Inside the Creative Process: Karyn Kusama Walks Through Five Phases of Production, From Screenwriting to Distribution

Production

Once you’re on set, you have to keep an eye on yourself and remember to be present. It’s really easy for so many things to distract you. It’s also easy for you to wonder if something isn’t working, which leads to wondering how you’re failing.

I like to make sure that I have enough time during each morning of our shoot days to settle my head for 10 to 15 minutes on my own, quietly. I look at this as an exercise in self-maintenance, a preventative against arriving on set in a funk. You need to stay in the moment, waiting on the thing you’ll need to do immediately, thinking, “OK, what’s coming up?” That requires keeping an open mind and refraining from judging yourself as you work.

Your crew members can get distracted, too—on their phones or their computers. Sometimes those things are necessary, but there’s something about them that pulls the focus away. For me, it’s important to keep a focused set, even if that means asking for people on their phones to take a step away from the central area of the set so we can all be there together looking at each other, seeing that we’re working on the same thing. Don’t be afraid to say, “It’s really noisy right now. Let’s bring it down a little,” or, “We need some space, let’s clear the set.” Being a leader without being a tyrant is a crucial skill to have. That’s how you drive the pace of the production.

On Destroyer we shot in 38 locations, and on a production where you’re moving that much, you have to catch up to all of the activity of the set. That means working harder to check in with all of the departments, and that you might not have a full-fledged rehearsal process with your actors for every single location. Start by telling your crew about your working style: “Here are the things that I want to encourage and foster.” Envision the flow of your day and your week, and talk about it with your AD. If it says your call time is 7 a.m., you’re probably going to have to arrive at 6:15 to see the location for the first time and squeeze in a quick rehearsal.

Every time you execute a series of shots that becomes a sequence, it starts with the head of your department. So, stay connected to everyone to keep the energy up. Oh, and don’t forget to get a good night’s sleep.

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