On-Set Etiquette for Actors

Nobody is talking to you, and the usual explanation is wrong

Every guide for nervous actors offers the same comfort: the crew have been ordered not to look at you. It is a lovely thing to be told on your first day. We went looking for it and it does not stand up.

What is genuinely true, and documented properly, is about the eyeline rather than eye contact. Sidney Lumet describes it in his book Making Movies. Just before a take, a well-trained assistant director calls out: “Clear the eyeline, please.” His reason is practical. If one actor is playing a love scene with another, he does not want to be looking past her at a teamster drinking coffee.

That is a real, standard practice on real sets. It is about not being a visible distraction in the space an actor is looking into, and it is why the area behind whoever you are playing with quietly empties before a take.

The version we are not going to print. Our research said crew are instructed not to make eye contact with actors at all, and offered that to first-timers as proof that the coldness in the room is courtesy rather than judgement. That claim traces to two blogs and we could not stand it up as general practice. Where a genuine no-eye-contact instruction has been documented, it has been a specific demand made about one particular star on one particular job — and other working actors have publicly described such demands as an ego trip rather than professional courtesy. Several of the people accused of it have denied it. So we are not going to comfort you with something that is mostly not true. The honest comfort is smaller and it is real: nobody is scrutinising you, everybody is doing a specific job against a clock, and staying out of your sightline is one of those jobs.

The rest of the quiet has a simpler explanation. A working set is a live recording environment, and most of the people near you are concentrating on something narrow and technical. Silence is not a verdict on you. It is the sound of fifteen people trying to make the day.

Etiquette here is not manners. It is a system for protecting time.

This is the idea that makes every other rule on this page memorable, and it is the reason a set feels stricter than any other workplace you have been in.

A shooting day is scheduled to the minute and the whole enterprise is aimed at making the day — finishing the shots that were planned for it. That phrase is real industry vocabulary, not something a writer invented, and it is the thing every department is measured against.

Once you see that, the rules organise themselves. Quiet protects the sound take. Chain of command stops fifteen people solving the same problem twice. Back to one protects continuity. Last looks protects the frame. None of it is ceremony.

The one question to carry onto any set.

Before you do the thing you are wondering about, ask: does this cost time, or could it ruin a take?

If the answer to either is yes, do not do it, or ask first. If the answer to both is no, you are almost certainly fine.

You will never memorize every rule, and you do not have to. One principle covers most of them, and it is the principle everyone around you is already working from.

There is an old industry line about punctuality that gets repeated on every set: if you are early you are on time, if you are on time you are late. It is a genuine piece of oral culture rather than a written rule, and it is not unique to film. It is still the standard you will be judged by, so treat your call time as the moment you must already be there and ready.

A film crew working around a camera and lights in a domestic interior between takes

The shape of a shooting day

Most of the fear about a first day is not knowing what happens next. Here is the order, and the acting occupies a much smaller part of it than you expect.

Call time, then hair, make-up and costume

Your longest reliable block of the day, and the best time for lines and quiet. Your call time is when you are there and ready, not when you set off.

Blocking

The director works the scene with the actors, then shows it to the crew. This is the one moment in the day when your input on the scene is genuinely wanted.

Lighting and setup, with the second team

Stand-ins occupy your positions so the crew can build the light and work out the technical problems. You are usually released, often for a long time.

“First team”

The lighting is done and they are ready. That is you. Be findable — the assistant director needs to be able to produce you quickly.

“Last looks”

Hair, make-up and props do a final check on you and the set. Stand still and let them work. It takes seconds and it protects continuity.

Rolling, then back to one

Sound, camera, marker, action. When they go again, return to exactly where you started, doing exactly what you were doing.

Then the setup finishes, they move on to a new angle or a new scene, and the whole cycle starts again. Most of a shooting day is waiting, and being good at waiting is a genuine professional skill rather than a failure of glamour.

Who everyone is, and who is allowed to direct you

One piece of hierarchy matters more to an actor than all the rest, and it protects you as much as it constrains you.

The convention on a film set is that only the director gives actors direction. Notes about your performance come from one person. If they start coming from somewhere else, something unusual is happening, and you are not obliged to act on suggestions from people whose job that is not.

Three exceptions our research did not mention, and one of them matters a lot. Background performers are usually directed by an assistant director rather than the director. A second unit director genuinely directs actors in scenes the main director is not shooting. And television works differently. On episodic television the visiting director often changes from week to week while the showrunner stays constant, and creative authority sits substantially with the showrunner and the executive producers. So on a television floor, the person calling action this week may not have the final word on your performance. That is not a reason to ignore them. It is a reason not to be surprised when a note arrives from somewhere else.

Director

The only source of performance direction on a feature. On television, see the note above.

First AD

Runs the floor and controls the clock. Calls last looks and calls you to set. Does not call cut.

Second AD

Usually your actual point of contact. Call times, base camp, where to be and when. Tell them if you leave the set.

Camera and focus

Your marks and your frame. Collaborators rather than wardens, and they respect a smart technical question.

Script supervisor

Continuity. They are the person who will tell you which hand you used, and they are always right.

Sound

Your microphone, and the reason they wince at a rustling costume or a jangling prop.

The words, and one that has quietly gone

The glossary is the thing most people want from a page like this. It is also where we found our clearest error.

The termWhat it meansWhat is worth knowing

Back to one

Return to your starting position and reset for another take.

In Britain you are more likely to hear first positions, or number ones.

First team, second team

First team is the principal cast. Second team is the stand-ins who hold your position while the light is built.

Standard American usage. Less commonly heard on British sets, where the roles exist under other names.

Last looks

Final check by hair, make-up and props before a take.

Used in Britain too. Some first ADs say final checks instead, by personal preference.

Room tone

A minute of recorded silence with everyone standing still, used by the editor to join things invisibly.

Stand absolutely still and do not speak. It is a take, and people forget that.

Checking the gate

Inspecting the camera's film gate for a hair or a speck that would ruin every frame of the take.

Largely obsolete. Digital cameras have no gate. See below — we were about to teach you this as current practice.

Turnover, and base camp

Turnover is the call to start recording. Base camp is where the trailers are.

In America you will hear rolling rather than turnover, and base camp is sometimes the circus in Britain.

The correction, and it is a good example of how these pages go wrong. Our research explained checking the gate as a live, routine part of every setup, and it is genuinely on almost every actor glossary you will find. The problem is that the overwhelming majority of production is now digital, and a digital camera has no film gate to check. On the small number of productions still shooting on film, the practice is real and exactly as described. Everywhere else, what actually happens is a review of playback, usually by the digital imaging technician. The phrase survives as a nostalgic holdover on some sets and the physical ritual mostly does not happen. Know the term so it does not confuse you. Do not expect to hear it shouted after every take. We should say honestly that we could not find a camera-department body stating this in print, so we are reporting a well-established industry consensus rather than an institutional source.

Two crew members conferring beside a monitor cart on a film set, folding chairs arranged nearby

The unwritten rules you are most likely to break

There is a line in one crew guide that sums the whole thing up: on a film set, there are more ways to be wrong than right. That is why the principle matters more than the list.

Video village, uninvitedThe encampment of monitors and chairs around the director. You do not belong there unless somebody asks you. There is a craft reason too: watching yourself back between takes turns your attention inward, which is exactly what damages the next one.

Costs you

Noise, including during room toneThe moment quiet is called, everything stops until the director calls cut. Room tone counts, and people forget it constantly.

Costs you

Moving props or set dressingContinuity is somebody's whole job, and where a glass sits is a decision that has already been made and photographed.

Costs you

Wandering off without telling anyoneIf you leave the set, tell the second AD. Being unfindable when they call first team is the fastest way to become the reason the day slipped.

Costs you

Photographs and social mediaAssume no, unless production has said otherwise in writing. On most jobs this is contractual rather than a matter of taste.

Costs you

Being early, findable and quietUnglamorous and it is most of the job. Nobody has ever been re-hired for being the most interesting person in the trailer.

Do this

Questions, ideas and mistakes

The advice not to speak up is usually given too broadly. There is a clean distinction, and it is worth learning because it works in both directions.

Ask freely, on the floor

What is the shot size. Is there play in the mark. Am I in my light, or clear of the boom. Which side of the lens for the eyeline. Every one of these prevents a wasted take, which is why crews welcome them.

Raise carefully, and not on the floor

An idea about the scene. A different interpretation. Anything about the script. Take it to the director between setups, briefly. The floor during a lighting change is not where they want it.

If you make a mistake mid-take

Keep going unless it is genuinely unusable. An imperfect take may still be the one they cut to, and only the director calls cut. If you truly need to go again, say so immediately and once.

And the thing not to doDo not apologise twice. One short apology is professional. A second one costs everybody time and makes the room manage your feelings instead of the scene.

If you do not understand a word somebody has used, ask. Once, quietly, of the right person — usually the second AD or whoever is nearest and not mid-task. Standing there with a blank expression is worse than asking, because a misunderstood instruction costs a take and a question costs four seconds.

An actor sitting alone in a trailer with script pages, waiting to be called

Saying no, and what you are actually entitled to

Most etiquette pages stop at being agreeable. That is incomplete, and this is the section where being approximate would be worst, so we researched it properly and we are going to be precise about what is a right and what is only good practice.

Deference is the culture on a set. It is not unlimited, and it is not the same thing as having no standing. The structures below are real, and knowing which is which is the difference between asking for something and being told no.

On an intimate scene, in the United StatesWhat it actually is

Written consent before filming, as a rider attached to your contract

A right

Contractual under SAG-AFTRA. The rider must reach you at least 48 hours before call time on the day the scene is shot, other than in narrow late-casting circumstances.

Withdrawing your consent

A right

You may withdraw consent at any time before the footage is captured, and you may do it verbally. The production may then use a double on the original terms.

No nudity or simulated sex in an audition

A right

Prohibited outright, with one narrow and tightly conditioned exception at a final stage. Nobody should be asking you to sign a rider at a recall.

A closed set, and separate consent for publicity use

A right

Essential personnel only, monitors restricted, no personal recording devices. Using nude footage in publicity needs its own explicit clause, not the general rider.

An intimacy coordinator being present

Not a right

This is the one most often got wrong. The contract requires best efforts to engage one for nudity or simulated sex, and good-faith consideration of your request on other scenes. Asking is protected. Getting one is not guaranteed.

And the position in Britain, which is different and weaker than people assume. There is no statutory requirement for an intimacy coordinator. The operative documents are union guidance from Bectu, backed by Equity, and they say a coordinator should be involved — strong industry standard rather than law. The right to refuse unsafe work needs even more care. The statutory protection against being penalised for refusing dangerous work covers employees and workers, and it does not extend to the genuinely self-employed, which is how a great many actors are engaged. So whether it covers you depends on the contract you signed for that specific job. We are not going to tell you that you have a legal right that may not apply to you. Ask your union or your agent about your engagement status before you need the answer.

On stunts and physical risk the position is more straightforward. Responsibility for safety sits with the production company as the employer, not with you, and every stunt should have a risk assessment and a coordinator behind it. In the United States, performers have a contractual route to question the stunt coordinator, and background performers who were not warned in advance of hazardous work can decline it and still be paid. “I am not comfortable doing that” is a complete sentence, and the alternative is a double.

Who to actually tell, and the numbers worth having in your phone.

On the floor, the practical route is your second AD, then the first AD or production. That is custom rather than a rule, and it is the right first move for most problems.

For anything that route will not fix, there are formal channels. SAG-AFTRA runs a 24-hour on-set safety line on 844 723 3773, and a separate line for sexual harassment on 855 724 2387.

In the United Kingdom, the Film and TV Charity runs a free, confidential support line on 0800 054 000, open to anyone working in film and television. It is an advice service rather than a formal reporting route, and it will help you work out what the formal route is.

And outside all of it, your agent. Part of what they are for is being the person who makes the difficult call so that you do not have to make it on the day.

How to get asked back

This is the real question underneath the whole page, and the honest answer is duller and easier than most people fear.

You were on time every day. You knew your lines and hit your marks, so nothing was wasted on you. You took direction without arguing, which is what casting was assessing in the first place. You were the same person at hour eleven as at hour one. And you were decent to the crew.

That is the whole list, and none of it requires talent you do not already have. The professional standard is boringly high and boringly simple, which is genuinely good news if you are frightened of your first day.

One thing to do at your wrap, and almost nobody does it. Return everything that is not yours, and especially the radio microphone, which is expensive and gets walked off sets constantly. Thank the people who worked directly with you, which is more people than you think. Leave quietly if they are still shooting. And ask about footage — politely, in writing, later. Not on the day and not on the floor. Footage is the main thing standing between most actors and a usable reel, and the request is almost always granted and almost never made.

Grading the sources

This was the most thinly sourced research we have worked from. Almost every claim came from a film school's marketing blog, a crew blog or a software company's content page. Some of it is true anyway, and two things were not.

The claim, and where it came fromWhat we found

Clear the eyelineSidney Lumet, Making Movies

Primary

A published book by a major director. The real practice underneath the myth, and a far better source than the blogs we were given.

What you are entitled to on an intimate sceneSAG-AFTRA published guidance and contract terms

Primary

The union's own documents. Consent, the 48-hour rider and withdrawal are rights. A coordinator being present is not.

The British position on intimacy and refusalBectu guidance; UK employment law

Primary

Union guidance rather than law. And the statutory right to refuse unsafe work does not cover the self-employed, which changes the answer for many actors.

Making the day, and time as the organising principleA film school blog

Good

Thin sourcing, and “making the day” is genuine industry vocabulary that appears well beyond that one page. The idea holds up.

The glossaryMarci Liroff

Good

A casting director with credits including E.T. and Mean Girls. We used her dated trade-published columns rather than the undated version on her own site.

Only the director directs actorsA crew blog

Check

Reliable on a feature. Incomplete on television, where the showrunner carries much of the authority, and it does not cover background or second unit.

Video village and its silent pecking orderLiroff’s own site, undated

Check

The norm is real and corroborated. That particular phrase appears only in the undated version, and her editors cut it from the published one, so we have not quoted it.

Crew are instructed never to make eye contact with actorsTwo blogs, offered as reassurance

Not standard practice. Documented cases are one-off demands about individual stars, publicly denied in some instances and described by other actors as an ego trip.

Checking the gate, as a routine part of every setupStandard on every actor glossary, including ours

A digital camera has no gate. Real on the few productions still shooting film, and mostly a nostalgic phrase everywhere else.

Two things we deliberately did not print. We found a helpline number for a British performers’ union that we could not confirm against the union’s own published page, so it is not on this page — a wrong number in an emergency is worse than no number. And we have not given exact hours, turnaround or rate figures for British supporting-artist work, because those sit in agreements we could not verify at source and they change. Ask your union for the current agreement rather than trusting a figure on a website, including this one.

Where we differ from the standard account

Why is nobody talking to you?

Commonly saidCrew are under orders not to make eye contact with actors.

What we foundThey are trained to stay out of your eyeline, which is real and documented. The no-eye-contact rule mostly is not.

What is set etiquette actually about?

Commonly saidRespect, hierarchy and knowing your place.

What we foundTime. Every rule protects a take or protects the schedule, and that one idea explains nearly all of them.

Who is allowed to direct you?

Commonly saidOnly the director, always.

What we foundTrue on a feature. On television much of the authority sits with the showrunner, and ADs direct background.

Is checking the gate part of the day?

Commonly saidYes, after every completed setup.

What we foundDigital cameras have no gate. The phrase survives, the ritual mostly does not.

Are you entitled to an intimacy coordinator?

Commonly saidYes, on any intimate scene.

What we foundYou are entitled to ask and to be considered in good faith. The contract requires best efforts, not a guarantee.

Can you refuse unsafe work?

Commonly saidOf course. It is the law.

What we foundIn the UK the statutory protection does not cover the genuinely self-employed. Check how you were engaged.

How do you get asked back?

Commonly saidBe memorable and make an impression.

What we foundBe on time, know it, hit the marks, take the note, and be the same person at hour eleven.

Before your first day, do one thing. Find out who your second AD is and how to reach them, because that is the person who answers nearly every practical question you will have and the person to tell if you need to step away. Everything else on this page you can learn on the day. That one is easier to have in advance.

You will be told that film crews are under orders never to make eye contact with actors. That rule mostly is not real. What is real is that they are trained to stay out of your eyeline, which is a different thing and a more useful one to know.

Nobody is talking to you, and the usual explanation is wrong

Etiquette here is not manners. It is a system for protecting time.

The shape of a shooting day

Who everyone is, and who is allowed to direct you

The words, and one that has quietly gone

The unwritten rules you are most likely to break

Questions, ideas and mistakes

Saying no, and what you are actually entitled to

How to get asked back

Grading the sources

Where we differ from the standard account

Why is nobody talking to you?

What is set etiquette actually about?

Who is allowed to direct you?

Is checking the gate part of the day?

Are you entitled to an intimacy coordinator?

Can you refuse unsafe work?

How do you get asked back?

The camera is not your enemy

Stillness that breathes