We've often had someone cook up a big pot of pasta and sauce: that doesn't cost much and isn't hard to make. Or brought in rolls, cheese, sliced ham and whatever and had people make their own sandwiches: of course that takes more time away from shooting. Either way, if you feed people decently you'll keep most of them happy no matter how tough the schedule is.

But I agree on timescales: if you're running more than twelve-hour days, you're doing something wrong. People just can't do good work if they're doing regular sixteen hour days... in some cases we've ended up reshooting entire scenes after the director kept people working long hours and then discovered that they'd shot crap as a result. Plus it can be dangerous: one gaffer I've worked with just switches the lights off and goes home after twelve hours, unless he has a really good reason to continue working... he's not going to risk having a light fall on someone because he's tired and doesn't set it up properly.

Not to mention the time I was hallucinating from lack of sleep on the drive home from the last day of shooting a short some years ago. Four hours of sleep a night for ten days is not good: if I ended up on such a poorly-organised shoot again I'd walk rather than risk killing myself.

rj - if you are asking people to donate their time for twelve straight hours the very least you can do is feed them a good meal. Sandwiches are five once or twice. And if you?re paying a pro or semi-pro crew they will expect to be fed well.

Craft service/catering is often a crew position newer movies makers either forget, don?t know about or don?t think is very important. Sometimes on a no budget show this is the only person that will be paid - it?s not as ?glamorous? as other positions but it?s extremely important. And it really should be a dedicated crew position - you don?t want a member of your small crew to have to stop what they?re doing and run out for food.

On a really short shoot (two or three days) you can bring in sandwich makings, chips and salads once, order pizza once and chicken or chinese once. On shows of a week or more you better get some catered meals.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

I fully expect to feed everyone. Not only would they be unhappy but a bunch may not return or might return late which screws things up further. Better to suffer the hit to the pocketbook. In fact after the cost of the camera and sound gear its likely food will be the largest chunk of the budget, something I didn't really expect.

What I'm really concerned about is the question of what to serve (hot and cold, lots of people or a few) and the difficulty of the logistics of ensuring it gets there and is properly warm on time. Days with lots of extras lasagna and/or pasta would work. They may take time to make but they are easy to reheat and pretty filling and popular. On other days I may simply buy pizza (italian is a pattern here for some reason) or sandwiches or something.

Locations are stretched throughout the Chapman college area right now and I'm not certain which areas have facilities to reheat and which do not. Logistics of feeding the cast and crew is a lot more than I expected, now I know why the studios are big on filming on sets on the lot and hire specialists.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

Also, don't forget access to toilets: you need somewhere to get rid of all that food and coffee too :).

During the shooting of "Folk Lore" we had all the actors and crew (the same people, what a great idea!) living under the same roof for a month. We would typically have eggs or some kind of protein for breakfast, 2 PBJ's for lunch (which can be made the night before with a full loaf of bread, and then stored in that same bag for easy transport the next day, and PBJ doesnt spoil if it gets warm), and then a pretty hearty meal for dinner, like meaty stir fry, spagetti, pot roast, grilled pork chops, etc etc. After equipment, our biggest expense was gas followed by food. (about 1400 and 1000 respectively). We shot for about 4 and a half weeks, and people did get sick of PBJ. If they didnt want that they could take the half hour lunch break to get something else (if we weren't in the middle of nowhere). People were generally happy though, so it all worked out. Just make sure you have lots of water (we had 2 gallons of water for each member of the cast and crew) Dehydration will get you more than starvation will. It's hard to work when you have a horrible headache, and summer heat for 12 hours WILL catch up with you. So, to wrap up, make sure that everyone gets enough calories to keep the brain powered, and enough water to keep them standing with full cognitive abilities. Good luck!

Andrew
www.prometheusmotionpictures.com

Here's some decent rules of thumb for feeding people:

First, a word of advice, you ever wonder why credits are so long? Why so many people? Well, they're not just putting people up there for jollies. Don't underestimate positions such as Make-up, Wardrobe, Craft Services, and Catering. These are some oft ignored positions.

I've not mentioned sound, not because it's not ignored, but because if you are ignoring sound, you are a moron, and your film is going to suffer or you will pay in Post-Production, but sadly, this moronicness is spread throughout all levels of filmmaking. It's just sad; because movies are talkies now, deal with it.

Ok, back from my tangent on the plight of sound people in production. Make-up, Wardrobe, Craft Services, and Catering are really your psychological weapons in the war of making a movie. Because, I can guarantee you, a happy crew will work harder than a grumpy disgruntled crew. And a crew that WANTS to work, will do a far better job than one that is simply being constantly whipped into doing your movie. These people, they are there to serve you (the Director/Producer/Filmmaker), and they help make your life easier. When the actor hits wardrobe and make-up (even if the actor is providing their own wardrobe, please, unless it?s a one day shoot, make sure your holding onto the wardrobe, it?s really amateurish for a yokel to be wearing a green shirt one day, and an orange shirt the next, and these shots are supposed to be mixed together). They are going to bolster the actor up for work, keep them in the moment, and really make them feel like they?re doing something special, rather than just playing pretend.

Craft Services and Catering, these people give your crew the strength to keep going. Of course, choose one to actually feed people, not both. I prefer Catering, because it?s one meal, rather than the constant stream of snacks. Beverages work great, and something small and crunchy will help to calm the nerves, but no need to go overboard on Craft Services. Catering, that?s something different. First, even if you?re serving sandwiches, let me give you a cheap tip: Make the sandwiches for the crew. If they have a specific sandwich need, get it from them. Write it down, if you have to. But, I can tell you, nothing makes you feel appreciated like having a sandwich given to you. Plus, it?ll save you valuable crew time, they?re not having to spend time making their meal.

Second, just because you can work your crew like your running the Iditarod doesn?t mean you need to. 12 hours is a good time estimate, but that?s only 10 hours of shooting. Save the other two hours for setup and teardown for the day. You?ll need it. Wrapping can get difficult. And of course, you should set aside about an hour per meal, not because your calling that long, but because people will spend about that long getting back into the groove. For breakfast, it?s about an hour to get into the swing of things, for lunch, it?s about an hour getting away from the sleepiness of the day. Particularly with a heavy meal. Make your catering meal filling, but not too heavy. When in doubt, ask an expert.

Take care, and I hope this helps some.