EP 409: The Production Sound Mixer and Video Assist Operator

Julie Harris Oliver: [00:00:00] This is the Catch A Break podcast, the insider's guide to breaking into and navigating the entertainment industry. I'm Julie Harris Oliver. You can find us at Catch a Break podcast.com and all the social media at Catch A Break Pod, as well as all the podcast places. The presenting sponsor of season four of Catch A Break is Santa Clarita Studios a full service independent studio featuring 35 sound stages, an amazing new back lot featuring New York and LA Downtown Street with interiors and an alley fully furnished production office space and suite style executive offices along with post-production space dedicated to providing an attentive and personally tailored experience for all their clients. Santa Clarita Studios offers rentals and services to meet any need and budget. Find them at santaclaritastudios.com. We are continuing our [00:01:00] Project Greenlight series where we talk to the cast and crew of Gray Matter and get the real behind the scenes of the behind the scenes.

We're dropping these pretty fast, so if you wanna start at the beginning, go back and start with episode 401. In this episode, I sat down with Savanna Peters, who is a video assist operator, and Sarah Glazer who's a production sound mixer Both of these women are in very male dominated positions and departments and they share how they've navigated that along with telling us all about the jobs Okay have a listen Welcome to Catch A Break I'm here with Sara Glaser and Savanna Peters Now Sara Glaser is a production sound mixer Her introduction to recording was Bootleg Tape Trading in College I love Uh this led to her enrollment at UCLA for recording engineering songwriting in the music business Sara was hired by Bill Duley at Brooklyn Recording in 1998 and the first six months of Sarah's studio career was building a studio and learning to troubleshoot after Brooklyn Sarah was Staff engineer at Track Record and Devonshire recording before going freelance She engineered [00:02:00] for Delaney Bramlet at Carnegie Hole and then segued into music post-production Sara worked as a restoration sound editor at Sound Chambers mastering for Eric Dosh from 2001 to 2003 during which time she restored 26 films for MGM in three to five languages each That must have been super cool In the summer of 2003 she toured with the Reverend Al Green She was co-mixing front of house on the West Coast leg and was Al's monitor engineer when he headlined at Monterey Jazz Fest Sara then switched to production sound She joined the IA Local 695 in 2005 and Cinema Autos Society in 2016 She was accepted at the Television Academy as a full voting member in 2022 She's a board member of both IA Local 695 and the Los Angeles Executive Committee of the Audio Engineering Society Okay Hi Sara

Sara Glaser: Hi

Julie Harris Oliver: We would love to hear what was your very first job in the production business and how did you get it

Sara Glaser: In the production business Um I didn't know anybody [00:03:00] so I just went to Craigslist in the gigs and just Hey I knew sound you know and sending out So I I don't remember what my first one was I think the first Feature that I did cause I walked in as a mixer was uh this film you'll you've never seen called Anna's Eve

Julie Harris Oliver: How did you know I've never seen it

Sara Glaser: I've never seen it You know I it was it was one of those everybody shoots a lot of things and I actually Got hired on that one My director was a a guy named Cans and he's an African American guy and he hired me because I since I didn't have a production resume I sent in my restoration resume and I had uh worked as a restoration sound pick editor on Coffee Foxy Brown black Mama white Mama truck Turner and Black Season So he got my resume and he's like and you tour with Al Green and you're hired Yeah Uhhuh And it [00:04:00] was like there were other resumes like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but it was like Coffee and Fox like that That opens a different door

Julie Harris Oliver: Yeah Oh that's great Savanna Hello how are you

Savanna Peters: Hello

Julie Harris Oliver: Savanna's a video assist operator who found her way into TV and film after reading Glennon Doyle's book untamed We are really going to unpack that and feeling inspired to make a career change In June of 2021 she met Dempsey Tillman of Man in the Box and was given the opportunity to join the IA at 695 Y16 a trainee program a program aimed at increasing diversity within the union as a video assist trainee she officially joined the union in October of 2021 and is excited to have recently hit her year mark in the field Hello Savanna

Savanna Peters: Hi How are you

Julie Harris Oliver: Savanna before I ask you what your first job in the business was and how did you get it?What were you doing before and how did Untamed change your life

Savanna Peters: So when I graduated college I worked for a company that did ITstaffing So I started in that as a recruiter and then account manager It's actually what brought me to la They moved me here to support our work with Disney [00:05:00] And so that brought me to LA and then I was about six months into it it was in the midst of the pandemic And I read Untamed I think it was like June of 2020 And I was like I'm miserable Why am I doing this Like I think I just had the I was younger and I was like I'm making good money I should stay in this you know Um not realizing that I just wasn't happy And so It was uh Glennon's book just gave me everything I needed like courage wise to be like I have to change something And I had no real plan other than take some time off and figure things out And I was very fortunate My sister's in the business more on the unscripted side of things And so she had said hey um she'd been on a show battle Bots on discovery for a couple seasons as um a key pa And then at the time that I joined her was maybe assistant production manager and was like why don't you just come on as a PA and try it out Like see if you like the business and I And so that's how I got my foot in the door and the the industry just in general

Julie Harris Oliver: And then how'd you know video assist was what you wanted to do

Savanna Peters: I had no idea So I after that across the street they were filming um that Netflix [00:06:00] movie the Gray Man And so I got under that as on the health and safety team as a Covid pa And it was two weeks before we were gonna wrap that I think we were on it like eight months cuz we were on it once they like started construction of the set So we were on it for a long time I met Dempsey Tillman and he had said Hey if you're you know interested we just got to talking Um there's a need for more women in this field There's not alot And um there we have a trainee program and so if I had something would you be interested And I was like heck yes Um and then two weeks later I got a call from him that he had a movie and I got on that movie and that's how I got my days

Julie Harris Oliver: Fabulous So the trainee program was practical on set

Savanna Peters: Yes Yeah it's they they bring you on Um I worked with a guy Kyle DeShazo He was like my trainer And so we're on a movie it was supposed to be 35 days and it ended up being 50 just cuz of some stuff that happened And so that was like my crash course of video assist and I felt like that was the best way to learn it because I don't really know how you would unless you're on set doing it as the problems come up

Julie Harris Oliver: Yeah So did you get all your days on that one job

Savanna Peters: I did yes Very very fortunate with my way in

Julie Harris Oliver: And do you love video asist

Savanna Peters: I [00:07:00] do yeah

Julie Harris Oliver: What was your thing

Savanna Peters: It's it's kind of got like a little bit of everything that I didn't know what I wanted to do on set And that's why Gray Man was great as a Covid pa Kind of got to see everything ands Figure out what would I be interested in Um and that one just came to be and I've been loving it ever since

Julie Harris Oliver: Oh that's great Yeah We hear that a lot from people who start as PAs which I think almost starts as a pa but you get to see everything Figure out where you wanna be Mm-hmm I would make the same pitch for accounting I think that happens there too it's funny as you were talking it reminded me of that movie with George Clooney where he had to fly in and fire people all the Up in the air Up in the air Yeah So and the one scene where the guy was so mad about being laid off and then he said how much how much did they pay you to give up on your dream So when you said that you had that job that was paying you well and you thought oh I'll just do this Yeah Without admitting you were miserable about it Yeah

Savanna Peters: Yeah it's true And it was cuz I went from Making good money to back to minimum wage as a pa Right And if I ever got to the point where I wasn't unhappy again I would do it again in a [00:08:00] heartbeat because it made me realize that there's no amount of money that's worth it

Julie Harris Oliver: And it's so much easier to do before you have kids a mortgage

Savanna Peters: Oh I'm sure yes There yet it was a hundred percent of privilege of me being able to do that and also have you know some savings tucked away that I could make that that scary jump But I hope that if I was in that boat I could do it again knowing that I've done it before You know Yeah But but it is it was definitely a privilege to be able to Be brave Be brave Right be brave Do hard things Yeah All the Glenn and stuff Do hard things

Julie Harris Oliver: um had you worked together before

Sara Glaser: No no This was her first time and it was it was great Yeah Working with Savanna and getting to meet her and thrilled to hear that you had such a wonderful experience in the trainee program and that it it worked for you

Savanna Peters: Yes Likewise All the good things

Julie Harris Oliver: now as um I Most people would know just being on set that there are very few women doing either one of those two jobs Oh yeah That you're doing Yeah Um Sarah I'm gonna start with you How has your experience been uh being a woman in that role I mean is is that a terrible question I always feel terrible I ask people how what's like being a woman [00:09:00] doing this job But really I mean it's a real thing though

Sara Glaser: It's a very real thing And sometimes I've worked with people who are wonderful allies and other times I've been in rather toxic situations with individuals where I'm not treated well and they were not able to work for a female department head and it was one of those situations where I was like there were some communications and then it it became so that I actually couldn't run my department because anything I said would get turned around on me by this individual And I was like well thank God I had producers because I was able to go to that and be like but I had all that stress Mm-hmm and Past trauma you carry about oh my God do I speak up for myself and bring this to my producers Because you just never know after so many years in the industry whether they're going to Take your side and help you

Julie Harris Oliver: Mm-hmm I mean is it you do they really mean that

Sara Glaser: There's gaslighting that [00:10:00] happens or like maybe you're reading this wrong and you're like you know um and it can bite you in the uh the rear as they say I don't know if you've got sensor in here or what We can say whatever I dunno But sometimes that you know standing up for yourself and and bringing up things that need to be addressed can can you know literally bite you in the ass kind of thing

Julie Harris Oliver: Yeah Now did it take you years of experience to get to the point where you knew this isn't gonna get any better

Sara Glaser: Yeah You you you tend to learn that really early on what took years of experiences is speaking up about it Mm-hmm or not trying to be like oh maybe I can make this work It's not that long And you know we'll just hide it in the department and not tell people And that that never ends well no it really doesn't Yeah And yeah and but but it took so yeah that that's the part that I think we as women try to

Julie Harris Oliver: Um how has it been for you being a woman in a in a field where there aren't that many women And I'd love the the change of perspective you just got in Yeah How's that looking

Savanna Peters: I mean even just talking to Sara you're the first female sound mixer I've worked with and so that's my [00:11:00] question's always been on set Like if I work with the sound mixer where are the women that

Sara Glaser: Yeah Um I literally have been getting that on every show my whole career I went to go see a friend play at the Troubador and when he introduced me to his friend is a mixer the guy's like I never would've guessed that And it's Yeah

Julie Harris Oliver: You're not what a mixer looks like

Sara Glaser: 25 years I'm still getting that every day

Savanna Peters: definitely Yeah I would say I've I've had a lot of comments of I've never seen a female video assist before It's pretty common and I I've been fortunate It's if there is any sort of like discrimination I'm usually a one person department If anything there's two of us I've been very fortunate with the team That man in the box team that I've worked with Everybody's been great I feel like you you get ignorant comments here and there and it's one of those things like pick your battles At least that's from my perspective and hopefully as I like you said the older you get into it or just like the more maturity you have I feel like I'm still learning of like how do you speak up to your for yourself like when do you need to when do you don't So I mean something that I've been working on but it's definitely you notice it on set I've been very fortunate a lot of the [00:12:00] like CatchLight's team and even um been working with Hello Sunshine recently It's a very female focused like leadership team and so I love seeing that on set because those are the people who are in charge But you do I mean In terms of like crew I think you know which departments lean more heavily hooking like females and which don't And so hopefully as time goes on there's more and more And that's kind of my hope is the team that I work with There's one other woman that I know of and then primarily it's it's males And I hope that like if I get opportunities to bring people in or refer people that hopefully it's more females that get you and then maybe just seeing one on set You know you know that that's a role that a woman can do Not that if a man was doing it you couldn't But you know it's just more of

Julie Harris Oliver: if you can see it you can be it

Savanna Peters: There you go Who is that Jeanette's thing right

Sara Glaser: Representation matters I mean uh Savannah's the first female video assistant engineer I've worked with as well So you know it's it's it's good to they're we are both very underrepresented in our in our categories or or in our roles on set So it's yeah

Julie Harris Oliver: And it's so silly There's nothing gendered about the [00:13:00] job

Savanna Peters: It's not and so that's Sometimes I do wonder It's like why Why are there not more Is it because women don't see women doing it and so therefore they you know But that's such a weird thing I don't know what it is Well patriarchy Yeah No there's it's a whole separate topic

Sara Glaser: There's there's a lot of history in our union on sexism and is it and racism Yeah Course Um you know and this is traditionally you know a white male union mm-hmm like you know the the numbers for diversity on either ethnicity or gender for women in our local have um are things that we need are working

Julie Harris Oliver: Well let's take the optimistic tone for a moment Yes Are we seeing a little bit of progress

Sara Glaser: Yes we are in time Yes Yes No and that's the thing is like everybody um I mentioned in my bio on the board so I cannot divulge anything Obviously there's there's there's also but what I can say is um The the current board that we have is full of wonderful [00:14:00] people who all wanna see change and who um are very committed to that Wonderful So we have that now There's bureaucracy and everything else but we all wanna see change and we all are like how can we make this happen How can we how can we have more Savannas That's why we have the trainee program It's obviously worked for Savanna you know it's

Julie Harris Oliver: Here's the thing we're at a moment in time where there is more work than people to do it Like there's the opportunity now to let people in and it won't take anything away from anybody Not that it ever would but having the fear Yeah Yeah Okay great We can move on getting the call to do Project Green Light knowing that you were going to then be in reality show doing your job making the movie what on earth prompted you to take this job

Sara Glaser: Well I gotta say that was one of those moments where I was you know I'm I'm we're not usually in front of camera instead No Preferred that way Yeah and and you know [00:15:00] we there are moments on set behind behind uh below the line as they say or behind the scenes we're you know uh just uh film set is kind of a crazy place and And sometimes things happen We're losing the light What starts raining We're in the thing we're gonna lose our kid actor you know all sorts of crazy things And people are yelling and you know we might just be like working in a high pressure environment It's not necessarily toxic all the time but there there's there's like oh get this get this We rush But it may not be everyone being their best selves Yes And you're always like well I don't know that I want that document But then the flip side of that is as we discussed with um sexism stuff it's very easy to get gaslit in this industry All somebody has to say is oh that person was difficult whether it's true or not Mm-hmm So in some respect it's also like hmm well you know maybe you know if you get if you get on this and you are aware and you pe-people can actually see what you really like So there's [00:16:00] there's pros and cons but certainly being on camera was and and having knowing that there's always cameras around it's like it was it was a new experience

Julie Harris Oliver: And did you worry about what you looked like every day more than you would've

Sara Glaser: We tend to Savanna and I hide at our cart We tend we really do like we're not the most visible people on set So you're like look a lot like my boom upstairs out there Go fill these Exactly We'll go sit curl up We'll have we'll have our little coffee or tea or something and sit there with our machines and our headphones and like we're very boring on camera It kind of it kind of works for us

Julie Harris Oliver: It's like let us be as boring as possible

Sara Glaser: Sit at our carts and stare at our screens It's like it's not good tv Yeah

Savanna Peters: I was say I felt so um just that it didn't impact me as much quite honestly I kept joking with my parents I was like if you're gonna see me on camera at all it's me wrapping cables in the background while they're filming somebody else and I'm trying to like get out of their way and do my job So it really fascinating Exactly exactly So that for me at least was like the only thing it was [00:17:00] more of a joke on my end but I really I was gonna say cuz you were micd up I wasn't micd up

Sara Glaser: Yeah But like I mean nobody's gonna use The only time I would probably end up is like there were a couple times where I came to set to have a conversation with Miko our director where it was like Hey you know we're doing some kind of crazy wide and tight and I was like did we did we wanna do these at the same time Could we maybe do one or the other Like you know have you cuz they were really Really drastically different And having those conversations

Julie Harris Oliver: Could you explain wide and tight for our Sure Less verse So for the

Sara Glaser: last first oh a wide is what we call a master usually and it's it's the wide shot of the scene so we could be seeing everything from floor to ceiling you know it's like here is the place that we are here's the geography Now you know where And

Julie Harris Oliver: how would you mic someone for that Or would you boom How would you collect the sound

Sara Glaser: How would it yes Well um generally speaking on set we wire everybody because we always have different cameras We we always have more than one camera and we never know [00:18:00] what they're gonna shoot And so at any given time depending upon the sizes of the frames that we're shooting you have to adjust which microphones you can you know a wide and tight is when you shoot as I said a wide and the other is a tight meaning It could be a what we call talking head Mm-hmm you know just just super close up Um super closeups are great We can get the boom right above your head You sound great but when you shoot that at the same time as the wide the boom boom the boom and the boom operator might be in the wide right So you have to always protect the widest frame So um that's where you You know between my two boom operators I'm like okay well so when they come in the door out of the hallway we see everything that line will be on the wire and as they enter you know the frame is sort of on a on a on an angle and you can get the boom in there and bring her in And then as they walk around the table I've got my other boom op in the foreground and they'll pick it up And so you work out Who's gonna get what lines and it's a whole different set of choreography Whole different yeah And then there's there's other stuff like you know there might be a camera move there might be a lighting effect All these things that you [00:19:00] take into account So I have everybody wired I have all these booms out there I might have plant mics and I'm sitting at my cart I need to know which ones I bring up when so I'm mixing the scene live as we're filming it and everybody's listening Fascinating Yeah So That's what a wide and tight is

Julie Harris Oliver: Oh thank you That was great And that'd be so much more interesting than listen to on a podcast than to listen to you talk about that on a television

Sara Glaser: Right But but when I'm when I'm wearing a wire in my card it's very boring because I'm like oh okay So you get that line You get that line Okay so can we do something about those footsteps It's very boring

Julie Harris Oliver: Did you have any challenges that came up that you had to solve that that are never gonna make it into the TV show but that you had to work out on

Savanna Peters: set I think the the biggest thing that I dealt with mostly with camera was just getting the receivers to work and like transmit signal for for picture Yeah Um so a couple times we were working actually like what is it a remote hospital or like an an old hospital

Sara Glaser: Yeah It was the place that we [00:20:00] shot The the buildings the you know one of them is a former hospital and there's like lead and stuff in the walls So everything on set nowadays is wireless So between Savanna's um video transmitters and receivers and my wireless receivers we were moving our antennas all the time because we're like we'd go two rooms down and we'd lose everything and then we can't go through the lens Yeah yeah So like let's say they were old hospitals but from like the back times where it was like So much radiation and stuff So they had like you know lead and stuff in the walls and they just like the construction of the actual building we were in was challenging to our to thank goodness we weren't running cables and doing duplex because

Savanna Peters: yeah And yeah so we I just remember that hallway specifically We shot in the hallway and at one point they're like we're every nothing is safe Usually you'd put it on one side of the hallway they're shooting down you know

Sara Glaser: but we had multiple cameras in the hallway so you'd have one camera looking down the hallway this way and another onlooking the other way So it was like okay what is the one Behind any X-axis where neither camera sees it and we were putting our antennas there [00:21:00] Yeah

Savanna Peters: So I was very we had a great camera team and so yeah I I team worked with them quite often of figuring out Hey where's gonna be safe One that we're not seen and then also where's safe that we're not gonna lose picture And then if we were the producer team was great it was more of just communicating with them Hey here's the situation We're gonna have picture for this amount of time and then we might lose it And so a lot of it was just figuring out what would and wouldn't work and then communicating

Sara Glaser: and this Like when when I don't know if you'd shot there before but I have shot on that campus It's my third or fourth film there I I think I don't know I'd have to camp anyway so when I went into the um interview with Yolanda and she told me we were gonna shoot I immediately said one trains Trains will rule our life in our shoot which they did And they were like oh there's just this I'm like no be prepared for more trains I was like and then also understand that the buildings are built with all this and we will have radio frequency interference from for every department that uses wireless So so they were aware of that going in Yeah A very handy interview [00:22:00] It's it's helpful when you've shot it someplace before and you can um share your experience Yeah To prepare for things that might come up

Julie Harris Oliver: For sure I'm realizing would you please explain what Video Assist is Yeah

Savanna Peters: Yeah Yeah so Video assist how can I do it succinctly Um we're basically in charge of all the monitors on set so depending on who needs it uh director village producer village um and then we will get a picture feed from the camera and then run line so that everybody else has picture And then what I do while we're shooting is I record anything that we're filming so that if anybody wants to see it back for continuity or just Hey we wanted to see that take I can play it back at any time

Sara Glaser: She also gets my mix Yes So I get all sound and she gets all picture and sound and then you know she records that So if they do wanna see playback they can get playback with picture and sound to check performance and focus and anything else they want to check

Julie Harris Oliver: And for someone who is new on set or hasn't been on set yet is there any protocol around who can sit in the video villages

Savanna Peters: or uh yeah I would say it really depends like on each [00:23:00] set Mm-hmm But typically the way I've seen it is usually at like director's card It would be the director Maybe the first ad and then depending on again if there's like a D I T which I'm even blanking on what that stands for but they're usually doing like the coloring and stuff like that with the the dp the director of photography Um but they would usually have their own section On this one we didn't have a D I T so the DP and the director were usually together watching on that The script super Oh script super as well Yeah Um and then at Producer Village is usually any like the leadership team producers might be there UPM if they pop into set Um trying to think of who else

Sara Glaser: Writers sometimes yeah sometimes not not much on a feature but on television

Savanna Peters: I was gonna say Yeah Yeah

Julie Harris Oliver: So if you're pa and it's your first day show do you plop yourself in front of the monitor

Sara Glaser: The old rule is never sit on a chair that doesn't have your name on it

Savanna Peters: I will say there is usually a PA at Producer Village cuz they're usually relaying you know any sort of communication notes that might come from that

Sara Glaser: But that's true But they don't get to sit in the chairs No [00:24:00] usually not They'll get apple boxes

Julie Harris Oliver: There you go I heard that it was a really Quick shoot and a lot of it was overnight How how did that affect your ability to do your job

Savanna Peters: Just sleepy all the time

Sara Glaser: Yeah Very sleep deprived Um long days,uh lots of coffee Anytime we had long night long light setups or something like that or we were you know costume changes for days I was napping at my cart on the by the end of the week not at the beginning of the week but by the end of the week it catches up to you Certainly like when we're working our Saturdays which is Friday into Saturday at like 4:00 AM on Saturday morning or everybody's tired just Friday Yeah yeah

Savanna Peters: We had some pretty cause usually like if you have like a split maybe you start at one but we had some pretty Usually it was pretty consistently Monday to Friday 6:00 PM starts

Sara Glaser: Yeah So that was a little rough But other than that it's just working in the dark So [00:25:00] running cables making sure you're not stepping in potholes and stuff like that

Julie Harris Oliver: I can imagine people have to be super careful when everybody's tired and it's dark and Yeah You could make mistakes

Sara Glaser: Yeah Your biggest thing then is you know cuz we were shooting in Pomona and I think the majority of the crew lived in Los Angeles Yeah Um they they did offer hotel rooms for some of us but um you know not everybody can take them whether they have family or pets or whatever other kind of commitments Mm-hmm So you know it's long hours are are the nature of the business whether you like it or not that is the business Uh so then it it it was the long hours and the drive and um sleep It's pretty standard You know that was everything about the film was lovely I think the only part that everybody really had trouble with was the the drive and the hours and the slate which is what it is

Savanna Peters: Yeah I would say two a couple times You don't think about it until you actually need help but if you need a phone a friend for anything or maybe you need to get ahold of somebody for equipment it's really not an option until the next day So we had a couple times right where With camera like where [00:26:00] a receiver went out and it was like well we can't do anything We can't until the morning

Sara Glaser: Yeah At midnight Yeah You can't get ahold of anybody Yeah And then uh not until you wake up and then and then you can let them know but then if we needed it picked up that Afternoon

Savanna Peters: like yeah you're trying to sleep but then you have to

Sara Glaser: Transpo is already in Pomona you know so they're they'll pick it up the maybe the next morning on their way And so there's like a two day Just because you know you're not on days when you're working nights It's harder Yeah It's tough

Julie Harris Oliver: Yeah How do you knowing that is freelance and it's job to job how do you stay networked Get networked set yourself up so that you keep working

Savanna Peters: That's a good question I think I mean like I I would really like to know Yes Yeah please gimme that answer

Sara Glaser: I I think you're just you're always networking You're always meeting people and making friends and doing the best job you can on set And you know people like your work They like you let people know when you're available Tell people to share your name You know I mean I don't have a magic answer on that [00:27:00]

Savanna Peters: That's all I got Yeah I think it's just trying to stay in front of people Like the little things whether that's like an email update or around Christmas time you know holiday time or whatever I've been very fortunate because I came in with Dempsey and he's got Man on the Box so it's almost like a team of 15 that we all can't help each other out Right But then I think too it's like the people that are hiring you so like the producers um I've been very fortunate with CatchLight I think I've worked three jobs with them this year Okay And so They've kept me in mind and great shout out to them They've been great Um so yeah some of it is finding a team and then figuring out like how do you stay in front of them Because it's it's one thing you can do a great job and I believe that somebody would remember you right But it's so quick that they might work with somebody else who's great or maybe they just somebody else refers somebody in And so being able to know that They're your first call and staying in front of 'em as much as possible because it could be a year before they need someone again Exactly Yeah And they you still might be their favorite whatever video assist sound mixer but if at that time when they needed somebody for whatever reason you they slipped your mind mm-hmm just the ability to make sure that they know that you're around and wanna work with them again

Sara Glaser: Yeah I think a lot of it was like [00:28:00] just You have to part of the business is just finding your people Mm-hmm um you're gonna work with some people you won't necessarily click with or it won't be as smooth You you you'll still do a good job you'll still make a movie but you know they're not your vibe Yeah They're not vibrating at your frequency you know however you wanna fit that You know they're they're a different crystal chakra Yeah exactly You know it's la go with it So so you know but once you once you find your people and you just kinda like get in sync and you tend to like stay with those people for a bit you know until until you didn't So you you the goal I think is to definitely keep growing that network and grow with these people who are your sink your chakra crystal or whatever and um you know find your family and and and and then it kind of I think It gets smoother and then you're you're just I mean there there are people that we've come up with and they just worked with certain producers for for years [00:29:00] Especially in television you know where you just you get in a groove and you do seasons and I think features are a little different Yeah 10 years go by Yeah But I think if you got like five or six directors in features at least you know that's a lot And then if they're all doing if they're all got stuff in development and they're all doing you know every other one of them's doing a different like a feature or two a year like you could do two features and two features and two features and three years with six directors and Figure however many years of development one year for shooting one year for post you can you've been on rotation Yeah Yeah That's the goal Always have always have people who you're in rotation with

Savanna Peters: Rotation with I would say too though don't how do you say this Like I had a lighting guy that I just hit it off with one of my first movies and he a year later now reached out to me and he's a dp and so don't be surprised that no matter what role somebody might be in a role where they could hire you one day so oh I did

Sara Glaser: I did a feature last year that I had um a boom op come in and when I told my uh line producer who was coming in as the boom op he just looked me he's like so he's my line [00:30:00] producer on this movie Mm-hmm And when he got my boom ops name he was like he was the boom op on the first feature I worked as a pa And so when Boom Op came in was like he was a Pa Yeah Signing my checks like always you know and that's how it worked Yeah yeah You know so They say always be nice You never know be nice I mean never be nice anyway Badly They are the hardest working people on set Yeah

Julie Harris Oliver: What is your favorite memory from this last job Gray Matter

Savanna Peters: It feels like a blur honestly because of the night shoots Yeah

Sara Glaser: My favorite memory Okay I have one Okay Oh go All right So I don't I don't know if this is what you're looking for We'll say Everybody was absolutely lovely It was a joy to come to work every day Uh we covered the bit where we were all tired That's the part that we didn't mind but coming to work and the people we're working with and and how they were were just they were absolutely lovely and there's always a bit on set where there's some scene or something where you're just like oh my God this [00:31:00] one is just I love it It's hilarious And for me that was so there's a scene where um there's a bit of scenes where you know man in black is the character and he's um he's kind of in her brain manipulating her Perception of reality And we did a bit where we went into this It was like the it felt like the 1950s sitcom set vibe Yeah And Jessica was Fantastic I mean everybody was fantastic but she remember that performance Yes I do actually remember yeah It was like she came out and she was like ha and she just went for it and she did it so well and I just I thought I really enjoyed when we were she just watching her performance I enjoyed her performance and everything She's a fantastic actress but for whatever reason I just got a kick outta shooting the sitcom

Savanna Peters: the sitcom I've never done anything like a sitcom And so it was funny to see like the stage setup up [00:32:00] and be like oh this is this is it Like this is what I've watching growing up Right And now you're here on the other side of it seeing it get filmed That was

Sara Glaser: We used that We actually inside the movie Yeah And we and we were actually shooting it like we were the crew So actually I had my boom ops just put the boom in the shot cuz Miko was cold And she's like no actually all right we that works But it was that bit where you know for all of us who grew up on sitcoms and especially the sixties and seventies sitcoms it's like the it's not understated acting Mm-hmm And we were doing that in a lot of the films So we gotta the sitcom set it was such a It's such a contrast and so fun and so you know she did It was I just I had so much fun watching that like there were so many great performances before whatever reason Now one just always fix me That's so funny

Julie Harris Oliver: Yeah It's not Understated acting

Sara Glaser: No I was almost like where's it you enjoying the scenery And I say that nicely You know cuz it's just like You know that was one of those moments where they were calling for the the the point was the big [00:33:00] performance Yes That's like ha It was great It was it was I loved it That's fine That woke everybody up Up Yeah

Savanna Peters: Yeah Yeah That was a good day Um okay I thought of mine so I think mine was actually one of my harder days on set I don't know if you remember when we filmed in the like the cabbage patch film kind of or uh farm area Oh no It was like the offroad So I got very fortunate the the camera loader a guy named Kurt He just anytime cuz it was just myself So at times we had longer runs and he was always willing to help and we kept having issues with the receivers So the funny I just remember running through Cabbage Patch fields trying to run cables Yeah and it was absolute chaos and it I mean we would get it to work but it was it was like every time I would sit down I would just be like there's no other job at least that I know of where I'd be doing something like this Right Of just I'm trying to get picture and I'm running like leaping through cabbage patches Yeah

Sara Glaser: that day day was hard and that that day was hard for my department and we had two people that day Mm-hmm I didn't I didn't [00:34:00] because it was like between me I was jumping cabbage patches and running cables for the antenna too With you And you you were doing it by yourself You were a one person department so that that day that was a big day Yeah Yeah That was that was I think that was hard for

Savanna Peters: everybody actually Yeah I think so I remember we went long too cuz we went into lunch for a bit Oh We didn't get to lunch till we were fighting for the light And there are days like that where it's harder there And then I've found at least for myself there's times where I would've never considered myself even like a technical person And then I walk away kind of proud of myself on the day of like oh my gosh we did it we made it work And it was hard But uh it's something like I can walk away and be proud of it Yeah

Julie Harris Oliver: I mean is that kind of the fun of it That I mean super hard during the day but you accomplish impossible things every day in insane situations

Savanna Peters: Mm-hmm Yeah Yeah And it I always when I came from my last job too so it was like it staffing and my boss used to always tell me we're not operating on somebody So at the end of the day things are okay We're we're not gonna lose somebody today Right We're not carrying cancer

Sara Glaser: Don't wanna be working on the sets where we lose

Savanna Peters: people No no [00:35:00] God no Yeah No but so there are times where Obviously it's time sensitive situations and I wanna get picture up but I always try to have that reminder of nobody's dying right now like try to stay calm It's gonna help me work better and work more efficient as long as I'm not freaking out here Yeah Yeah The

Sara Glaser: perspective is important Yeah That this that day was one of those days where It it was the farm set I don't know what there were all kinds of things pouring cabbage and broccoli whatever It was just literally in a field of of a farm field Yeah You know and it was like it was one of those days where like this was the location and we wanted to see all of it for so so much of it was shot in wides where we were shooting the fields Yes So we couldn't be anywhere close you know Um it was either we're next to the cameras or we're completely far away And for us it was like well we need power so where's the power drop Yeah Yeah And the power drop was far far away Yeah So we were far far away and promoting our antennas through the cabbage patch or whatever was growing and [00:36:00]

Savanna Peters: It really is figuring out like what you're tied to So many things you kind of have to find where's the perfect middle while also not being in shot

Sara Glaser: Yeah And uh and and then of course it wasn't like once you got it set up that you stayed there for a while Like we kept we got this direction okay now we're gonna change this direction move everything again Okay now we see you move everything So we were like moving every few shots It was just it was it was one of those days

Savanna Peters: Yeah Yeah It was a tough day But we got it done

Sara Glaser: We did We did And just go home exhausted Yeah exactly We shot every every moment of daylight we had that day and then we went to lunch Oh yeah You're

Julie Harris Oliver: just smiling now Was there a crying a cry on that shoot

Savanna Peters: No No Cry Maybe some like do you ever get when you're just almost like a cranky baby Like it would when I was home where I would get home and just be like I can't fall asleep I'm so tired That sort of thing But luckily made it through I try not to cry on Can I help it Hey no problem Then you talk to yourself you feel like we're [00:37:00] almost there We're almost there

Julie Harris Oliver: Oh my God Oh all right I feel like I wanna ask I'm gonna ask you one final question when we're done but have is there something I didn't ask you about that I should have asked you about

Savanna Peters: Not that I can think of off the top of my head

Julie Harris Oliver: Okay Then let's do our martini shot which will know the last shot of the day What advice would you give to someone who is trying to get into what you do and do that video

Savanna Peters: So specifically Mm-hmm it's it's hard I don't know too many like tangible skills to like Get prior to getting into it I felt like I was very fortunate You really kinda have to get your foot in the door and learn learn on the job One thing um that one of the guys did tell me is learn to over under cable So much of my job is just wrapping cable and so I would Google that and learn how to do that and be really good at it Um other than that Really just finding your way onto a set and talk to as many people as you can I've found that that worked for me Um and eventually someone's gonna give you your shot is the [00:38:00] hope right I feel like that's not the greatest advice but it really is the only advice I know cuz other than I guess calling the local and trying to get into either whether it's a trainee program or getting on their list the best ways to meet the person that's doing it So that would be my

Sara Glaser: Thank you Mm-hmm we're very much obviously our positions are technical our union is technical um it's production sound and video engineering and projectionists So you have to be able to troubleshoot you have to be able to understand signal flow You have to have whether you have a basis in engineering or not you have to be able to have the type of thought process or brain where you can look at a problem and problem solve it and just you know start at one end and work your way through till you figure that And you have to be able to do that under pressure cuz that is the job And when you get asked to do things at the last minute where you're like oh by the way can you do You gotta be able to figure that out and be all right Let me see Maybe I [00:39:00] can let me see what I've got Let me see what I can make happen Let me see what because you tried for Yes You tried for Yes Um and sometimes you're like well I can give you this and this but um it's 2:00 AM and I don't have this piece of equipment but if we can get it tomorrow production wants to rent it we can get that part for you the next day because that's with one that's a surprise That's an you know thing So Definitely definitely gotta be able to keep a cool head I mean I I started in in music in studios and um I also worked briefly in live sound You are not able to ever lose your shit The show must always go on So no matter what's going on your job is to problem solve and to make sure everything can go on and to do it calm and cool collected because they don't ever if you lose your stuff they lose faith in you Thyy get to lose their stuff cuz they don't know what's going on whatever But they trust you to handle everything else

Julie Harris Oliver: Who is they in this scenario

Sara Glaser: Everybody [00:40:00] from the artist to the producers So you know the people who are like we hired you you can't play It's it's just they want to see that their technicians are calm they're cool they're collected They're like they're like comp,itent but they're like oh you did Oh Oh that's weird Yeah yeah Give us a second We'll get that running for you You know just like you stability you know trust There's a lot of that there So certainly Not everybody starts off with that and you that is but that is certainly some of the skills that you will need moving forward in this job And then be nice be easy people to work with Have an open mind Um there's there's not one way to do anything There's lots of different ways and sometimes you're inventing new ways on set So adaptability a lot of things This is this is not um an industry where there's only one way to do anything and it's never gonna change That's that's something you you're saying that Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

Julie Harris Oliver: For sound engineering can you learn that on the [00:41:00] job or do you recommend people have a little education first

Sara Glaser: I will always advocate for education but I also say that you learn that on the job and you know I I went to school for a recording engineering songwriting and music business and that is it was one of the early programs cuz actually having schools for these is relatively new too And I feel like uh a lot of times depending where you go for that a lot of the education is like here's the language we use now You know what these words mean Mm-hmm you know somebody says oh go you know use the Patch Fe or find aScope So it's like I don't even know what the hell that is you know So a lot of it is a language learning the roles you know if you've never been in a studio before but then when you get into a studio or onto a film set or onto a like once you get hired at your first job that's when they start training you know Because what we do is a craft So you will your first job is really truly in an apprenticeship And you will be trained and you'll be trained at how they do things They've got another job they'll train you And how they do you're constantly learning until you you know a certain point [00:42:00] you have the confidence and you know you've been doing this for ages you know you've been in different situations and tested yourself and I think that goes for your position too because we're always going to be asked to do things in a different manner I mean we might be on a stage on a lot one day we might be in a jungle the next day but they still want you know us to give top quality stuff in the same place Like just cuz we're in a jungle with no power doesn't mean that we don't still have to deliver the same um level of performance in the same product So the part where we figure out how to make that happen it's a large part of the job Yeah yeah yeah

Savanna Peters: I would say too to add to my advice my advice is only coming from my perspective So there could be I'm only thinking cuz like you said there's like education based for sound There could be for video that I'm not aware of And so my idea of it being like you have to be on the Was just my based on my perspective So there could be more schooling that I just don't even know about

Sara Glaser: Absolutely And well the thing is is we're in a technical field so it's our equipment [00:43:00] how we approach things it changes all the time You know we went from film to video we went from tape to hard disk you know and and anytime you're working with a director who wants to shoot in a new way or developed some new motion capture thing we're we're doing new technology So you you are never outta school You're always learning So you know you you just just get on set with what you know and learn Learn as you go you know Because it's you're never if you ever think that you're done learning you should retire you're done Yeah Because the industry will move on without you

Julie Harris Oliver: Because I would bet even if you learn video says say in film school or something mm-hmm you're still gonna learn a ton of things once you get on set

Savanna Peters: Oh a hundred percent I feel like anytime I work with somebody new it's the the end goal and like what we're doing is usually the same It's just there's different paths to get there And so that's the fun thing At least for me I enjoy working with another one like another video assist It's not as common but I like it because then I keep learning new ways to do different things

Julie Harris Oliver: That's great What are you both looking forward to the most

Savanna Peters: Um I think in this industry working on um more complicated [00:44:00] shoots So some of our team works with like Marvel or there's more VFX involved and that's where our job gets a lot more complicated Mm-hmm cuz you're working with different plates screen screens Um so that's a world I haven't dove into yet and I'm hoping that as I get Better and you know get more skilled under my belt that I get more opportunities like that Um I think those will be a lot more every shoot's different in terms of how much playback they ask for how much they don't And so sometimes it's very engaging sometimes less so And so to be on the shoot like that where we are pretty heavily involved would be an exciting world for me and I hope to get there someday

Sara Glaser: I think it's just You know I love what I do um and I love the part where it's different every day So working more on you know I think we all always wanna work on good projects and you always wanna work It's like oh that was a good one And you're just eye on the sky and you're like oh I want really good ones And moving up and higher level of quality and bigger challenges and you know more demands and you know where you can really kind of stretch and grow and just um being able to be proud of what you've worked [00:45:00] You know um it's always kind of fun when somebody's like oh I saw that movie and you're like oh I'm like oh they love it It's always kind It's a good moment I'm glad that something I worked on you know brought you joy It's it's you know a little part of that and they might never ever watch the credits but um it's kind of it's a cool feeling That's great

Julie Harris Oliver: Thank you both so much Thank you Savanna Peters Sara Glazer thank you Thank you for being here

Savanna Peters: Thanks for having us

Julie Harris Oliver: Thank you guys This has been Catch A Break project Greenlight Edition I'm Julie Harris Oliver I'd like to thank our guests Savanna Peters and Sara Glazer And special thanks to croy.com a dynamic platform that connects people to productions worldwide.

Please check out our website at Catch a break podcast.com and follow us on all the social media. Catch A Break is produced in partnership with CatchLight Studios and the other 50%. Our theme music mantra for a struggling artist was composed by Andrew Joscelyn. Thanks for listening, and be sure to go watch Project Greenlight and then come check us out for the behind the scenes of the behind the scenes.

[00:46:00] Next up, we start dipping into post-production with Erica Djafroodi the post supervisor, and Byron Wong, the editor in the meantime I hope this helps you to catch a break.