Best Seat In The House - Ⓓ⓪②
As most of us know, the movie set is a special place, and getting to work on a set is an honor – one that is generally hard-earned. The movie set is where the rubber meets the road; it’s where the production budget burn-rate is the highest; and it’s where the stresses are most intense
From decades working on and around motion picture sets, one observation I’d like to share is my great regard for those intrepid souls who hold the position of First Assistant Director. Great First ADs are so agile as to be able to turn on a dime when changes occur…and we all know that shit is constantly changing on movie productions. The job calls for a cool head…and one of the coolest I’ve had the honor to know is David McGiffert. That’s David, above, riding the rails on Back to the Future 3.
What got me thinking about First AD’s is David’s book published by BearManor Media, Best Seat in the House. I had followed the development of the book for a number of years as David was, for nearly two decades, my neighbor in Topanga. I share that in the spirit of transparency. David is also a close friend, but my regard for him predates our introduction back around 2003.
When we met David was pretty much retired from the day-to-day grind of production. By that time, he had amassed a truly great resume of production credits working for many directors I really respected…Bob Zemeckis; Sydney Pollack; Milos Foreman; Peter Weir; Cameron Crowe…and many more. David, I found out years later, was also very close friends with two buddies of mine, Michael Singer and Michael Klastorin, whom I first got know and work with at Warner Bros in the later 1980s. Then, there’s also our mutual friendship and great regard for the indomitable line producer, Brian Frankish.
I freely admit, I’m a sucker for some great movie dish about what happens behind the curtain in Hollywood. But David doesn’t deliver dish so much as firsthand knowledge of how he responded to many singular, classic situations and personalities he encountered in his forty-plus year career. Working with Dustin Hoffman (above) on Sydney Pollack’s Tootsie; or Milos Foreman’s Man on the Moon…with Jim Carrey (below) channeling Andy Kaufman…or was it Tony Clifton…whoever decided to show up on the set on any particular day. I mean, how often do you get to shut-down Times Square in NYC, with Tom Cruise looking over your shoulder, or to get close to actor-director Paul Newman – who recommended David to Cruise and Cameron Crowe.
His book is colorful and timely…packed with wisdom, dynamic personalities, remarkable artists, contentious performers, and renown performances, stories that aggregate into what I believe is one of the best Hollywood behind-the-scenes memoirs in recent memory. Throughout his remarkable career, David remains a mensch. He is a steadfast family man, level-headed, with a raconteur’s wit and wry sense of levity about working in Hollywood.
One of the big complaints I’ve heard constantly, from many great cinematographers and their crews, is how unprepared college film school graduates are with an understanding of movie set etiquette. In my opinion, David McGiffert’s book ought to be required reading for anyone wanting to be on a movie set — and not just graduate film students, as the lessons he imparts are real-world examples of how to come-up with solutions in the midst of challenging circumstances. And beyond that…the book is loads of fun.