Why Famous Actors Get More Work

So working on the set of The Adventures of Lewis and Clark, we did 12 episodes of that and it was so interesting,  because Mark had contacted me to ask if I knew another person to help produce the series and maybe even a third person and I said that actually I’d like to take on that role. We had previously collaborated on a short film that didn’t really get released and we had quite a few good, “name” actors in it. These were from TV shows, but they were on big shows at the time and went on to even bigger shows after we worked with them on this short film.

Working with these bigger name actors was incredible because they were so polite and positive and helpful on set (the project was called The Juggler) and it was really pretty amazing to work with these actors that were big names already, signed with the William Morris Agency and just to watch how they dealt with the agency and our production was enlightening. One of the things I noticed was that they seemed to love the production and the set and this was fantastic considering it was really low budget, in fact we hardly had any crew and we weren’t paying anyone.

The important thing was that we all maintained a high level of professionalism and they were incredible to work with because they were positive and enthusiastic. I noticed that when they were enthusing about the set they were eating and I believe that there is a correlation between good food and a happy set. On this shoot, it was my brother Anthony who suggested that we have protein bars, hard boiled eggs and other really healthy food on set and so we didn’t really have any sugar on that set. I have since changed my stance on that and do have some sugar on my sets these days, but I really try to maintain a standard of having healthy, organic food on set, wholesome meals that will fill people up and provide sustained energy, not just snacks.

The 6 hour meal mark is really arbitrary because we really need to eat a meal every 3 hours, but I understand that we can’t break for a meal that often. However, if you put out sandwiches, lunch meat, protein bars, protein shakes and fresh fruit every 3 or 4 hours of shooting, you provide cast, crew and background with options that will keep their energy high. I believe that keeping everyone well fed helps to keep everyone positive and it’s the best way to go. Working with these famous actors on The Juggler was such a great project and I wish I had a sample to show people, but it was one of the first projects that I worked with Mark on and set the stage for our future projects together.