Staying Healthy
On Set

Production days are long. Really long. A full shoot day can run 12, 14, sometimes 16 hours — on your feet, carrying gear, problem-solving under pressure, staying creatively sharp when your body wants to quit.

Over 15 years of doing this, I’ve learned that physical and mental health aren’t soft topics in this industry — they’re production tools. Here’s how I approach it.

Sleep Is Non-Negotiable

I know every producer has war stories about pulling all-nighters in prep. I have them too. But consistently running on low sleep catches up with you — in the quality of your creative decisions, in your patience with clients and crew, in your physical ability to carry a camera package for 10 hours.

Protect your sleep the night before a shoot the same way you protect your camera batteries. Both need to be fully charged before call time.

Move in the Off-Season

Production can be feast-or-famine. During slow periods, I use the time to build physical capacity — strength training, running, whatever keeps me functional under load. Carrying a full grip package up three flights of stairs at hour 11 of a shoot is not the time to discover you’re not in shape.

Watch What You Eat on Set

Craft services is a trap. A table full of chips, candy, and coffee will spike your energy and drop it hard by mid-afternoon. I make a point of eating real food before call time — protein, complex carbs, something that actually sustains you through a long morning.

On set, I keep a water bottle with me at all times. Dehydration is subtle and it affects cognition before you notice the thirst. By the time you feel thirsty on a hot exterior shoot, you’re already behind.

Manage the Mental Load

The hardest part of a long production day isn’t usually physical. It’s the constant decision-making — exposure, framing, client management, crew communication, problem-solving, adapting when things don’t go as planned. That’s a cognitive load that accumulates.

I try to front-load decisions in pre-production so that production day is as clear as possible. The more you can take off the table before the camera rolls, the more bandwidth you have for the creative and interpersonal work that actually happens on set.

Take the Day After

After a big production day, I give myself real recovery time. Not another full day of production meetings if I can help it. The body and the brain both need time to reset. Coming back rested makes the next shoot better.

This industry will take everything you give it. Take care of yourself first so you can keep showing up.