Feb. 15, 2006 - On your shoot, hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Anyone who has been in filmmaking for any length of time can tell you any number of stories about when something went wrong on set. My motto when on set is "Hope for the best, Prepare for the worst." You never know what might go wrong. To illustrate my point, here's a little story that I got out of An Encyclopedia of Humor by Lowell D. Streiker.
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Cecil B. De Mille was well known for his spectacular motion pictures, especially those based on the Bible. Unfortunately, he had a tendency to allow his lavish special effects to drown the simple morals of the scriptural stories. Shortly before his death, he undertook the most breathtaking of his magnificent spectacles.
He was filming the six days of creation-the coming of light, the forming of the Earth, the separation of the sea from the land, the appearance of sun, moon, and stars, and the start of life itself.
This carefully planned sequence would cost more than fifty million dollars. For this purpose a huge valley in
To cover any problems, therefore, De Mille set up four separate camera crews on four separate peaks overlooking the valley, each under instructions to film everything.
At the appointed time, De Mille waved his hand at the special effects crew, and the magnificent display began.
Everything worked perfectly. The creation had been recreated. De Mille himself was reduced to speechless tears at its magnificence. When he recovered his composure, De Mille hastened to check on the camera crew.
He lifted his walkie-talkie and contacted Camera Crew One. “How did it go?” he asked.
“Gosh, C.B.,” came back a shocked voice. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but when the creation started, we were all so fascinated by it that we actually never thought to roll the cameras.”
De Mille silently praised himself for his careful preparations. After all, he had expected trouble. That was why he had four camera crews. He put in a call to Crew Two.
“Gosh, Mr. De Mille,” came back a terrified voice. “I can’t explain it. We were all set, but it turned out we just didn’t have any film. Somehow no one had ever thought to bring any. I don’t know what to say. I’m so upset I could just die.”
“Do that,” barked De Mille, and he rang up the third crew.
“Gosh, C.B.," came back a hysterical voice, “we were ready, we were running, we were loaded, we took everything, but C.B. – I don’t know how it happened, but we somehow never took the cap off the lens.”
Now De Mille was dazed and stupefied. With a trembling hand, he called the final film crew.
For once a cheerful voice answered, “Hello, Mr. De Mille!”
De Mille said, “Is everything all right?”
“Couldn’t be better,” said the camera operator confidently.
Wild hope sprang up within De Mille’s heart. “You have film?”
“Plenty.”
“The right film?”
"Naturally.”
“The cap is off the lens?”
“Of course.”
“There is nothing wrong?”
“Not a thing.”
“Thank goodness.”
“Relax,” said the fourth camera operator. “We’re in perfect shape, so get started whenever you want, C.B.” 
In Christ,
Zack
