As a Set Dresser you can anticipate being one of the first people on set. Set Dressers arrange, pick up, and transport all pictures, furniture, and other set items that an Actor does not touch. This is a job for people who like a fast-paced gig and always being on their toes.

Set Dresser Alex Gabel says, “your typical day starts a bit before call time, which varies by day and is when the 1st Assistant Director calls everyone “in” and you begin the day’s work. As the saying goes, “if you’re not early, you’re late.”

Gabel also says the job is an interesting mix of both the creative and mundane: “Your job is to maintain the vision of the project as realized by the Art Department and your Set Decoration Team while actual filming is going on. This can range from simply reinstating furniture that had to be moved for a camera or a light, to finding out how something could be made to look better based on how the shot lines up.

“You will fix things that break, move a lot of lamps and furniture, discuss better options for what winds up in the shot, even source things that didn’t previously exist when the powers that be change their minds.”