The Fun Theory in Life and on a TV Series

Have you seen The Fun Theory?

Turning stairs into piano keysand it’s more fun to walk up and down them… and so you may choose the stairs over escalator more frequently (“Piano Staircase”). Turning a bottle recycling container into a game and it makes it fun to recycle… and so you may choose to recycle more often (“Bottle Bank Arcade Machine”).

Fun – well placed – can help us make good choices. Fun helps us break the monotony of repetitive activities and find the joy again daily living.

Now think about television series. Same set, same cast, same crew week after week. Eventually all the camera positions seem to have been tried. What was easily an exciting discovery at the start of the season slips into sameness many episodes later.

So… add a little “Fun Theory” to your set behind the scenes. I’m not talking about making piano keys on the floor of craft service (the sound department alone would have a problem with that!)… but use your imagination. Re-ignite the spark of fun behind the scenes and liven up the cast, crew, their imaginations and consequently have a better shoot.

Here are just a few ideas:

• Theme Thursdays… where on Thursday every week the dress code is different (e.g. Old Production T-Shirt Day)

• Competitions at Craft… anything from trivia competitions to match the baby pic with the crew member contests where crew can come-n-go to craft throughout the day to participate

• Milestone Episode or Slate Celebrations… anticipate and plan to mark the day of the 100th slate, or a certain episode number with informal celebrations at craft or at lunch

What (non-invasive) fun will dream up and bring to set?

Cheers & a fun shoot to you,
Deb