Somewhat Normal

Hey there. Another long-ish period of silence, but with good reason. I was pretty beat when I got back from California, plus had to catch up on the Day Job. On top of that, just before I left for Cali, I had agreed to take the position of Production Manager/Assistant Director on a short film called, "Please God, Someone Normal," filming in Arlington over Labor Day weekend. That meant that while I was in California trying to promote "Smalltimore" and meeting as many people as possible, I was also doing pre-production for PGSN. I was in contact with the Director, Jonathan Reed, almost daily, plus Michelle, who was DP and referred me to Jonathan for the job.

Friday, September 4th was the first day of filming. Jonathan treated me and Michelle like gold, even putting us up in a very nice hotel the night beforehand so we didn't have to face the hellish weekday morning drive between Baltimore and Arlington. He even found us a pet-friendly hotel so I could bring my dogs and not impose, again, on my neighbors Phil & Ron, who had just finished dogsitting duty while I was in California for 10 days.

The script was 15 pages, and is a comedy. I thought it was cute when I read it, but I wasn't sure if we could pull off all the big shots Jonathan wanted to really pull out the laughs. But it turned out to play out even funnier than it read, and Jonathan was really flexible with the actors and when he or Michelle would think up something funny on the spot, we would throw it in and give it a try.

Jonathan had flown in two friends of his from L.A. who are comedians, Steve (I never got his last name), and Noel ElGrably. They were a lot of fun and kept everyone rolling. There were so many takes during which it was nearly impossible for people not to laugh while we were filming. It is going to be a long time before any of us can think of a quesadilla without hearing techno music in our heads and picturing Noel (in the gayest voice ever) chanting, "Quesadilla, quesadilla," while sashaying and trying not to let his junk fall out of his booty shorts. You had to be there.

We were only shooting 3-4 pages a day, but that allowed us (a) to have time to set up some AMAZINGLY gorgeous shots, and (b) to actually wrap each day in 12 hours (thought we worked EVERY minute of it). In "Smalltimore" I learned to love the jib-on-a-dolly shot. In "PGSN" I got to witness a jib-on-a-dolly-on-a-ramp-built-of-plywood&apple-boxes! Impressive.

Yesterday, last day of shooting, we were woefully behind schedule at a location, the L.A. Bar & Grill on Columbia Pike. Jonathan thought we'd be done by 3pm, which is what he had told the bar owner originally, but we didn't get out of there until after 5:00pm. I was stressed and trying to move it along but there were several shots we really couldn't live without. The owner didn't get upset about it, even when he had customers start coming in at 3pm. Since we were still shooting, sometimes a Production Assistant would hold his customers outside for a minute while we finished a shot. From 3pm to 5pm I tried not to sound apologetic but at the same time not sound bitchy when I yelled, "QUIET!" before every take. As PM/AD, though, it is definitely not my job to make sure everybody likes me. They just need to listen to me. I'm okay with that, and everyone was very cooperative. I have been in that same situation, on a shoot in a bar where we are still filming after real customers come in, and either people won't be quiet, or worse, they will not only NOT be quiet but will complain loudly about how they didn't come into a bar and pay for their beer so that they can be told to shut up.

But the customers were really cool, we did not have to do a single re-take because of customer noise. When we were about to do the last shot before shooting cutaways that didn't need sound, I announced, "This is our last take with sound! Thank you so much for your patience!" and I heard one customer say, "That's okay! It was kind of cool to watch."

I forget that sometimes, that people who have never done this always, always find it fascinating. That is one of the most fun things about filmmaking - everybody wants to talk about it, all the time! People who do it love to talk about it, people who don't do it love to talk about it.

I am a Gemini, as you may or may not know, and according to my horoscope, September 4th (first day of shooting PGSN) was supposed to be a banner day in my house of career, whatever that means, and supposedly a lot of doors to future successes were to be opened for me that day. It was a fantastic shoot, and I hope and expect it will lead to other great things. It was such a pleasure to work with Jonathan, Tina, Kerry, Eddie, Jack, Patrick, Scott, Ricky, Lexy, Kenny, Cindy, Skylar, Megan, Noel, Steve, Jasmine/Kate, Sara/Heather, Marcus, Edan, Travis, Erinn, Will, and as always, Michelle. Seriously, it is a rarity to work on a set where there isn't even one single person who was lazy or unpleasant. I was very surprised to find out that the lead actress, Kate, as well as the Chief P.A. (who was more like Assistant Production Manager) Tina, had never done this before. They were total pros and on point at all times, as was everyone. I SINCERELY hope we all get to do it again sometime, and sometime SOON!