A few years ago, my friend, Amy Honey, and I made a short
film. Both of us quickly decided that we wanted to do something light and
funny. The majority of our jobs and auditions were usually dramas. So comedy it
was. At least our version of it anyway. The Return of Laura Peters.
To begin with, neither of us had ever made a short film
before. We were both stage actors. I can build a set, hang lights, paint
scenery, all the things one needs to do in theatre. But making a film? That was
a different beast. However, Amy’s boyfriend (now husband and my good friend
Ryan Honey) had produced films before. He had a great understanding of what
needed to be done for our endeavor. Of course he’d do it.
The phone calls quickly went out. We needed a DP? Yes a DP.
What’s a DP? Director of Photography. Of course. Is he available? Not that
weekend. Ok how about this one? And on and on it went. We needed to gather a
large team of people with very unique skills. Oh, and there was one huge
caveat. Our low budget film was just that: LOW BUDGET. So basically we were trying to convince working
professionals to give up their hard-earned weekend by coming and making a short
film with us for no money. Tough sell.
So we gathered our film team for what turned out to be the
start of a very long and hot weekend. Principle photography began. It was
exhilarating to say the least. The vision in our heads was coming to life.
After months of working the concept and writing the script, pre-production, it
was really happening. We were officially filming.
We had two days to shoot everything we needed. The schedule
was grueling. During the morning of day 1, we began having trouble with our
camera. We were shooting on actual film. So this was going to be a problem.
However, one of our grips stepped up saying he had the same camera at his
house, but it would take about 2 1/2 hours for him to get there and come back.
We decided to do it, even though it would slow us down for a while. But having
two cameras running would allow us to pick up coverage faster down the road. We
were really fortunate not to have to run around town on a Saturday morning
trying to rent a Super 16. Besides, it really wasn’t in the budget anyway.
We ended up running rather late on the first night of
shooting due to our camera issues. But I’ve always found a simple rule to
keeping people happy while making a movie. Food. Feed your people well. Always
have snacks. As an actor, I’ve worked on a few very low budget films. Many
times there was no pay. Some feed us well, others not so much. So feed your
peeps, and feed them well. Everyone will be more pleasant not matter how late
it gets.
The film ran in the festival circuit. No, not Sundance or
any of those you’ve probably heard of. Amy and I just wanted to get the film
out there for people to see and enjoy. When we received nominations at a few
festivals, we both found it highly amusing. It was never our goal, but I’m glad
it happened. It helped validate all the hard work and time people dedicating to
it.
Amy and I were so grateful (and still are) to everyone who
worked tirelessly to make our vision come to life. It still is one of my
proudest pieces. And not just because of film itself, but because of how lucky
I am to know so many wonderful people.
No comments:
Post a Comment