Christmas Eve

That is kind of what it feels like to me right now. Call time is eight hours away. I really need to get to sleep. But I doubt I will be able to do so before 2:00am.

The great thing is though, I am feeling really good about everything. It was a long day of running around, a last minute trip to the Apple store, getting in touch with Al Letson who comes in from Florida in the morning to film his scenes this weekend, another trip to Sam's Club (this time for $600 - OUCH - but I got a lot of people to feed), read 62 emails and wrote 35 (I am not making this up), can't count the phone calls, met with most of my Production Team from 5-6pm, followed by dinner with my Film Crew and their load-in, followed by several more hours bouncing between them, wardrobe, catering, and delegating other production tasks. Michelle and her Film Crew tested their equipment and made sure everything is locked and loaded. Tomorrow morning we are making a movie! And I am actually SMILING about that for the first time in days!

I very much want to sit here and write for another hour or two, but I very much need to at least TRY to go to sleep. Lookig forward to getting Day 1 under my belt. Wish me luck.

Zero Hour

First call time is 21 and a half hours from now. "Stressed," is not nearly strong enough a word. My dogs are staying clear of me. Al Letson, who gets into town tomorrow morning, tells me to breathe deep. Michelle tells me not to worry. Eric says I am not allowed to cry until 1/3 of the movie is in the can. Which is perfect, because that will be our first day off on Tuesday (after we have filmed more than 32 pages in 4 days). So, now I have plans.

Ask Not What Movies Can Do For You...

If you are reading this right now, there is one question you should be asking yourself: What can I do to help Jeanie make her movie better? Luckily, the answer is simplicity itself: you can be in it!

I still need many, many extras. The more the merrier. If you want to be in this flick, contact my Production Manager, Rebecca Clear Dean, IMMEDIATELY at rebeccacleardean@comcast.net. I especially need extras for THIS SATURDAY, August 2. SO get on board already! Bring your mom! Bring your friends! Bring a book! Filmmaking is a LOT of hurry-up-and-wait. But on the flip side, it is an opportunity to be immortalized!

My brain is so fried yet so clickin' at the same time. I am extremely stressed, but even more excited. I know that my entire team - film crew, actors, and production team - are well-prepared. Five loooong days of rehearsals with the actors, hours and hours of pre-production meetings with Michelle and her crew, and Rebecca and the interns and myself as well running all over town gathering wardrobe, props, permits, artwork for the finale... I still have quite a bit to do in the next 48 hours, but we are in pretty good shape.

All the tiny details, you wouldn't believe how long the list is...yesterday I went to two of my actors' homes to finish choosing wardrobe, plus pick up artwork from one of them...the housekeeper's uniform and the judge's robe that I ordered on the internet came in yesterday... the robe is cheap-looking because it has a bright silver zipper in the front that is not at all hidden, but that is why God invented gaff tape - it can fix ANYTHING. Got in touch with my friend who is loaning me the sweetest limo you ever saw for one of the scenes, and another cherry classic car for a different scene...made some tiny tweaks and put the final, FINAL lock down on the script - no more changes, it is what it is now. Realized I STILL need a hot latino guy for the finale, so I called my friend and investor Mikey B. to dredge one up for me. Mikey is a concierge and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Manhattan, he can make ANYTHING happen! Hung up all the wardrobe from the actors who have handed theirs over to me and started sorting them. Made another run to Sam's Club, where I am maxing out my credit card $200 at a time. I have gone there almost every day for the last week, filling my car to the brim with soda, water, disposable plates and utensils, condiments, coffee, juice, snacks, etc. I have been stockpiling for weeks. OOPS, still have to order the flowers for the finale, MUST do that in the morning. And thank goodness my cousin Janet called me to volunteer to be an extra, she is making a cake for one of the scenes and I hadn't talked to her about it in months! But she's on it. Oh, I went to Utrecht art supply and bought $155 worth of black foamcore boards. Even better than duvatene (blackout cloth) for blacking out windows. Man, the money is FLYING out the door.

I really have a million things to do so I have to be going, but every day someone new tells me that they are actually reading this thing, so I don't want to leave you hanging just as we are getting to the good stuff! It is SO much work and I am exhausted fairly consistently, yet at the same time, as soon as I open my eyes in the morning I pretty much spring out of bed. Partially because there is so much to do, but mostly because I am excited to be doing it. The best part so far, though, has really been all the people who have come through for me. Every day the pot sweetens as someone throws their own personal contribution into it, whatever that may be... a location, a piece of equipment, their dad as an extra, a cake :), their time... their support. It means the world to me and keeps me going.

But right now what is keeping me going is the realization that if I don't get some laundry done tonight, I am going to have to go commando through this shoot. Peace out.

This One Goes Out to the Ladies...

This morning PM (Production Manager) Rebecca, intern Corey (sans bow-tie! practically scandalous for him - but understandable, as physical labor was involved), my friend and neighbor Phil Baty (who is in the first and last scene of the film, and insists that I introduce him to everyone as, "The Star!!!") and I drove to the warehouse studios of several artists that Joyce Scott put me in touch with, who are generously loaning their gorgeous artwork to the production. Artists Linda DePalma, Ellen Burchenal, and Oletha DeVane have their work spaces in a very cool old sewing factory building near Television Hill. I couldn't even tell you how high the ceilings are, maybe 20 feet? Maybe more? The windows take up almost all of the exterior wall, so loads of light. Color me jealous.

Another artist that Joyce introduced me to was Dr. Leslie King-Hammond. She has a piece of her work currently on display in the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. We are not able to borrow that one, but she is lending a similar piece to the film for the big finale scene.

The finale scene will take place over the last 8 to 9 minutes of the film, at a group art exhibit combining Baltimore artists from different generations. Some of my own pieces will be shown in the finale, but of course now I feel like a hack next to the talent of these women. But it is my movie so I get to take a few liberties :) . I'll probably shove my own work in a dark corner somewhere.

It is nice, and reaffirming, to meet and work with such strong and gifted women. As with the cast, I did not look for any certain "type" of person when deciding on my production and film crews, I just chose the strongest, most knowledgeable people I could find that I thought would also be fun to work with, and that is how I ended up with Rebecca as my PM and Michelle as my DP. Throw me in there as Writer/Director/Producer, and as long as this thing doesn't fall completely apart, that is a pretty solid all-girl trifecta that should help us get into any female-centric film festivals. It wasn't something I was thinking about initially, but I am glad it worked out that way.

And while we are getting all girlie up in here... guys, tune out for a minute...

I am keeping this blog for a few reasons, first as a record so that I myself won't forget all the things that I've learned along the way, but also just for anyone interested in the process to be able to get a handle on the gajillion details that go into making a film. Even a small film is a large undertaking, and to anyone who hasn't done it, often it seems glamorous and exciting. Exciting, yes, glamorous, no. Do-able, yes - as long as you don't approach it idealistically. Which is what I really want people to grasp from this blog.

So, one of the million things that I did NOT think about when I started all this - female filmmakers, when possible, should take into account something that men don't have to. Timing. If you are planning a short-term production schedule, there is probably a week to ten days of the month that you should NOT schedule yourself to be in production. Ya follow? Lucky for me, though I didn't plan it that way, that won't be a problem for my shoot.

Oh, and remember that thing I said a few entries ago about having a boy-toy on hand to relieve some stress? Forget it. If you find the time, you won't be able to find the energy, and vice-versa. But as soon as we wrap, all bets are off.

Okay guys, you can take your fingers out of your ears (eyes?) now, just in time to say goodnight. Need to get a good night's sleep, have to focus on breaking down the minutia of the production schedule tomorrow. More stuff I didn't think about at the start of all this, how long it is going to take to move locations, how long to film at each, add up cast, crew, extras, to figure out how many people we have to feed each day (and how much I can spend doing so), how many interns we need on hand, how many vehicles we need, where we are going to park them...

But it will all get done. Then I have a wardrobe meeting with one of my actors, and have to prepare for rehearsals, which we will be doing intensively Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, while at the same time giving a couple interns their first trials by fire, and Thursday doing camera tests with Michelle. I had a good production meeting with Michelle and her crew yesterday. We visited a few of our prominent locations, including the Wind-Up Space, so she can get a handle on how she wants to light and shoot the place. And Rebecca nailed down for me the park & street permits we need from the City, PLUS a permit from Domino's Sugar to be able to legally film footage of their neon billboard over the Harbor to be included in the film! I am very excited about that, it is such a Baltimore icon, and in real life it makes me smile every time I see it.

There are an infinite number of details that you can't let slip through the cracks. But when you break it down, not one of them is brain surgery. Surrounding yourself with good, strong, smart, flexible, pro-active, experienced, enthusiastic, talented, and fun people is KEY to not losing your mind. That one I got down pat.

Confessions of a Three-Headed Monster

Mmkay, I am so brain dead it took me a couple tries to remember the passcode to sign on to my own blog so I can write this to you. Yesterday was mentally exhausting. Today was emotionally exhausting. Both were physically exhausting. And it ain't half what it is going to be on shooting days.

But I'm not really worried. Today was our second day of rehearsals and for me it just flew by. The adrenaline is starting to kick in, I think for the actors, too. Yesterday took a little longer, as we were getting our "legs" for it.

Also, yesterday morning I finished the production schedule. I have to say that BY FAR the hardest part of this whole thing so far has been making the production schedule. I have years and years of scheduling experience, and the cast was amazed that I had their rehearsal schedule to them within 48 hours after our table read, when they gave me their availability for the month. But production schedule is a whole 'nuther animal.

It is not just about who is available when. It is about WHERE is available when, what is happening (in the scene), who it is happening to, and finally, lastly, who is available when. I have been doing event planning for a long time, and I am pretty darn good at it, if I do say so myself. But the highest maintenance wedding you can imagine is CHUMP CHANGE compared to a production schedule. I chipped away at it continuously, but it was still looming over my head, especially in the last week. My brain would not shut off for more than three hours at a time, so no matter how exhausted I was or what time I went to sleep, I would wake up after three hours and not be able to go back to bed. I finally finished it yesterday early afternoon. And last night was the first good night's sleep (almost seven hours! Joy!) I have had in well over a week, if not two.

Yesterday I let everyone go after 6 hours of rehearsal, though we had scheduled eight. It was enough, we weren't really in a rhythm yet, though we accomplished what I wanted to. Today everyone had a much better feel for it, and we rocked it, going the full eight hours, but making all of it count. The actors and I are collectively breathing life into the script. Now it is up to the actors to get off book for next week, and THEN to keep what we have set down in their brains up to and including when we actually FILM it.

All in all, today went very smoothly and I was very happy with it at the end of the day. What made it tough was doing one very short scene at the end of the day, involving Thom. It was the first time I cried in front of any of the cast. I guarantee you it won't be the last.

In fairness to you, as if you are reading this you must have some interest in indie filmmaking, I need to say for the record that I don't write down everything that happens. Things do go wrong, people who promise you things do fall through, you will have disagreements with people, there is never enough time in the day, and as we are entering production money is flying out the door at an alarming rate. But as they say, a fish stinks from the head down, and for this production, I am the three-headed monster: Writer/Director/Producer. I'd be lying if I said it was easy to lay down the law, steer the boat, keep the creative juices from getting stagnant, and maintain a positive attitude all at once, and all the time. But if I didn't do exactly that, this thing would fall apart in a Charm City minute. Granted, that is about ten times as long as a New York minute, which is one of the many reasons I love this town. But still, it is just a minute.

New Friends & Old Clothes

Good gracious, I don't know where to start, life has been such a blur the last few days. I don't know why this continues to surprise me. Saturday I was an extra (though a prominent one!) in Eric's film, but I don't want to say too much about that as I think he has personally been keeping a lot of it under wraps. I'll just say it was a very looooooooooooong day, but the footage is going to look incredible, I can't WAIT to see it! I hope to get a sneak peek this weekend.

Sunday was great. Started off by interviewing a young man named Corey Smith for my production team. A very sharp dresser with a thousand-watt smile, I am quite pleased to tell you that Corey is on board as our main wardrobe person, among other hats he will be wearing. He jumped right in and tagged along with me all day while I met up with three of my actors to work out their wardrobes. Beteween Killer Trash and the thrift store on Fort Avenue, by the end of the day, they were pretty well done.

The night before that, Saturday, I sent one of those actors, Phil Calvert, on a mission to research his role of Thom, which mainly entailed boozing it up in Dundalk while T.T.Tucker & the Bum Rush Band played at a bar there. Phil is dedicated to his work.

While the role of Thom is not a lead, Phil has a great task ahead of him, but all kidding aside, he is taking it quite seriously. The role of Thom, as I have mentioned here before, is based on my friend Thom who passed away. Tucker was Thom's best friend and bandmate, so Phil has been spending time with Tucker and the guys, and learning their songs, and meeting a lot of people who knew Thom. In many ways it is wonderful to talk about Thom and have people excited about helping Phil to get to know a man he is playing but will never meet. It is incredibly important to me to do him justice, and the film is dedicated to him. But it is harder for me than I thought it was going to be, and I find myself shedding a few tears almost every day when I talk about him or write about him, like I am right now.

But I am very happy the way things are working out, how everyone is so into it and seem to be becoming friends in real life as well as onscreen. Cheryl Scungio, who is playing the lead (Gracie), has been spending a lot of time with Kelly Coston, who is playing Gracie's best friend Mel. They are hysterical together and their dynamic in real life is going to lend itself to the camera perfectly. Cheryl, Kelly, Phil, Corey and I had a blast shopping together all afternoon, laughed the whole time. I think my favorite part was making Phil try on the leather pants with flames up the sides of them at Killer Trash. But my favorite outfit of the day was a bright blue halter-top jumpsuit that Kelly absolutely ROCKED. When I saw it on the rack, my comment was, "That is so Donna Summer." It looks amazing on her, and she was so happy that I gave her the thumbs up on it that she literally skipped back to the changing area.

I got a boatload accomplished on Monday and today also, but more on that later. I have to complete the production schedule before we start our first day of rehearsals tomorrow at 2:00pm, so, signing off!

The Good, the Bad, and the Moronic

The Good: I am ecstatic to announce that Rebecca Clear Dean has signed on as the Production Manager for Charm City. Rebecca brings to the table a Theater Arts/Film degree from a university in New York known as Cornell. Heard of it? I think it is supposed to be a pretty decent school. Rebecca's decade of film production experience includes working with A & E on several documentaries, including biographies of Jack the Ripper and Richard Burton. Later she served as associate producer on Wall $treet Week With Louis Rukeyser at Maryland Public Television, which aired on PBS from 1970-2002.

I am also quite pleased to tell you that Ms. Jancy Lister will be the Catering Manager for the production. As if we needed another crazy redhead on the set! Between Jancy, Joyce Scott, and Michelle Farrell, all of their far-fetched (but true) Baltimore stories are going to make my little romantic comedy look like chump change.

More Good: I finished the tweaks, so we now have a shooting script. Which is fortunate, as we start rehearsals in 5 days and filming in three weeks!

Even More Good: I am meeting with several local artists on Monday who will be loaning their work to the production. More on that later...

The Bad: not much bad, really. Full steam ahead. The only Bad is really what people like Michelle, Sean, and Eric forgot to tell me about, and that is:

The Moronic: a.k.a., the Haters. These mostly come in the form of anonymous internet postings from people who live their little lives in front of a computer screen searching for things to belittle and begrudge. My filmmaker friends probably didn't mention them because I am sure they tuned them out long ago, which would be my advice to anyone as well. Funny enough, these people never follow up their remarkably insightful critique (***sarcasm alert***) with anything such as, "If you want to see something good, you can check out the project I am working on at www..."

No matter. This business is not for the thin-skinned, that is for sure. As an artist I know that I cannot grow and improve my work without constructive criticism. I welcome it from people whose opinions and work I respect. Collaboration is a big part of the process, and to me, a big part of the fun. But if you are someone who actually gets things done, there will always be jealous wannabes out there who will try to undermine you.

That doesn't mean it is always easy to hear the constructive criticism. But before I dismiss anyone's opinion, I ask myself two things: (1) Is this person talented and productive in their own right? and (2) Was their critique delivered with malicious intent and nothing more?

Wound Up Tight

As I had hoped for, sleep like a baby I did in the Poconos. In addition to the fresh air, that utopic slumber may have had a lot to do with the fantastic food at the restaurant Louis' Prime, and the boxed wine that Mikey (one of my big investors, as well as the owner of my adopted pied a campagne) helped me kill off on the back deck of his cabin, after our dinners on Sunday and Monday evenings.

But Friday and Saturday evening I was all alone in the woods. Not so scared of bears as I was of the obnoxious family from Long Island in the cabin next door, who NEVER SHUT UP. Luckily they hung out on their front porch and Mikey's deck is in the back yard. But their hot tub was on the side of the house that faced us, so we got a couple visual servings of "Straight People Stew" as Mikey calls it.

I got a lot done. Whipped out the rehearsal schedule straight off the bat, which was no small task considering the ensemble cast of 12 people only had ONE day that EVERYONE could show up at the same time. My many years of hotel management experience is paying off in ways I had never anticipated. Underpaid and overworked hotel front desk clerks and restaurant staff are FAR more demanding, unreliable, inflexible, and cranky than underpaid and overworked actors. But in all fairness, movie-making is a lot more fun, though not nearly as glamorous as people who have not done it think it is.

I also was able to complete breaking down the ensemble's wardrobes. That is a crazy-detailed part of it that a lot of people (including filmmakers) don't really consider. Today I spent SIX HOURS with my lead actress, Cheryl Scungio, who is playing Gracie. She has to have 14 outfits to complete her scenes. That is no joke! Think about it: not only are we talking about 14 different clothing ensembles, each has to (1) represent the personality of her character, (2) coincide with her character's ARC, (3) not look like any other character's wardrobe, (4) not duplicate itself in style or color (or if it does so, does so with a specific purpose), (5) be functional or utilitarian to the scene itself ( is she working, on a date, at a bar...), and above all, be (6) economically feasible, as my darling cast are supplying their own wardrobe.

But, as I have found in every other task within the movie-making business, it is a complex puzzle, but it is not brain surgery. Cheryl and I made a day of it, and had a blast doing so. We hit 2 shops in Mount Vernon, nailed a couple burgers for lunch in Broadway Market in Fells Point, another vintage store there, and finally a thrift store on Fort Ave in south Baltimore. Brought our treasures back to my place, mixed and matched it up with the script breakdown, and... it was a lot of work, but the puzzle in nearly complete! For her character. Now I have to do it ELEVEN more times.

That is not all I have gotten done since I got back. Yesterday I wiped a couple MAJOR things off the list. I locked down another fabulous location, the Wind-Up Space at Charles & North Ave. I had not been there before and wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it is not only slick but PERFECTLY slick. A dream for filming - wide open space, and nothing is nailed in place. My DP is going to freakin' wet herself when she sees this place. But it is also so very Baltimore. The building was formerly an old market, now it is a bar and gallery space. Creative drinking, that is what this town is all about!

I have some other hot spaces lined up, but I will write about them in a separate posting so they don't get muddled together. And in the last 24 hours I have nailed down two KEY positions in my Production Crew, which I will also share with you in a later posting. I am trying not to ramble too much in one posting, but it is difficult because so much is happening. We start filming in THREE WEEKS!

So, (hopefully) understandably, I am a little stressed out. Had a minor flip-out the night before last on poor Eric, my filmmaker friend who has served as great counsel to me and is also currently filming his own flick at my hotel. After a (very) few hours sleep I realized I was being absurd and apologized before he even had time to address it, as it was one of those (often dangerous) email exchanges. By the time I actually spoke to him, he was laughing about it. Guys dig crazy. Lucky for me.

Table Read

What a great day. This afternoon, the entire ensemble got together for a "table read" of the script from start to finish. I probably should not have scheduled this the day before a holiday weekend, as the people who had to travel the furthest to be here got stuck in DC beltway traffic. But everyone made it.

To call this cast eclectic would be an understatement. Their range in age, ethnicity, and pure style blend together beautifully, and truly capture the diversity that, to me, personifies Baltimore.

Everyone jumped in with their ideas and suggestions to tweak the script. It is important to me that everyone have their say, and take ownership of their characters. The collaborative effort absolutely made the script stronger and funnier. And I think the actors appreciated being asked their opinions, and knowing that their voices were heard.

One of the things that surprised me when I started wedging my way into the microcosm that is filmmaking is how poorly actors are often treated, and how willing they still are to do things for cheap or free. To many directors and producers, actors fall pretty far down on the list of priorities, after gear, locations, and well below film crew. Of course, any of those things can make or break your film. But so can acting, of course! It doesn't make good business sense to treat them like cattle. Not to me, anyway. I don't want to be that director.

Today's reading brought it home to me, and I think to the cast as well, that this is really happening, we are really doing this. And not only that, but we are going to do it very well, and have a great time while working our asses off. We had a lot of laughs today, and the natural chemistry that surrounded the table let me know that the tough choices I have had to make so far were the right ones.

In a nutshell, I could not possibly be happier with the way things are going. Tomorrow I am driving to my secret retreat in the Poconos, to spend the holiday weekend alone (well, I'm taking my dogs with me), rewriting the script to incorporate the changes we made today, and to start plotting out the rehearsal and production schedules. But tonight, I am just going to enjoy the moment, the sweet satisfaction of a productive day, and I am going to sleep like a baby.