The Kindness of Strangers: Working with Amateur Cast & Crew

If you're moving into that twilight zone between hobbyist and pro, you may be shooting videos that require performers and at least a small production crew. Since you probably can't pay these volunteers, you're probably like Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, "...dependent on the kindness of strangers," not to mention colleagues, family and friends. That means you've probably heard at least some of the following:

"I can't shoot today, after all; something more important came up."
"The dog ate the red shirt we used, so I wore a blue one today."
"I refuse to work with that #$%%&*!! Stan."
"I just don't feel like it any more."
This last bombshell often comes from your main actor, who already stars in an hour of essential footage, with another hour yet to be taped. If he or she walks, your show is down the tubes.
You can't prevent every problem with amateur personnel, but you can pursue strategies to increase loyalty, improve reliability and stroke egos. So let's look at how to locate likely cast and crew members, how to manage them during the shoot, and how to reward them for all that enhanced cooperation and hard…