You may not know (or even need to know) what cross-boarding is but as we say a lot over here, #𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄, the better.
Cross-boarding is a term that TV productions use when they plan to shoot two or three different episodes at the same time.
This method is primarily used when a specific location is needed across multiple episodes and can only be used for a certain time frame. This is also more cost effective: long shoot days can be curbed by not needing to set up the same shot over and over again.
Cross-boarding means a few things for us, for you and for pre-production in general.
For writers, it means scripts need to be written well in advance for production to plan the trickiness of cross-boarding.
For us, it means we must have the cast locked in well in advance… which is where you come in.
If you see an audition appointment or self tape request with information on outside dates that are cross-boarded, you’ll now know what that means.
The span of these dates will be much longer than a typical 8-day spread for TV.
Instead, you may see dates for 2-3 weeks for 1 episode. Since we won’t know exactly where you’ll be boarded (meaning what your exact shoot dates are) until much closer to the start date, we’ll need to know that you’re available for the entirety of those span of dates to start.
#themoreyouknow #terminologytuesday #thecastingdirectorscut #workingactor
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