Chris Siracusa, BS Business Administration ’19

Chris Siracusa

BS Business Administration, ’19

The Co-Op

I was a roving photographer on the set of “Saturday Night Live.” On a given day I would take dozens of shots of the cast and guests for the archives and for media outlets to purchase for editorial coverage of the show. The behind-the-scenes images were for posterity, while the film stills I took that week went on Getty Images; NBC would push them out at 1:30 a.m. as soon as each night’s show ended. One of my images of Aidy Bryant portraying Sarah Huckabee Sanders ended up on the cover of The New York Times.

The Objects

This is one of the cameras I used on the set of “Saturday Night Live.” It’s my eyes. And this is a typical call sheet I used. It’s important because it outlines everything that goes on for a given assignment: what’s going on, who’s in the shoot and where the shoot is.

The Takeaway

In a setting that dynamic and unpredictable, you have to be on your toes. You never know who’s around the corner, literally. One moment in particular I was caught between one of the camera frames and the floor seating. I couldn’t move because I was going to be in Don King’s shot. And then Lorne Michaels came over and sat down and then [SNL writer and producer] Steve Higgins came and sat down and then Alec Baldwin was over here and so was [SNL cast member] Beck Bennett and I’m holding the updated script and he’s like, “Can I read this with you?” It was just a really cool moment for me. You know you’re just so little in this whole thing and you’re right there. There’s nothing more real than that. You don’t really hone your skills in a situation like that, but you learn what you’re not good at, and you learn how to adapt.