When you watch a movie, whether it’s an action-packed blockbuster or a heartfelt drama—what you’re seeing is the polished, edited version of months (sometimes years) of intense,
behind-the-scenes work. But let me tell you: there’s a world of grit, gears, and long days behind every scene that makes it to the big screen. I’ve spent over 40 years in the film industry, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that making a movie is never as glamorous as it looks.
In Let’s Roll Some Film, I share real stories from the frontlines of filmmaking. And no, I wasn’t acting or directing—I was one of the crew members making sure everything behind the camera worked like it was supposed to, even when nothing was going according to plan.
Let’s start with the long days. Six-day weeks, 12-14 hours a day, sometimes working through the night and getting home just as the sun was rising. That wasn’t the exception—it was the norm.
We didn’t punch in and out of a 9-to-5 job. Our clocks ran on call times, weather patterns, and whatever problem popped up that day.
One project that sticks with me is The Right Stuff. We were lighting scenes from 75 feet in the air using carbon arc lights, which had to be carefully monitored and adjusted every 45 minutes. That meant standing in one spot, rain or shine, feeding carbon rods into a hot light for 12 hours a day sometimes .If that sounds grueling, it was—but that’s the level of effort it took to recreate the early days of the U.S. space program authentically.
Sometimes the challenges were physical. While working on Ewoks: Battle for Endor, we had to drag hundreds of pounds of equipment deep into the redwoods—half a mile in, without any motorized vehicles. We pushed giant dollies loaded with gear over muddy, uneven terrain,
sometimes through poison oak and puddles. And then we had to lay beams and track to keep the camera steady. That was just to get one shot.
Other times, the challenge was sheer endurance. Take Howard the Duck, for instance. We were on that project for almost nine months. I remember standing next to high roller stands late at night, only to see a runaway trolley pole take out one of our crew members and send him flying. Accidents like that reminded us that safety and awareness had to be constant priorities—even when you were running on 5 or 6 hours of sleep.
And then there were days that tested your tolerance for discomfort. On Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, we worked in a closed warehouse filled with 25,000 cockroaches for an entire day. Everyone—including the actors—were ready to flee. We were dodging bugs, adjusting
lights in tight corners, and doing our best to make it through without carrying any of those creatures home in our boots.
Still, even with the tough conditions, I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything. There’s something deeply rewarding about solving problems in real time—whether it’s figuring out how to light a scene without power in the middle of the desert, or engineering a fake house implosion that looks absolutely real on screen. It takes creativity, muscle, collaboration, and more than a
little bit of stubbornness.
At the end of the day, making movies is about grit. It’s about showing up, rolling cameras, and doing it all again until the job is done right. Most people see the final product and think about the actors or the storyline. But behind the scenes? It’s a world of gear, timing, sweat, and heart.
If you’ve ever wondered what it really takes to make movie magic, I invite you to dive into Let’s Roll Some Film. It’s not just a book—it’s a front-row seat to the untold stories of film crews who made the magic happen, one long day at a time.
Visit davidchildersbooks.com to grab your copy.