Aaron Marcus, who played a history teacher in Project Almanac, walks through what actually happens on a film set: the logistics of travel and call times, script changes, wardrobe fittings, and how camera coverage determines whether you're on or off camera. He shares his prep habits like writing out lines and scouting locations before shooting starts.
In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you what an actor's life is really like on a set. If you watch this video to the end, I've got a great bonus video for you. It's 23 great side hustle jobs for actors. You really want to watch this. Okay, let's get started. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and welcome to the Acting and Modeling Quick Tips channel and the Actor Career Center. In this video, yeah, I'm going to be walking you through the process of sharing information so you know what it's really like for an actor on a movie set. So the very beginning is I was doing a workshop in Philadelphia. I had to drive a couple of hours, catch a flight, fly down to Atlanta for a project that I worked on. Actually, I can tell you it has happened a number of years ago. It's called Project Almanac, and I got cast as a history teacher in a classroom. And so got into my hotel pretty late. The call time was pretty early, but as I was boarding the plane, I checked my phone. They changed the script. There are a lot of changes. This is a pretty long historical talk about Abraham Lincoln, Civil War. And so now I've got to start studying on the flight. This is after doing a full-day workshop. And just so you know, so I always write things out. I find that to be really helpful. It's one of the techniques that I use for memorization. So I'm sitting in my seat on the plane and I'm writing everything out. And then I started, you know, trying to memorize all the lines, and I'm just kind of mumbling to myself a little bit. Just so you know, I assume I probably had a few people staring at me as I'm sitting there, you know, just talking to myself. But anyhow, I got a lot of work done and got to my hotel room. They Changed my call time. I was getting picked up pretty early in the morning. I think it was like a, I don't know, like 6:00 AM pickup to get me to the set. And so I got to the set and found out they changed the shooting schedule. So I was actually going to be shooting earlier than later. So when I got there, and this is what will generally take place, you get checked in, they'll give you a contract, you go to your trailer, you fill out the information. If you have any questions, you contact your agent immediately before you sign things. Normally wardrobe is already there hanging up in your trailer, or they might bring it to you when you get to your trailer. And then a PA, production assistant, will come by, knock on your door, ask if you want any, any food. And just once again, this is just for me, I don't like to eat too much before a scene. I just don't want to feel drowsy at all. Certainly I don't want to go without eating and feel lightheaded, but I don't gorge myself like I do for other meals. And so I got something pretty light but got something to eat. If I can, I try to get onto the set or wherever they're shooting the scene Early if it's possible. Sometimes you can't, but I always ask to see if I can, so that way I just feel more acclimated to what's— to what's going to be happening in the scene. Once again, this is just for me. I find that if I go straight from a trailer right into the scene, it just feels a little jarring to me. So I like to breathe where the scene is going to take place. I like to just go over the scene for myself in the area where they're doing it. And hey, by the way, on a real side note, I learned probably the most valuable lesson I've ever learned was from this movie, was how to properly peel a banana. Now, I didn't know this. But apparently gorillas, they don't just take the top part and open it up because sometimes that bends and stuff and then it mushes up the banana. So they kind of pinch the bottom of it and then open it up. Try it, I'm telling you, it works. It's how I open up bananas now. Anyhow, I hope that's very helpful information to you. So then we get onto the set and look, I knew this scene was not about me at all. It was about one of the students, one of the stars of the movie. And basically, I am a very boring teacher. People are bored to death with what I'm talking about. And you see some students almost like closing their eyes and putting their hands on their chin. And I'm doing this long talk about Abraham Lincoln, and I'm starting to get a little bored because nobody seems to be paying attention to me. I mean, that's what's supposed to be happening there. And then finally a student— it was one of the stars— raises his hand, and I'm excited. There's a question! This is great! And I go, yes! And he asks if he can go to the bathroom. So, but here's the interesting thing. It didn't take very long to shoot the scene. We shot it like 6, 7 times. The most, the most important part was the choreography. And what I mean by that is they wanted to make sure that for certain words I was on camera. They wanted to make sure for certain words I was off camera. I guess, you know, this is how they envision the editing part. So, you know, I practiced that a few times and we were done pretty quickly. And then— and I forgot, of course, you go to hair and makeup. After you put on your wardrobe and then, then to the set. But we were done pretty early, and then you find one of the either AD, one of the assistant directors, or, or somebody, maybe it's a PA, to sign out. So you've got a start time, you have an end time that lets everybody know how much you're going to be getting paid in case you go into overtime. And then when you're done, you finish I get driven back to the hotel, and then I didn't have a flight until later that evening. And so I had the day, a good part of the day, just to hang around and walk around Atlanta. And it was wonderful. It was such a great day, a wonderful experience. Once again, most importantly, how to open a banana. It changed my life. And so anyhow, I just wanted to give you a little bit of background information into the life of an actor on the set. Certainly other projects, very, very different. This was one, and I just wanted you to know about it. Hey, if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when I upload a new video. If you like the video, give it a thumbs up. That's very helpful. But most importantly, share, share the, the link with fellow actors. So we can all learn from each other. And hey, if you have been on a film, TV set, or even a commercial, please share your experience with us. Let us know what took place. It would be really interesting to hear, not only for those who, you know, have been on lots of sets, but especially for those who haven't been there yet. And this is a great way for others to learn what to expect when they do book a job, and they will be in that situation, so they just have a much better and clearer idea of what's going to happen for them. So please share your experience on the channel so we can learn from you as well. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. Oh, oh, I almost forgot. I have a great video, so use the link up there, click on it. It's, uh, 23 incredibly helpful, interesting, and some of you probably never heard of side hustle jobs for actors. Okay, see you later. Bye.
