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Comment by h2odragon | Hacker News Reader

A good way to get into things like that is to pitch in and help carry stuff: Don't ask, just find the people moving things and join the line. You may have to ask "where does this go?" when the person in front of you drops their object.

You can go far by simply asking to watch and learn, too. Sneakery is only really required where there's "security" that hasn't got enough to do already.

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Departments are small enough on a film set with strict union rules that if you're carrying something and ask the wrong person you will immediately be caught and asked to leave. It's much better to just lurk confidently like this poster. You can always say you're a guest of an executive producer or something and people won't push - they're isn't enough time to usually.

If you want to really fit in, have an old walkie talkie on your belt and an ear piece (surveillance).

Definitely don't do this. Film sets are very controlled / precise environments and an innocuous piece of equipment can be INCREDIBLY expensive ($200k+). The chance of messing something up as a rando is very high and you'll just end up making the crew work longer and harder than they need to.

Maybe I'm being overly cautious. But just some risks to consider if you're gonna try this for the purposes of getting a look behind the scenes:

Some film sets with union folks can get very particular about who touches what. But maybe the things you'd help carry wouldn't fall under the responsibility of said union folks.

Also, if a film set has had a robbery or theft, and the crew has worked with each other long enough to know who the regular day players are, you'd stick out like a sore thumb.

But all these types of chicanery will come with such risks, I suppose.

God forbid you damage something expensive...

Best play it safe and pretend to be handing out coffees and snacks (or actually do it you're feeling kind)

Why, you want to be caught by the catering crew? They're probably union too.

> Don't ask

I’m in team ask-before-picking-up-other-peoples-stuff, but maybe that works for some.

Actually, just ask to be an extra. You will get paid, fed, and get to hang out all day on set.

Or carry a clipboard.

In most situations, a high-viz vest also helps. Probably not on a film set, though!

I hear this repeated a lot. Have you ever tried it out?

I don't think it would work in most situations. Construction site? Sure. Sporting event? Probably.

But in most of the places a person might try to go, I personally would avoid a high-vis vest at all costs.

It varies. The more you can look like "the help" the more likely people are to ignore you outright. And the hi-viz + clipboard is a pretty generic "you don't know me, but I'm the help" outfit.

Depends: in many places the high-vis hits the “I'm wearing this because the rules say I have to and I'm not important enough to flout them even though they clearly don't matter here” note very well.

Oh yeah. Walking around a manufacturing plant. Brand-new hi-viz vest over a dress shirt, walk purposefully. "Must be management."

I wasn't management, I was just new on site and had come from a planning meeting, and I was pretty sure the next guy I needed to meet was in the belly of the plant in a location I only had the vaguest idea of, but I knew it was gonna be a long walk.

I ended up walking the length of the place twice (almost a mile) before I decided I'd had enough sightseeing (but what sightseeing it was!) and and actually asked someone, who made a wisecrack about how he helps so many visiting managers in this joint they should make him a manager himself! I decided against correcting him.

Over the coming weeks at that plant, I wore a T-shirt and older hi-viz if I wanted to blend in as a worker, or a button-down shirt and the crisp hi-viz if I wanted to wander. As long as I kept abreast of my assigned duties, nobody sweated the details, and it was better than any museum of science and industry I've ever paid to get into. Had a few more folks make gentle cracks about how I must be a manager of some other group over to see what this group does, I'd ask a few questions and be on my way.

Likewise for jobsites and urbex, I have a hard-hat covered in stickers, and one that's so pristine I keep it in a pillowcase. Perceived wear is an important component of The Look™.

it was better than any museum of science and industry I've ever paid to get into

some time ago i couchsurfed with the owner or manager of a steel processing plant. he gave me a tour. one of the most memorable experiences.

A few years ago I was once briefly directed into the cockpit of a plane to check on its maintenance status while I was boarding a normal coach flight. I was wearing my only clean jacket, a waterproof high viz coat that must be popular with people who work on rainy roads.

and a walkie with a surveilence earphone. hell, get an actual radio, and you can probably find what channel each department is using. (typically, each group is on their own channel so that people not in that department don't have to pay attention. camera crew asking for new lenses/filters/etc doesn't concern wardrobe. however, camera crew asking grip for additional stands would flip over to grip's channel)

Yeah, that doesn't go over well with the union

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