Cellphone Ban on Film Sets

An increasing number of directors are introducing a no cellphones policy on set for cast and crew.

Leading lights of the industry introduced the phone ban idea and now it’s catching on fast. Quentin Tarantino made the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood set a mobile free zone and strictly enforced it too by having everyone check in their phones on arrival each day.

Greta Gerwig introduced a similar system on Little Women having got the idea from her partner, Marriage Story director Noam Baumbach.

Banning Smartphones on Set: A Smart Move Those film makers all require total focus from their teams and see it as an unhelpful distraction if someone is Tweeting on set or updating their Instagram between scenes.

Actors have been especially welcoming of the shunning of cellphones as it helps many of them reach emotional places easier without seeing workers around them tapping away on devices. While the no mobiles strategy is not an official industry policy, the fact it worked so well on several Oscar nominated movies is encouraging many more sets to go cellphone free.

—Sandro Monetti