A Hole in the Sock Of

This post first appeared, in a slightly different form, in my e-newsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.

 I was a little worried about jumping back into the director's chair after over two years out, especially when the air sort of went out of me after COVID put the brakes on my last project, literally the night before principal photography.  But it turns out it's like riding a bike--a large, multi-gear bike that is speeding on a downhill road faster and faster, with that rock from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK closing behind, and people along that road shouting out questions that need answered as you go past.

Since me and the writing team of Richard Pierce and Luka Nikolic first put pen to paper in September, with a December production date looming quickly, I knew I would have to load up cast and crew with people I've gone to war with before, like director of photography Henrique Couto, actors Tom Cherry and Iabou Windimere (and her husband Joe), make-up artist Chelsea Swinford, and utility players like Eric Widing, Erin Hoodlebrink, Andy Britt, and Ashlee Brown, who can all do a little of everything.

I was happy with how the first weekend went.  I purposefully loaded the schedule with easier things up front; one location and two actors and not too many set-ups.  I thought we had a rather breezy 16 page day and 17 page day, ending early both times. 

Mentioning this on social brought a small ripple of shock from people who wondered how we were shooting so quickly.  I remembered that when I was girding up to shoot THE GIRL IN THE CRAWLSPACE a friend who was making his first movie at the same time told me he was worn out from shooting ten-page days, and I had a sinking feeling realizing I had scheduled a couple of 20-page days.  But that one worked out, and the next one, and half (or maybe 40%) of this one so far.

New crew member Jake Baker told me he had worked on two 14-day sets this past summer in a variety of roles, and I had to tell him this was my third film, but only my eleventh day of directing.

I think it certainly helps that I started volunteering at the local PBS TV station in Muncie, Indiana (the home of Bob Ross) in I think 1981, and got my first part-time paid production job around 1985, going full-time in 1988 and working in various video and IT jobs clear through to 2009. 

It definitely helps that I have worked a lot with Henrique Couto as a DP and he pretty much knows what I like--which is rooted in the 70s auteur style that I drone on about--and I have a shorthand with several crew people who have been on sets with me before, as well as cast people who always come prepared.

I think I'm still a good live TV director, and I feel like I used to be a really good linear editor, but the tech goes by in dog years so I don't know anything anymore really; though I think I still have that feeling for it, which helps you shoot if you know how it needs to cut together.

But it really starts with writing a super-tight script with minimal actors and locations, just knowing what can be done easily and what is difficult, what has to be real and what can be shemped, what is expensive and what is cheap, overall thinking about what resources you have on hand.  And I have written A LOT of screenplays like that.

Today I am headed to Dayton to shoot the other 43 pages over three days, and there is a lot of running around and spooks and jump scares and such so we will really have to knuckle down and grind this one out.  Watch along on social to see how we are doing, and thanks for following along so far. 

Here are a couple of EXCLUSIVE screen caps from the first weekend that you won't see on social media, including that split diopter shot I always try to figure out where to drop in.