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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

SET ETIQUETTE

Zakaree Sandberg

Zakaree Sandberg

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Been doing this for a while now.. My set etiquette is spot on... except the other day i ran into something i only thought was a myth...

DIT on a commercial for a large soft drink company..
the production company is one I Love and work for alot..

twas late in the day, had barely any sleep the night before so i was a little drowsy so i pulled out a redbull from my bag. Drank it in one foul sweep.
Set it on my cart cup holder and proceeded to do my job.

20 min later I am approached by a pissed off looking producer who is accompanied by the production manager...

producer asks my name (odd since ive been working with him for a while now)
grabs the empty redbull and says "you can NOT have this" and walks away.. I was just kinda shocked for a moment.. before i walked out and apologized to the production manager and let him know i had NO idea.. (nothing on the call sheet about not having anything but product from the company in which we were shooting)

Im still a little shaken up by it, I kinda freaked out and was/am worried that I wont get a call back from these guys...


1 thing to note... I was set up in the same room as video village..
I think one of them saw my beverage of choice and proceeded to make a fuss about it...
and I am hoping the asking for my name, scolding, and frantic trashing of my can was all for show... but who knows..

NOW I KNOW...
 
Jesus mate, that's horrible. I've never come across anything similar to this and I've shot all sorts. Your production manager should have handled it better. Your personal taste in beverages behind the camera is not going to affect the outcome of the shoot negatively. Quite the opposite in fact. This is BS...
 
if you want to drink redbull, drink it. no law against it.
the guy was an idiot....its not like you get 50 million to promote pepsi with your face and get caught drinking coca cola.
my opinion.
 
Seems like a problem that isn't going to come up very often, shooting a soft drink commercial and accidentally drinking some competitor's drink on the set. If you shoot a Nike commercial, does the entire crew have to make sure they don't wear any other kind of shoes? If you do a Microsoft commercial, does it mean you can't use your Macbook Pro on set? Maybe, I don't know, I don't shoot many commercials... but I guess you have to be careful about flashing competitors' products on the set around the client.

Redbulls aren't that healthy for you, maybe they were acting out of concern? ;-)
 
Sorry guys, but you do have to have some sensitivity to the product the client is marketing. I mean, you can't drink Pepsi on a Coke shoot or eat McDonald's on a Burger King shoot. In this case, it's not as black and white as that...and yes, it sounds like the PM could have been a little cooler in his approach.

But it is a great note from Zakaree to help others out about being aware of this. Thanks Zakaree for sharing your pain with others!

Kevin
 
And dare I say...don't bring a RED camera to shoot behind the scenes of a SONY commercial. Ha ha. They may just frown upon that. :-)
 
With larger agencies and very large clients I have run into this before. But as the director and owner of the production house I always have the production manager inform all on set before the shoot and before client arrival of the rules, which in a case like this would have been no competitor's product in sight.

On a humorous note on this topic I remember we were shooting a package of spots for Sears and the client from Sears walked up to me on the 2nd day of the shoot and informed me he had looked all around our studio (we owned the building) and had not found one item we had bought at Sears. I really didn't know what to say. We had lots of tools, but none of them was a Craftsman, and so forth. I just smiled my best smile and said "I guess that may be possible." He did come back for other shoots as we had shot nice spots, but he was flabbergasted that I had completely avoided shopping at Sears.
 
Kevin Wild said:
And dare I say...don't bring a RED camera to shoot behind the scenes of a SONY commercial. Ha ha. They may just frown upon that. :-)
Click to expand...

This is the only time I can understand a company getting wound up. Eventhough it constantly happens where kit is used from competitors for spots and ads. If you ask me its pretty damn pathetic on anything else. Sure direct competition might cause a frown - like drinking a can of pepsi whilst shooting on a coke commercial, but redbull is like cold coffee. Its different - if you get pleasure from drinking something that was originally derived from the bile scrapping of a of a cow thats your bag - Have never come across anything as anal as this before but thanks for the heads up.

Richard Foster said:
Sears and the client from Sears walked up to me on the 2nd day of the shoot and informed me he had looked all around our studio (we owned the building) and had not found one item we had bought at Sears. I really didn't know what to say. We had lots of tools, but none of them was a Craftsman, and so forth. I just smiled my best smile and said "I guess that may be possible." He did come back for other shoots as we had shot nice spots, but he was flabbergasted that I had completely avoided shopping at Sears.
Click to expand...

hehe...but do Sears only sell their own brand goods or do they have a large selection of their own brand mixed with popular brand as well? We are talking more or less consumer/DIY quality right?
 
We did a Microsoft commercial once and sent the client an MOV for review. Bad move :-/. Bought flip4mac and sent out a WMV right after.
 
Interesting post Zak, thanks for sharing. But I think it's a bit neurotic for a couple reasons. First, it's well known that even the stars who receive megabucks often won't drink or even touch the beverages they promote (Jordan was not big on Gatorade, Steve Nash doesn't drink Vitamin Water, the list goes on) ... and besides, it's not like you're their employee. You're an independent contractor. I understand wanting to maintain employees and a certain corporate culture, but they don't own you - they just outsourced work to you. Huge difference.

Another thing -- even though I know Coke, Pepsi and the big software drink companies own Monster and the other energy drink companies, Red Bull is not really direct opposing competition. It's a different type of product for a different kind of need. Someone drinking a Red Bull doesn't invalidate Coke or Pepsi or any other soft drink in any way. But, Pepsi attacks Coke, etc.

So there were several reasons why I think this is kinda BS. But I also know that sometimes you just gotta please the client, if you want or need to keep working with them - otherwise if they're a pain in the ass, then fire them and don't look back.
 
I guess no more tap water for the crew when shooting a commercial for Fiji or Aquafina. =P
 
Guys, no point in repeating our opinions on what we think SHOULD be okay or not okay. I actually think we all agree that this shouldn't be a big deal. My point was that you are being hired by a client and if it is a big deal to them, you should adhere to the "set etiquette" like Zakaree titled this thread to be. I'm with you, believe me. I think it's ridiculous. But so are MANY of the requests we get when shooting things for other people. :-)
 
I think its totally absurd that one can not have anything BUT the product your shooting..

This wouldnt have been an issue with me if I was told upfront NOT to have a competing product.. or at least on the call sheet.. NONE of which were displayed.

I would have followed the rules if i had known.. I make SURE that my set etiquette is dialed in (the early days I was sloppy and didnt understand how to act, and it burned me a few times), But im legit to the max now. I will be very careful about this type of situation from now on.. but like i said.. it was new to me.. never thought for a moment that my drinking another product would offend the client so much.. kinda ridiculous.

Oh well.. whats done is done.. hopefully it doesnt ruin my chances with this production company:/
 
I agree with and thank Zakaree for the post and the notice.

I think its perfectly OK for a client to request ... or even require, that a set contain only products from their portfolio.

The flip side is that the client should understand that they are causing a minor inconvenience, and take steps.

For example ...

I shot a GoToMyPC commercial, and they provided the whole crew with a free extended trial of all the related Citrix products.

I shot a commercial for Dasani, Coca Cola provided a full lineup of their products for us to have on set.

Further, on those sets the client made sure to post a notice THANKING US for using their products on their shoot.

When there was a violation, there was a polite warning.

Set etiquette goes both ways, and most clients get that.

These folks didn't act respectfully.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
Redbulls aren't that healthy for you, maybe they were acting out of concern? ;-)
Click to expand...

im usually a health nut... believe me.. I dont drink soda.. and i dont drink Redbull..

however desperate times call for desperate measures.. and in this case.. redbull was the only option free of high fructose corn syrup and aspartame.
It was the only beverage with a boost that also had some nutrition (vitamin B3 - niacin).. I usually have a bottle of caffeine pills.. but I was fresh out...


LOL i sound like im selling redbull.. IM NOT
 
i don't think you need to apologize... and how much do you really want to work with people that will treat you like that?
 
In preproduction on a spot for a lighting manufacturer, i was asked, "Your lights are all lamped with our bulbs, aren't they?" I said I didn't really know. The brand manager said, "They'd better be."

I caon't tell you wha t was in the fixtures the next day, but I can tell you that all the spares in the studion were the right brand. (The others stayed in the truck.)
 
ha, funny how they don't give a flying eff about you.. Imagine how the regard the end user of their poison... Would they have let you drink Matte for religious purposes?.. So tired of these poisonous brands dumbing down and keeping the masses in a constant state of sorbitol induced comatose... You should have flown away : )
 
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