LET THE PROMPTER BE YOUR GUIDE
There are no hard and fast rules on how to utilize your teleprompter on set. My experience with East Pleasant Pictures is a great example of this.
Today we were working with Stephanie from East Pleasant Pictures on part two of their team’s Diabetes PSA. Chris Noth from Law and Order and Sex in the City joined us on set with his long time friend Laurie. Laurie was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes over 10 years ago.
Mr. Noth thought it would be inspiring for others who have recently been diagnosed with the disease to hear about Laurie’s experience.
Mr. Noth is a seasoned professional, even someone as gifted and experienced as he knows that having a prompter on set can make a shoot run as smoothly and effectively as possible once the camera’s start rolling. At our production today, Mr. Noth didn’t read word for word off the prompter, rather he used it as a visual reference. In the free association he exchanged with his friend Laurie, he would occasionally come back to the text on the prompter to reference where to steer the conversation. It was the job of the operator to ensure once a topic was touched on the text was moved to the next major idea or point of discussion.
So rather than stopping the shoot to find out “what’s next” the prompter was the guide for today’s savvy talent’s performance. Thanks to the ease which Mr, Noth capitalized the guides from the prompter, out shoot today wrapped several hours early.
Below are a few photos from today’s shoot. You can see where the prompter was placed so that Mr. Noth’s eye line never seems to stray from his friend when he reference the text while filming:
The team at American Movie Co. always has a great time working with Stephanie’s team, and I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to join her for another shoot soon!