All Systems Go

I am sure I am not the only one who works this way, but I just have to do things when all of a sudden I can't NOT do them anymore. I've been having a very hard time writing this short for the 29 Days Later Film Festival. I've never written a short before and it is HARD, it is hard to decide what to make your story about, and it is very hard to try to squeeze a whole story into 3 to 8 minutes.

The hardest part for me is inventing characters out of thin air. Usually I base my characters on a real person, or more accurately, a combination of real people, OR if I know specifically who will be playing the part, then that makes it a lot easier to write for them, if I know their mannerisms or how they would naturally react to something. Up until yesterday, though I had some ideas, in that I knew the people that I wanted for certain roles, but I had not yet contacted them so I didn't know if they were going to play that part. After a flurry of emails, phone calls, text messages, and Facebook postings, I am happy to report that every single person I set out to get for the principle roles were available, willing, and excited to be a part of it. So now I can really hone the script to them and it is a HUGE weight off me shoulders.

Not only that, but my fellow Baltimore Socialite of the Artistic Circles, Lois Tuttle, put the word out for me as well and set a chain in motion that has rounded me up almost a dozen extras already! Extras are such a tough thing to deal with. Though I know a few people who do a lot of extra work and enjoy it, mostly it is a lot of hurry up and wait for them on the set, and for the director it is an anxiety factor in that you never know if they are actually going to show up. Having little to no extras in the background in scenes that SHOULD have a good number of people is a dead-giveaway that you had no budget to speak of. Having bodies milling about in the background is a lot like having proper lighting: you only notice it if it is absent, AND there is no way to fake it. No one ever looks at a scene and says, wow, look at all those extras in this restaurant, this looks so professional, they must have had a huge budget! But if there is an empty restaurant save for the speaking characters, it can look so fake and terrible, and it stands out like a sore thumb. So I am very happy and send out major thanks to Lois and her friend Steph for rounding up these folks for me!

Also I am psyched that some other people I have worked with on other projects are on board. Fred Baeshe (sound) who is working on the Steve Yeager project, "The Rosens," with me, and Unique Dowtin (script supervisor/continuity), Craig Herron (special effects/CG), Jeff Wilhelm and Mark Mosier (stunts), who all worked with me on the set of "Juju: The Witch Doctor Chronicles"). Plus, of course, my staples, Director of Photography Michelle Farrell and craft services manager Regina Guy, who will also have a nice-sized role in the short. For a small, last-minute, no-budget short, I could not be more pleased with the cast and crew I've assembled. It is such a great feeling when someone says that they really want to work with you, or even better, that they want to work with you again! Makes me feel like I must be doing something right. Can't wait to get back on the set!