ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

12 years, 5 months ago - Marlom Tander

I love cooking. (I'm not volunteering though).

You imply it's a domestic house. If that's the case, and it's a typical domestic oven, it's doable. With planning.

BIG POT cooking on a 4 hob oven - each pot serves 8, (assumes decent portions) , room for 2 pots on top and one in the oven. No room for anything else though, so it's potatoes/dumplings in the stew or bread rather than pasta/rice etc, at least on the 20+ people days..

In theory each pot could be something different, but in practice, if you have simply roped in a "a volunteer mate who can do stew" make them all the same. Any vegetarians in the mix? If so, they live on bought in specials.

So, each day a different stew/casserole/thick soup. Nice and filling.

If you want anything more sophisticated you'll need someone with pro cooking skills and pay them. But Job Center is bound to have some out of work chefs who could do a great job.

12 years, 5 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Domestic kitchens are not usually ideal for crew catering - at 20-odd you're getting into actually pretty hard work to feed everyone something different and hearty each day, especially as shooting days usually mean 3 meals. Even shopping for 60 covers a day is a big deal, you really need a kitchen runner who can also help with the prep.

Be aware, if you're running the kitchen at full tilt, you'll get kitchen noise and you'll be pulling a lot of power so your gaffer needs to be a real electrician and understand what he's doing or you'll go dark when a fuse melts. Expect washing-up to be a huge chore, and noisy. Expect waste handling to be a real cost also, especially if using disposables. Even managing water and sanitation for 20+ people isn't to be underestimated.

For those numbers of people, get a runner with a booker card - there you can buy bags of 20 pre-baked baked potatoes which you can microwave (take the ping out of the microwave!), giant tins of beans etc. We had a very ambitious meal of fat worm noodles with thai red or green sauce with mushrooms and/or sliced chicken breast which worked out at under £3/head by shopping wisely at booker. Mix it up with take-outs.

12 years, 5 months ago - Mod Scientists

Hello. We did a sixteen day shoot in a domestic house with cast and crew of 23 and catered the whole thing (breakfast, hot lunch and sandwiches etc for tea) in house for under £500. No complaints and saved A LOT of money by doing it that way. The key is slow cookers and lots of filling stuff as mentioned above! Send me a message if you want more details. Good luck!

12 years, 5 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

I'd really recommend getting someone with experience of film/event catering if you can - an amateur who works enthusiastically from bestseller cookbooks will never be able to handle the change of pace and demands which even fairly minimal experience will give a massive head-start on. Or if you can find anyone who's done festival catering, even as a kitchen hand, they tend to be versatile and know about big cheap portions and planning a service.

Noise will be a huge problem, especially if you've got prima donna creatives (others may take a call on whether the background sound/music/ADR/Foley/how it's mic'd/etc will mean you can get away with certain levels). The average new-build home has very little sound isolation even from neighbours...I'd go so far as to suggest you don't even bother trying to use the kitchen in one as the only time you'll be 'allowed' to make noise is between setups...when people are broken to eat. You need to turn food around fast, it needs to be standing by for when the crew break or you'll run late.

Get/rent an urn - 20 people cannot drink tea from a domestic kettle. Even at 3 mins to boil a kettle, you're looking at 20 mins to make a round, and the first cups will be drunk/cold by then. Expect nobody to wash or tidy after themselves, so provision for this. As before, waste handling will be an issue. You can't put a week's worth of 20 people's waste into a regular wheelie bin, so you'll start piling it up and become a health hazard. You must consider waste management.

I know it's not a part of your question, but be aware you will likely be very unpopular after 2 days into the shoot. Early morning and late evening noise and activity will break the neighbourhood routine. Parking for 20+ will be a real issue, and if you use all the spaces, locals will get hostile. That will mean the homeowner takes the brunt of their ire, and want you gone ASAP. Especially if you leave them with a massive 'leccy bill, a trampled flowerbed, and a pile of rubbish. There's a reason people charge huge fees for using their homes as locations - they only do it free/cheap once then have to manage the damage. Talk to the council about parking, you can probably buy permits for local bays to be fenced off for your use - expect ~£30/bay/day where available.

I also suggest you keep a few bottles of decent champagne and boxes of posh chocolates on standby - it is cheaper to buy people round with those than with cash. 'Hi, I am so sorry we seem to have caused you parking problems yesterday - today I have ensured the crew park at xyz instead, so it shouldn't be a problem again. Here's a little something to say sorry, and thanks for bearing with us...we'll be completely out of your hair by anyway!' will generally knock problems on the head before they escalate.

Also, do let the local police know what you'll be upto and which dates (call their regular switchboard and ask for 'operations' or 'community' teams). Even if you're not causing any trouble, and not likely to, it is good manners to alert them to things happening on their turf so the local beat don't mistake you for a party/etc. It also means if you find *you* need them (if a neighbour starts threatening you, if a car gets damaged, if something gets stolen, etc) you are already on the right foot with them and don't have to explain from scratch. All the police care about is that you don't cause trouble to the council tax payers who pay their wages to keep peace. Work with them and they'll be only too pleased to work with you. Work against them and it can cause delays and problems. They may require you to letterdrop local neighbours with your working dates and times and a contact number for problems - it is worth doing, and you very rarely get anyone calling up. Don't 'big-up' the project - it sounds like you've got more money/kit/become a better target for thieves. Instead 'small-up' the project - it's a student documentary production not a massive feature film, for instance. Nobody will bother you with stupid questions after that.

12 years, 5 months ago - Victoria Blunt

Guys thank you so much for this, its so great to hear your feedback!! I will forward all the ideas to the people in charge and see what they think. If you think of any more suggestions, know anyone who would be happy to help, just let me know!

Thanks again!

Vic x