norm') but I don't know any that live like that, we eat more junk than practically anyone else and Ive never worried about dieting or healthy foods when im working 12-14 hour days of often physical excersize
the other thing that blows my mind is that I see articles that say with a £5000 budget you cant afford to pay your skeleton cast and crew (say 2 cast + 5 crew) so spend over half on food - I tell you now id rather bring a sandwich and be paid a % of that £2500 in cash... craft tables don't pay my bills but £357 is almost a months rent though
ill just never understand this logic and its definitely not common on any UK shoot Ive ever done
Last edited:
That's fascinating to me.
That crews in the UK can work 12 to 14 hour days without a meal
break is astounding. That you consider it a waste of time just wrinkles
my brain.
Even when I'm making my no-budget projects with a crew of 6 to 10
I feed them and we take a meal break every shooting day. When I
work for no pay or for very low pay as crew I certainly expect to be
offered a meal and a little break during a 14 hour work day.
Crazy different in the UK than here in California.
there's always some point where not everyone is working (we would go get food or eat what we brought then) but to have everyone stop and take a break at the same time because you ordered a meal is just a waste of time
Another thing to consider is you might want to have the "best of both worlds" available. The "must have" junk food, and the healthy "best for you" foods. For example, in the morning, bagels and cream cheese, croissants... AND fresh fruit. Snacks, you can do your trail mixes and Doritos. At lunch you can run two crock pots. The veggie chili and the Texas red... soda and water, etc. Basically it keeps everyone happy because you never know who is going to eat healthy when. I guarantee some health nuts grab a bagel and coffee! 
Great article it hits all the points.
Great article it hits all the points.
I also, personally, cannot understand how this works. Every job I've ever worked has had scheduled minimum 45-minute lunch breaks, and often a 15-minute afternoon tea break. Sometimes I'm not hungry enough to eat, but the break-time is appreciated. There are certainly plenty of roles on set (especially on low-budget shoots) that would struggle to find enough time to eat a meal whilst in the middle of shooting.