Breaking Down

Don't worry, that's a good thing! Starting to really get to the meat of the matter. I am still in the VERY early stages of it, as the script is not, "locked," yet. "Locked," is when you finally say, that's it, the script has been through a million rewrites, through so many tweaks, trims, and tucks it would put Joan Rivers to shame, and that is about as good as it is going to get. That is when you have the "shooting script," and you can start breaking down the script, scene by scene, so that you can map out to the last detail what you are going to be doing, when, where, and with whom, once the cameras are rolling. That is "pre-production", along with a gaJILLION other details. For example, where exactly you are going to get those cameras. Or, more likely, camerA.

I am trying not to get ahead of myself, but this is how my brain works, how I problem-solve. It is not that different from what I have done in the hotel or restaurant business, or in the art circuit, organizing group exhibits. It is organization that requires extremely holistic thinking, and I find that if I let it stew in the back of my head, things start falling into place in my sub-conscious, and then when I am ready to set them to paper it flows a lot easier.

A one-day shoot takes weeks (and depending on the shoot, possibly months) of planning. Think of it this way: If you have ever been any part of a wedding, you know how involved it can be. In theory, it is an event that lasts, what, 6 hours including the ceremony, driving from the ceremony to the reception, then the reception. Right? HAH!

The Bride and Groom are your stars. The wedding party are your supporting cast. The guests are your extras. The mothers of the Bride and Groom are often your Lindsey Lohan and Britney Spears. They can be really valuable if they focus on the task at hand, but often they can be your problem children.

There are so many things that have to be planned, just like on a movie set. There is an agenda to be followed, lines to be spoken, and so many things that can go wrong. Costumes! Make-up! Music! Locations! Even photography and lighting. And don't forget the all-important catering. Tensions rise as blood sugar drops. And many a nervous Bride has hit the floor after forgetting to eat that morning.

Also, like on a low-budget movie, whoever is organizing the whole to-do (= producer) has probably roped a lot of people into doing a lot of things for free that in reality, they don't have the time or desire to do. So you have to also worry about (a) making sure those people don't drop the ball, and (b) making sure they know how much they are appreciated.

Going from ceremony site to reception site = changing locations. Another CRUCIAL thing to think about when breaking down the script. In scene two, Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma's house, in scene twelve, Grandma is dead and the wake is at her place. Guess what - you're shooting those scenes back to back, in the same day, to save time, money, and aggravation. But you still have to deal with costume changes, redressing the set, and getting everyone in the cast to go from cheerful to mopey.

So many people besides the Bride & Groom to think of...the Officiant, the florist, the caterers, the photographer, the make-up artist, the hairdresser, the limo driver, the band... you get the idea. Even who you are going to ask to drag all the presents from the reception to the house, who's going to do something with the flowers, who saved a piece of wedding cake to freeze, did someone tip the priest? It doesn't just end when the open bar closes.

You get the idea. Now think of planning a DIFFERENT wedding every day for 10 to 15 days straight. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

It does. But when you break it all down, into little, manageable pieces, it becomes...manageable. It is nothing more, and nothing less, than an enormous, difficult, challenging, mind-boggling, intimidating, and manageable jigsaw puzzle. And I, for one, am entirely and unequivocally PSYCHED.