Canal Street in New York
Once, we were shooting on Canal Street in New York, a crowded, noisy, industrial part of town that specializes in hardware and electronic shops. A Production Assistant was sitting on the tailgate of our van, while we were setting up a shot across the street. The grip yelled to him: "Get me a sheet of Foam Core!"
The kid gave us a thumbs up, then took off down the street. We looked at each other in confusion, then the grip walked across the street and extracted the piece of 4ft square reflector board from the van and commenced to setting it up on a century stand.
Ten minutes later, the kid returned, all sweaty and out of breath, yet proudly holding out a paper bag.
In it, along with a receipt, was a sheath of phone cord.
We didn't have the heart to tell him.
