In David Mamet’s film The Spanish Prisoner, Susan Ricci (Rebecca Pidgeon) expresses to Joe Ross (Campbell Scott) that she understands his need to keep quiet about his secretive work.  “Little pitchers have Big Ears,” she explains, alluding not just to the general shape of water pitchers but also to the potential for lesser people like herself to overhear information and take action on it.

In light of Susan’s advice, when you are standing in on set, it is advisable to keep your private opinions to yourself at the risk of having them overheard.

Live Microphones

When you are standing in on a television or film project, you can fall victim to “little pitchers”–those that come in the form of live microphones.  Take caution in sharing your opinions when you stand in because you may never know when your conversation is being picked up on a microphone.

Microphones may be in more places than on a boom stick.  Microphones may be mounted on actors, on props, or on set pieces.  When they kick on, those listening in on a Comtek receiver may be able to hear what you’re saying.  Even if you’re whispering your opinions to another stand-in close by you, your sound may be picked up by the microphones and broadcast for others to hear.

Crew Members

Other “little pitchers” are crew members.  When you share your opinions on set, particular crew members may take action on the information you provide.  That is, there may be more people listening to your opinions than those you’re talking to.  You may not always know the various alignments particular crew members have, so be cautious in sharing your opinions around crew.

Set Visitors

When someone is new to set, you may not be able to tell whether this is a random visitor, a contest winner, a friend of the producer, or even a producer you’ve never seen before.  Any new set visitor may be sensitive to the opinions you express.  Should one of these visitors hear your opinions, they may come back to bite you or haunt you later, so be very careful about sharing your opinions around strangers on set.

Stand-Ins Are “Little Pitchers,” Too

When you are standing in, you, too, are a “little pitcher” in many respects.  Since sometimes your presence is overlooked on a set, from time to time you will hear private information that probably is not intended for you, or which is carelessly shared as if you don’t have “Big Ears” to hear it or do anything about it.

The ethics of sharing these opinions isn’t much debatable: if you weren’t intended to hear this information, you probably had best not share it.  However, hearing these kinds of conversations can provide entertainment and excitement to your day, and at times can be constructive in the case that, say, you need to file a claim against a production that openly tries to get around paying you union-guaranteed rates.  Keep your ears open when you’re on set, and you may learn something!

How do you remind yourself that microphones are around?  Where is the best place on set to share your private opinions?  Got a public opinion?  If so, share it below!