Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/957795
20 DGA QUARTERLY FOCUS At Work With "[The actors'] performance depends on how you run a set." — M A R T Y E L I S C H W A R T Z > 1st AD on Feud and the feature The Leisure Seeker Time may not always be on her side, but 2nd AD Lisa Zugschwerdt makes the most of it. "In my experience, tran- sitions between scenes, shots or locations are where you can make a difference in time management," she says. Zugschwerdt proved her skillset on a particularly complicated day during the making of Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time, constrained by the working hours of minors. "All of the kids had dialogue with Mindy [Kaling], and all had complicated blocking, and I remember during rehearsals looking at my watch and thinking, 'We are not going to get this entire scene,'" recalls Zugschwerdt. "We ended up hiring three sets of photo doubles for the kids that day." Zugschwerdt then went to work, with the aim of getting the dou- bles to memorize their dialogue in a way that didn't hold up shooting. "We had a little village just for the doubles and I said, 'Give me five minutes, let me do a rehearsal.' We got them in there and it went seamlessly, each set." The shoot moved like clockwork. "At the end of the day, my job is about finding ways to streamline, do things at a very high quality, do it quickly and save time." —BRANDON KYLE GOCO For Zugschwerdt, Smoothing Wrinkles on Time Is Par for the Course Lisa Zugschwerdt | 2nd AD CBS Sports associate director Cory Fishman often finds himself in the unique position of cueing in major football games for the network. "It's kind of a cool thing for me, who played sports," he says. "Until I say, 'Let 'em play,' there's 75,000 people in the stadium waiting for them to kick off." Fishman's responsibilities usually begin the week be- fore a game, when he and his crew will research the teams, brainstorm possible graphics packages and vignettes, write up cards for talent, and compile and edit everything together beforehand. On game day, he's on headset in the production truck with the director/producer. "My main role is dealing with the commercials… weav- ing them in and out of breaks," says Fishman, before explaining that he also helps to coordinate a seamless broadcast between crewmembers both around the stadi- um and at CBS Sports' New York headquarters. "I'm like a traffic controller," he says. "I am talking with 50 different people at any time." As hectic as Fishman's schedule is during the NFL sea- son, it's even more daunting during March Madness. "We do four basketball games in one day, six in three days, nine in basically a week and a half," he says. "It's an exhilarat- ing time." —BECCA NADLER From the Gridiron to the Paint, Fishman Maintains the Flow Cory Fishman | Associate Director PHOTOS: (CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT) SHAWN ROBBINS/CBS; TRICIA NOBLE; BRIAN DAVIS (2)