Fridays the 8th’s Call time

Everyone showed up on time. This was not the case the first weekend. The first weekdend we had a real struggle with a person showing up severly late. When in production if you are crew or cast showing up 10 minutes is not a big deal, showing up an hour to 2 or 3 hours late kills the spirit of even the happiest of productions.
How the day began.
The day started off by picking up all of the heavy equipment then I took the heavy equipment to Theatre Puget Sound to set up. First I paid for Parking.
Ok so I take all of this heavy equipment up to the studio I rented. Flash Back……
ME” I need a room to shoot a hospital scene in do you have a quiet one.”
Admin” Oh yes, yes we do”

So back to my story I get all of the equipment set up in the room and this is the part you will not believe. You will think this is a cheesy attempt at being funny. I am keeping a journal and these events are true. I look at the calendar and next to my quiet room scheduled at the exact same time is “Mexican Fiesta Folk Dancing” Oh …..My…..
The office is closed and I am screwed.
Ok if some people are walking down the hall and talking no biggiie that works into the background like she is in a hospital. If someone yells even better. Mexican Fiesta Folk Dancing does not work in the least. Maybe Russian Tap Dancing or Australian clog Dancing or even 80’s break dancing. But Mexican FIESTA folk dancing. No this will not do. To be continued

The funny Joke

How could I forget!!!!!!
Its Sunday morning and Lisa is not showing up. My wife calls and says,
“Lisa just called and said she learned what she learned what she wanted to know and now she is done.” By the way Lisa is the one that knows all the props where they go she has all the pictures for the different arrangements in the condo and she has the camera log. Ok so that sucks beyond any thing. The worst of it was is, Trent, Jeff and I are very tight and dreamed this up together. She seemed to be fitting right into the mix and the creative process very naturally. So it didn’t just suck to lose a good unit production manager. She could have potentially been a good collaborater on the next project. It was a huge shock for all of us.
So I get off the phone and dive right in to my breakfast of Stress e O’s. I didn’t eat much during the shoot. Being the wrter Producer, Director, Best boy and caterer is not something I recommend for the faint of heart. The phone rings its My wife again
Wife”yeah Robert thinks things are going south and its all falling apart so he is going back home.” Over 200 miles away.) My heart drops. Wife”just kidding”
This is a message to all spouses or mates or lovers out their who may have a director or producer as your special someone. If you want to do the above joke there is a very likely chance you will kill them.

So I think that is it
Food
Wednesday Pizza
Thursday Danishes Pizza
Friday Muffins Sandwiches
Saturday Muffins Pizza
Sunday Danishes, Thai food

Sunday's Call time

Sunday We were slammin and did a lot of work. People had to work early at their day jobs the next morning. So we finished the Wednesday through Monday Weekend. Monday we didn’t shoot and I returned all the rented equipment just to pick it up 3 days later. Almost forgot to mention all my kids received the flu over the first shooting weekend and the bug hit us all. Yes it was a true test of friendship.

Things of note
Story boards and having a good AD really will make the shoot go smooth. Additionally having a sound and lighting crew that knows what they are doing helps tremendously. Good sound and lights is half the battle. If you are directing you will hopefully have the luxuary I had which was not worrying about lights becuase they looked great.

Saturday Call Time

Saturday Call time 10AM
Crew shows up at 8 and starts working on the set up of the scenes the props Lisa is again in top form ready to roll with the day. Lights are set camera is ready props are up. The day goes by OK we are all working really hard trying to get through the shots.
So We wrap up Saturday. I almost forgot to mention , Eric Thomas aka Jesus stopped by and pointed out how we could do some things better or. He really put us in a good groove and helped out tremendously. I wish I had the luxuary of listening and learning more from him during the shoot. I felt bad rushing our shots he was perfecting. I wouldn’t have had to if we started shooting at 10AM liked planned.
So Saturday is in the can or the DV which ever you prefer.

Wednesday Thursday and Finally the Friday Call Time

Well where to begin. So much has happened and so much to report.
Rehearsals
Rehearsal went well the Actress and Actor were very professional showed up and gave great performances.
Crew
Crew was awesome I teamed up with Lisa Beck who was interested in the role of script supervisor and Unit production Manager.
Shooting.
Ok so After the honemoon of rehearsals and pre-production were finished the shoot began. Lisa was in top form. She had the camera logs the slates done. She was rocking and rolling. Trent Jeff and I were like a well oiled machine. The first two days were a loss because we didn’t know enough about the lights we had. After figuring out what C stands were for and how to use the light meter we were a well oiled machine that had a clue. So Friday. The first real production Day. Call time Actor 10 AM actress 4PM
2AM actor arrives 4PM no actress 5PM no actress 6:30 Actress arrives.Again Lisa was amazing. Trent Jeff and I were really impressed. She was marking props taking photos staying up 18 hours working out the schedules just really going for it. On Friday I we were thinking man she could really come on board with what we are trying to do. Make-up for the actress looked great thanks to Sadie Davis the wardrobe was perfect. I picked a vintage dress up for 100 dollars two weeks prior to shooting. It took me all day to find this dress.