12 Countries to Find One Train | Ep 26 w/ Jonas McLallen

Jonas McLallen is a 1st AD and service producer — the person Japanese productions call when they want to shoot in Australia or New Zealand. He breaks down Kirin "Green Label": a vintage train carrying a fully grown garden, a movie star, a pop band and the perfect pint of beer, shot on a tourist railway run by ten retired engineers near Christchurch. It's a masterclass in the invisible iceberg of production: twelve countries scouted to find one train, a garden grown over six weeks and trucked across New Zealand, a train that could only reverse two kilometres, and a dedicated "beer guy" whose entire job is pouring the perfect head on camera. Jonas opens up a role the show has never covered — the AD as the guardian of time and the one who "brings the subtext into the light" — and the craft of bridging Japanese and Australian crews. Then Hot Takes: do editors deserve better snacks, the empty-cup giveaway, is film-industry elitism just insecurity, and the shortage of female directors and DOPs. 00:20 Intro 07:56 The Breakdown: Kirin Green Label 15:15 Growing a garden on a train 22:40 The on-set "beer guy" 46:30 Hot Takes 🎙️ New episodes weekly. #thedirectorandthedop #commercialfilm #firstad #production