Articles by Encore

What Is Tech Week in Theater?

Tech week is the part of making theater that feels the most like landing a plane in real time. You have a show that works in a rehearsal room, and now you have to teach it how to live in its actual home, complete with lighting angles, sound levels, set pieces that move, costumes that snag, and...

What Is a Dress Rehearsal?

I grew up in Chicago spending as much time backstage as I did in the audience, the kind of childhood where the smell of fresh paint on a flat and the whir of a projector felt as normal as homework. If you have ever been invited to a dress rehearsal, you have been offered a seat in one of my...

What Is Video Village on a Film Set?

The first time I heard someone say “meet me at video village,” I pictured a lounge. I grew up around stage crews in Chicago, where “the booth” meant a literal projection booth and “backstage” meant you could hear the orchestra warming up through the walls. A film set is its own ecosystem, though,...

What Is Second Unit in Film and TV?

I grew up in Chicago around musicians and set builders, which meant I spent a suspicious amount of my childhood peeking around curtains and wandering into projection booths. That backstage instinct never left. On film and TV sets, one of the easiest “wait, what am I looking at?” moments for...

What Is a Stunt Coordinator?

I grew up backstage in Chicago, where “dangerous” usually meant a wobbling flat or a poorly secured ladder in the wings. Film and TV sets are a different beast. When a car squeals into frame, a body hits the pavement, or someone tumbles down a staircase, that moment is not improvised bravado. It is...

What Is a Closed Set in Film and TV?

I learned what a “closed set” really means the same way a lot of us do: not from a textbook, but from a sudden shift in energy. A PA’s voice gets a little more formal. People you have been stepping around for hours start packing up and moving out. The hallway gets quieter. And you realize, oh, this...

What Is a Shooting Script?

I grew up in Chicago in the shadowy comfort of backstage corners, where clipboards ruled and paper felt oddly powerful. Years later on sets and in production offices, that same truth still holds: the document that turns a story into a shootable plan is not the glossy dream of a first draft. It is...

What Is a Spec Script?

The first time I heard the phrase “spec script,” I was wedged into a sticky theater seat in Chicago listening to two aspiring writers talk shop during intermission. One of them said, like it was a magic spell, “I’m writing it on spec.” Even then, I clocked what that little phrase was really doing:...

What Is a Chemistry Read?

I have watched actors absolutely nail a scene alone, then step into the room with a potential scene partner and suddenly everything changes. The rhythm shifts. The air gets lighter or tenser. A glance lands differently. That is the whole point of a chemistry read: it is not about proving you can...

What Do Script Revision Colors Mean?

I learned the revision-color system the same way a lot of us do: not from a textbook, but from a stack of pages that suddenly looked like a pastry box. A director I was observing flipped to a scene, frowned, then swapped in a single blue sheet with the calm certainty of someone who has done this a...

Pickup Shots vs Reshoots: What’s the Difference?

There’s a moment in almost every editing room where a movie quietly asks for one more thing. Not a new ending. Not a whole new direction. Just one clean insert of the letter being opened, or a reaction shot that makes a joke land, or a line that clarifies why the hero suddenly trusts the villain....

What Is a Showrunner?

When people talk about “the creator” of a TV show, they are often picturing the person who dreamed up the premise. When industry folks talk about who’s running the show, they mean the showrunner . I grew up in Chicago around rehearsal rooms and scene shops, where the boss was obvious. Someone had...

What Is a Writers' Room?

The first time I sat in on a television writers' room, I was struck by how unglamorous it looked and how electric it felt. No spotlight, no red carpet, just a long table, a wall of note cards, a pile of half-finished coffees, and a group of people trying to make an audience laugh, gasp, or ugly cry...

What a 2nd Assistant Director Does

I have sat behind enough video village tents (the cluster of monitors and chairs where producers and department heads watch playback) and lingered by enough “Hold” signs to know this truth: if a set is running like a well-timed piece of choreography, there is almost always a 2nd assistant director...

What Is a Script Supervisor?

I grew up hovering at the edge of creative chaos, backstage in Chicago theaters where a quick-change wig could decide whether a scene landed or collapsed. Film and TV sets have their own version of that quiet hero, and you rarely see them in the behind-the-scenes selfies. The script supervisor is...

What Is a Stunt Performer in Film and TV?

I grew up in Chicago around set builders and musicians, which meant I learned early that the most thrilling moments in a show are usually a team effort. Film and TV stunts are the perfect example. When an actor hits the pavement after a car-to-pedestrian “clip” gag, tumbles down a staircase, or...

What Is a Local Hire in Film and TV?

I have watched more than one talented, perfectly qualified person get tripped up by two tiny words on a casting notice or crew call: local hire . It sounds friendly, almost neighborly. In practice, it is a very specific classification that tells you what production expects you to cover yourself,...

What Is a Loop Group in Film and TV?

I grew up backstage in Chicago, where “background” was never actually background. You could feel the whole show breathing: the rustle of costumes in the wings, the low murmur in the house, the orchestra tuning like an engine turning over. Film and TV have their own version of that living...

What Is a Background Coordinator?

The first time I watched a crowd scene come to life, it felt like stagecraft with a film camera watching. Dozens of people, each with a tiny purpose, all moving like they belong. And while the director and stars get the headlines, there is almost always one person quietly keeping the background...

What Is an Intimacy Coordinator?

I grew up backstage in Chicago, where you learn early that “magic” is usually a checklist, a headset, and a lot of careful problem-solving. Over the last decade, as film sets and rehearsal rooms have evolved, one of the most meaningful additions to many creative teams has been the intimacy...