Fall 2019
AT WORK WITH
By Becca Nadler
There are a few rules of thumb to which 1st AD Shawn Pipkin-West subscribes, including the belief that great ideas can come from anyone. "A lot of times I'll ask my PAs, 'If you were in my shoes, what would you do?'" she says. "I never think just because of a position someone's in that what they have to say doesn't matter. I've never been one of those people."
Pipkin-West, an alum of the Assistant Directors Training Program who currently serves as an alternate on the DGA's National Board, understands that seemingly difficult problems can often result in simple solutions, whether working on Facebook Watch's Sorry for Your Loss or while filming a driving sequence on another recent project.
"There was a scene with this young man driving down this lone country road with his girlfriend. [The actor] lived in New York, and I just happened to ask if he had a driver's license," she says. He admitted that he did not, which forced a last-minute brainstorming session. "Everything I was suggesting to make it work, they said, 'No, we can't do that.' I said, 'Okay. Well, can the girlfriend drive the car?'
"And then they changed the script," laughs Pipkin-West. "Just a simple line change and it was fine."