Your First Day on Set: What Actors Should Know

You booked it. Two scenes, a handful of lines, and a call time that arrived last night by email. You’ve done plenty of class work and self-tapes, but you’ve never been on a real set, and you don’t know where to go when you get out of the car.

That’s normal. Nobody hands you a manual. Most actors learn the rhythm of a shoot day by standing in the wrong place for a while, and the people who seem relaxed on set are mostly the ones who’ve done it enough times to know what comes next.

The short version: check in with the 2nd AD, sign what they hand you, and go where they put you. Expect to wait far more than you work. Know your lines cold: there may be a camera rehearsal or there may be none, and the pages may have changed overnight. Wait for “Action,” keep going until “Cut,” and don’t leave until you’re wrapped and you’ve signed out with times you’ve checked. The rest of this guide walks the day in order.

The night before: confirm, pack, and check the pages

Your call time, the location, and often the latest script tend to arrive late, sometimes the night before. A set guide on NoHo Arts District explains why: the 1st AD is still working out tomorrow’s shots during today’s shoot. If the call sheet is new to you, our guide to reading a call sheet walks through it line by line.

Shannon Sturges, in her first-day guide for Speiser/Sturges Acting Studio, suggests replying to confirm you got the call sheet, and allowing extra travel time: you may need to park in a lot and shuttle in, or be picked up by van on location. Wardrobe may already have called you for sizes or a fitting, sometimes before you even hear you booked it.

Her packing advice is small and practical. Arrive clean, with washed hair. Wear a shirt you can unbutton rather than pull over your head, so you don’t wreck your hairstyle when you change. Bring neutral undergarments, and any skin products or tattoo cover you rely on, even if the makeup team has its own.

Check in with the 2nd AD, then wait where they put you

On location, the trailers sit together in what’s called base camp. When you arrive, the NoHo Arts guide’s advice is simple: ask anyone where to find the 2nd AD, “the person you usually report to.” On some shoots a production assistant checks you in first and walks you over.

From there you’ll be sent to a dressing room. That might be a trailer, or a small room in a row of them called a honeywagon. Take it gratefully. If a contract is waiting for you, the same guide suggests signing it right away so the 2nd AD can process it while you work.

Then you wait. If nobody gives you a direction, stay put and stay findable. Sturges adds a rule that trips up new actors: sitting in another actor’s chair on set is not good etiquette.

Hair, makeup, wardrobe, and your microphone

You may go to hair and makeup first, or to wardrobe, or you may sit for an hour before anyone calls you. You won’t always be asked to change into wardrobe straight away. If you have time before rehearsal, though, the NoHo Arts guide recommends being dressed and ready, especially on day one.

At some point the sound department will wire you with a radio mic and a battery pack, often in places you didn’t expect. Sturges points out that there’s usually a boom mic overhead too. Assume a mic is live whenever you’re wearing one. That’s one reason she warns against complaining about the script, the call time, or a castmate on set: the sound team may be listening on headphones.

Block, light, rehearse, shoot: the rhythm of every setup

Once you’re called to set, the day runs in a loop. Peter D. Marshall, writing for the New York Film Academy, describes five stages: block, light, rehearse, adjust, and shoot, then repeat the process. In practice, that means the loop starts again for each new shot.

• Block. You walk through the scene with the director to show the crew where you’ll move. A ProVideo Coalition guide for camera trainees says this happens “without tweaking performances.” It’s about movement, not acting.
• Light. The crew lights the set and places the camera. This can take a long time, and you’re often sent back to wait. Before you go, notice where your marks are; our guide to hitting your mark covers how to find them without looking down.
• Rehearse. After lighting, the actors come back for a rehearsal with the camera. The NoHo Arts guide is clear that you’re expected to run the lines here. You don’t need full emotion, but co-stars and guest roles are expected to know their words.
• Adjust and shoot. Small fixes to lights, camera, or blocking, and then takes.

Don’t count on a long rehearsal. Sturges warns that you might not get a rehearsal at all, so know your lines and your blocking before you’re called. The loop also helps explain why you may say the same lines many times: a scene is often shot from more than one angle, and each shot goes through the process again.

Keep your lines ready through hours of waiting

Waiting is the part of set life nobody prepares you for. Lauren McCrostie, in a guide to set days for young performers, warns that even a scene listed first on the schedule can move: “nothing is set in stone.” She describes getting up at 5am to be ready by 7am, waiting, and then not being used that day, and it happened more than once. Her tip is to choose a waiting activity that keeps you somewhere between yourself and the character.

Running your lines is the obvious one, but how you run them matters. Rereading the sides feels productive and isn’t. In a well-known study, Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke found that testing yourself improved long-term retention more than restudying the same material. So cover your line, hear the cue in your head, say your line, and only then check the page.

Check the pages first, though, the night before and again in the morning. Sides are the day’s scenes printed on small half-size pages, and the NoHo Arts guide’s author describes arriving on set to find several pages rewritten. Knowing the current version is still your job. Compare your sides with what you learned, line by line, and drill the lines that changed first.

Here’s the kind of short exchange to check word by word: a cue and the line that answers it. The opening of Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, from our play page:

ALGERNON: Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

LANE: I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir.

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde, Act I (Project Gutenberg)

If you’re playing Lane, check both the cue and your answer against the newest pages, because a one-word change to either is easy to miss when you skim. A quick fix is to test yourself on first letters: I d t i p t l, s. If you can say the whole line from that, you have it. Our free line memorizer turns any lines into first-letter cues like these.

Offbook helps with exactly this. Upload the morning’s sides, pick your role, and realistic voices read every other character while you say your lines. Hide your lines so only the cues show, and you’re testing yourself instead of rereading. Rehearse on your laptop with the full script on a big screen, and listen to your scenes on your phone anywhere, including in a trailer between setups. Our guide to memorizing lines when the pages keep changing goes deeper on rewrites.

On set: “Action,” “Cut,” and staying put

Once you’re on set, a few habits keep you out of trouble. Sturges lists most of them:

• Wait for “Action” before you move or speak, and keep going until someone calls “Cut,” even if you think the take went wrong.
• Don’t leave your spot without telling a PA. If they can’t find you when the camera is ready, the whole crew waits.
• Silence your phone, or leave it in your dressing room.
• Don’t post anything about the project, photos included, unless you have explicit permission.
• If you’re unsure what the director or crew wants, ask. Then take the adjustment they give you rather than guessing.

Between takes, stay near the set and stay warm, physically and mentally. You may do the same moment many times across setups, and each one needs to match what you did before.

Lunch and the long afternoon

Meal breaks are part of the schedule, not a free-for-all. Sturges notes that you may be moved up the lunch line so you can get back to work on schedule. Let the crew do that; don’t cut the line yourself.

Before you go back, touch up your hair and makeup, and check your teeth. Then go back to your lines, so they’re ready whenever you’re called again.

Wrap: sign out, check your times, hand back the clothes

You’re done when someone tells you you’re wrapped, not when your last take looks good. Sturges is firm: don’t leave until you’ve been officially wrapped and given a sign-out sheet. The NoHo Arts guide adds that you should sign out with the base camp AD and confirm your hours.

On a SAG-AFTRA job, you’ll also sign the Exhibit G, the union’s production time report, before you leave. Wrapbook’s guide to the form describes it as a timesheet for actors that records when you reported to makeup and wardrobe, when you reported to set, your meal breaks, and when you were dismissed, and notes that actors are typically due a meal break within six hours of arriving. Read the times before you sign.

Then change out of your wardrobe and hang it up neatly, return any props, and thank the people you worked with. If you’re coming back tomorrow, our guide to day player and weekly player contracts explains how multi-day bookings usually work.

Your first-day checklist

• The night before: confirm the call sheet, check the location and parking, and allow extra travel time.
• The night before and again in the morning: compare the newest pages with what you learned and drill the changed lines first.
• Pack neutral undergarments, a shirt that unbuttons, and any skin products or tattoo cover you need.
• On arrival: find the 2nd AD, check in, and sign your contract if it’s waiting.
• While you wait: test yourself on your lines and cues rather than rereading the sides.
• On set: wait for “Action,” play until “Cut,” and tell a PA before you step away.
• At wrap: check your times, sign out, hang up your wardrobe, and return props.

Questions actors ask

What happens on an actor’s first day on set?

You check in with the 2nd AD at base camp, go through hair, makeup, and wardrobe, and wait to be called. On set, each shot follows the same loop: block, light, rehearse, adjust, shoot. At the end you’re wrapped and sign out.

What should I bring to set?

Your own marked-up script (the day’s sides are usually handed to you on set), a shirt that unbuttons, neutral undergarments, and any personal skin products or tattoo cover. Bring something quiet to do while you wait, and keep your phone silenced.

Who do I check in with on set?

Usually the 2nd AD, at base camp. On some shoots a production assistant checks you in and takes you to them. If nobody is around, ask any crew member where the 2nd AD is.

Will I get to rehearse before we shoot?

Often you’ll do a blocking walkthrough and a camera rehearsal after lighting, but you might not get a rehearsal at all. Come knowing your lines, ready to run them the first time you’re asked.

Can I run my lines on my phone between setups?

With Offbook you can listen to your scenes on your phone, with your own lines spoken, skipped, or left as silent gaps for you to fill. Rehearsing out loud with cues runs on a laptop or desktop browser.