Abby Singer Explained – Episode 2

PODCAST EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Michael Hall:

From ShoHawk Media, this is Filmmaking Footnote with your host Michael Hall. You’re listening to episode 2. This is the show where we give you the best filmmaking and production information so you can make the best project possible without having to spend a bunch of time or money at film school.

Let’s do it!

Hey guys, it’s Michael Hall – I am so happy to have you here for our second installment of Filmmaking Footnote. Today we are jumping right into it and we are talking Abby Singer, Abby Singer.

So, if you’ve heard that name before, or if you’ve heard that word before, if you’ve been on set and you’ve heard that and you just don’t know what that means… You’re not alone.

I remember the very first time I was on set and I heard the term Abby Singer shot and I looked around and everyone seems to know what was being talked about, and I had no idea. I felt so out of the loop and it just felt so commonplace for everyone to know like, oh Abby Singer.

This is a Abby Singer shot, and the crew started moving really fast people started moving. People were breaking down lights and I was I was a complete newbie so I just stood around and was like looking around at my boss like what’s what’s going on.

I remember I went and looked it up later because I didn’t want to seem completely out of place, you know, it was my first job and so I wanted to save face as much as I could. And so I went looked it up and I will read you the exact… I remember the exact web page I pulled up, so let me read you the exact terminology.

This is from the IMDB filmmaking a terminology page. So, the Abby Singer is the second to last shot of the day named after the Production Manager Abby Singer who would frequently call last shot of the day. Or, this shot and just one more only to have the director asked for more takes. See also martini shot. So I looked that up and still didn’t quite get it I guess I was a little slow that day.

I went back to set and over time as I as I was on set more often and got more experience and people kept talking about the Abby Singer shot – I realized oh, it is it’s literally the second to last shot of the day so when you are on set and someone says you’re on the Abby Singer, that means that you have this current shot that you’re on and then you have one more, and you’re done for the day.

So, it’s kind of a weird term – Abby Singer and you might be asking yourself, why is it why is it called the Abby Singer? So I just read it in the in the description I looked up but, Abby Singer was a Production Manager who was around for a really long time. He started around in the 1950s 60s and worked through, I want to say, the late 90s and it was his role early in his career he was an assistant director where he he kept time on set so an assistant directors role on set is to keep time to keep the crew moving and to let everybody know how many shots are left.

So, if you’re ever on set and you hear someone on the radio calling out what shot is left, how much more time there is or if you hear someone say you’re on the a Abby Singer, it’s most likely an assistant director. So, he came up with this this method early in his career because he he was of the mindset that time equals money which is true. I mean, I’m a producer so I know that time is money especially when you’re on set you’re you’re paying so many people to be there and the more time that you’re spending on set the more money you’re gonna spend you’re much more likely to go into overtime if people are just hanging out and you’re not efficient with people’s time on set.

So, what he would do is when they were nearing the end of the day he would he would specifically say we have this shot and one more. And the reason he would do that is because if he said, “we’re on the second to last shot of the day” that gave the crew enough time to start wrapping everything up, so that the director could still focus on the shot, but the rest of the crew could start breaking down their equipment that wasn’t being used on the shot.

So they could they could think ahead a little bit and pack all their gear up and then once once they got to the last shot of the day, which is called a martini shot, they were they were already a step ahead. Once they were on the martini they could just wrap out the the crew that, excuse me, the the equipment that was being used for the specific shot. So, nowadays it’s just used for the very last shot of the day, but he used to he actually used to say whenever they would move locations even he would say this shot and one more. So that’s where that’s where that term comes from.

If you’re ever on a set and you hear we’re on the Abbie Singer, that means you should probably start breaking your shit down real fast, because everyone around you is gonna start moving really fast. And you don’t want to get left behind, you don’t want to look like you’re just sitting around twiddling your thumbs. You want to be really efficient with your time. Whenever you’re on a set you want to be really really efficient, so there you go.

If you are brand-new to a set, and you start hearing that term being thrown around a lot and people are looking at you like you need to be moving faster it probably means that you should start moving a little bit faster. I know that when I was on my very first sets, I got the stink-eye a couple times so you’re not alone.

But just keep that in the back your mind so that you are are ready and prepared once you start hearing people throw that term around. If you have any questions about the Abby Singer shot, feel free to hit me up FilmmakingFootnote.com/2 – that’ll take you to our website, and you can leave a comment there and I’m happy to jump in to the comments and answer any questions that you might have.

And if you have not just subscribed to the show yet I know that we’re only on episode number two please do so you will get this show updated and in your inbox every single day and then you’ll be able to listen to all the good stuff that we have. I’m gonna leave you with that for today tomorrow we are gonna be jumping in and talking a little finance.

We’re gonna be talking above the line expenses and just in general what does above the line mean so I will see you back here tomorrow thank you again for listening and giving the show shot I really really appreciate it any feedback is is really welcome and again go to FilmmakingFootnote.com/2 and I would love to hear from you there.

See you tomorrow!

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