A character in Francois Truffaut's love poem to the filmmaking process La Nuit Americaine declares, "I'd drop a guy for a film. I'd never drop a film for a guy." It is this total abandon to the filmmaking process and the small crises that arise amidst the family formed by a movie shoot that is celebrated in Truffaut's gentle comedy. Truffaut plays Ferrand, a journeyman director, shooting a movie called "Meet Pamela." As Ferrand shoots the movie in the La Victorine studios in the south of France, he must deal with a number of problems that crop up with both his cast and crew. In Ferrand's cast there is Alphonse (Jean-Pierre Leaud), the shallow, sex-happy star; Severine (Valentina Cortese), the alcoholic movie-star past her prime; Julie (Jacqueline Bisset), the attractive but unstable female lead; Stacey (Alexandra Stewart), a bit player with a troublesome pregnancy; and Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Aumont), the aging lead actor, coming to grips with his homosexuality. Along with the actors, Ferrand must also field problems from his crew -- consisting of Bernard (Bernard Menez), an incompetent grip; Odile (Nike Arrighi), a ditzy makeup girl; Lilianna (Dani), the script girl who got her job because she slept with Alphonse; and Joelle (Nathalie Baye), the super efficient production assistant. Through all this chaos, Ferrand, like a benevolent patriarch, must channel all these diverse talents into one goal -- the shooting of "Meet Pamela."