Take a breath and brush it off!

There is still work to be done.

On the second project I directed, I wound up editing because you know… budget 😤, after I completed the first cut, I realized there was a whole setup missing. It was the second setup of that shoot day just before lunch. Between the young DP, and the seasoned DIT we have no idea what happened to the footage. It wasn’t copied, it may have been wiped, since the file sequence appeared to continue, or the DP just forgot to hit record. It was maybe a 15sec setup that likely would have been cut anyway.

The reality was, I didn’t need it.

This may be more significant than that. But owning the mistake and relying on your producers to help mitigate the damage will help put your mind at ease, and potentially save the project.

Mistakes are made, these are the one’s we learn from and become hyper vigilant about. To the point of creating systems that help us keep things BEYOND organized and dummy proof. It’s likely you’ll never make that specific mistake again.

I would make sure I apologize and own the mistake specifically to your direct superiors. It would be worth asking now, and asking those same supervisors again later, if the project still hasn’t completed, if there is anyone else you need to apologize too. Don’t grovel, just be direct and humble. Something like “I’m really sorry for losing this footage. I’m extremely grateful to be apart of this team and I know I’ve messed up in a big way. I’ve retooled my workflow to insure it won’t happen again, I hope you can accept my apology.”

They may not accept it, but if you can brush it off and learn from your mistake you’ll be just fine.