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Who directs/shoots pick-up shots in series television?


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Scenario: An episode is shot. A week later another episode is being filmed but its found that additional shots are needed for the previous production. What's the protocol for this situation? Doe the current director and dp shoot these if the series is at the same sets, or is a 2nd unit brought in?



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I doubt they'd have time because TV schedules are so tight. What happens would really depend on the nature of the shots and the show involved. Usually TV shows go for a fair amount of coverage in order to keep the producers happy.

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In my experience, the original director would shoot them, either with the original DP (if he or she is available) or the current DP (if they have time) or with the show's regular 2nd unit guy. Sometimes a Camera Op gets bumped up for the day. There's no hard and fast rule.

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I think DGA rules require that the original director be offered the chance to direct any additional shooting on dialogue scenes with actors (probably the rules don't apply to something like inserts or establishing shots though.)

 

But often the original episode director is not available so that person would allow some other DGA member to direct (often the current episode director.) This is true whether the main unit does the additional scene or a tandem 2nd Unit has to be created to shoot that scene, but in the case of the tandem unit, the current episode director is probably working on the main unit, so some other DGA director would come in, perhaps even the director prepping the upcoming episode. Again, I'm talking about actual dramatic scenes as opposed to an insert.

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