When it comes to phone calls, I don’t always pick up immediately. When I get an email, I have a bad habit of reading it, promising myself I’ll respond later, and forgetting about it as it lingers in my bloated inbox. When I know I have something to do, I sometimes struggle to do it if it’s not the central focus or main goal of my day or week or month.
This year, my New Year’s Resolution is going to be about fixing all that – or at least improving it.
My New Year’s Resolution is to be more accountable.
And this goes for all aspects of my life.
I want to be more accountable to friends, family, and colleagues when I tell them we should get lunch. I want to be more accountable to a production when they need my invoice. I want to be more accountable to you, as a reader, and publish content more consistently.
Most of my accountability problems boil down to giving people my time in the form of phone calls, emails, or face-to-face meetups. But there are other important ways to be accountable too:
- Acknowledge your mistakes on set and help fix them
- Maintain your gear so it’s reliable during production
- Show up when the call sheet says to
- Give clear instructions to crew who look to you for their work
- Be safe and use setiquette for your and everyone else’s sake
What accountability boils down to – whether it’s in pre-production, on set, or in post – is responsibly performing your expected duties and being able to justify the resulting work (usually through the work itself). When that justification is weak or crumbles, accountability means you own up to it. And when you’re not on set, accountability is a measure of reliability to dayplay at the last minute or send production gas receipts in a timely fashion when they ask.
All of these things, if done well and with sincerity, will help you get more work. It sounds like common sense because it is. But in the heightened atmosphere of a film production, with safety risks all over and money being spent quickly, common sense – and accountability – are valuable qualities.
And those qualities are things I know I can work to improve greatly on.
Accountability, in some form, has always been one of my weaknesses and it’s something I’m constantly working to improve on. I’ve gotten better, but I know a newfound consciousness about it (and New Year’s pledge to work harder at it) could push me further.
And if what I’ve talked about above reminds you a little bit of yourself, consider making this resolution with me. We can keep each other accountable and at least we’ll have that going for us!
Plus, maybe along the way our commitment to it will help get that gig we always wanted.
Have a great new year!