Movin on up

*I have not proofed this, and will do so later*

So,

I write this in a bare room (save my bag and my bike), with a borowed wifi conection (ah appartment living!). This past week has proved the edict "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." I had two crisies back to back, and then the process of moving. Which technically I haven't started yet. First, we had auditions for my friend Kylos' trailer shoot. He's doing this to use in grant proposals and backer meetings, so that he might shoot the full length of a screenplay he wrote. Ironically enough, (and even more ironic is how every other audition anecdote goes exactly like this), all of the actresses that we saw were a little, well, lacking. However Kylos did show an interest in the barista, who had nothing to do with the auditions, or acting in general (It goes without saying that these auditions were at the Warehouse). After some coaxing, I got my coffee slinging friend to come up and read. And whadaya know, she fit the bill. So that was the last piece of the pie, and we were all set to shoot for the weekend.

On the flipside, we started the last few rehearsals for the Beckett radio play that I'm directing. And after some spotty e-mails, the character of Music did not show up. I e-mailed him again, and still nothing. After night two with no one, both the cast and I felt we could go no further, so I canned the next night and called some other people I knew. The crapy thing about the person who was playing music is that he's kind of a friend of mine. I think he's a great guy, an awesome performer, and a genous musician. Now I haven't lost any faith in him, but it's always frustrating when someone you know let's you down. This is a big deal for me, and I'm also a little nervous about directing again. However, I did find other musicians to fill the roll, who are equally as good. They (or one of them with music from both) are supposed to come tomorow night, so we can finally get the ball rolling. I'm very excited, but I'll also feel better once this one is in the can.

Back to the first story (this will make sense later), I got a very profesional, but panicked voice mail from my friend Kylos on Wed. (the night I finally decided to cancell rehearsal, and look for a new Music) saying that my friend who had agreed to play the female lead in the trailer had dropped out. This was just about the last thing I needed to hear. We were both making a mad dash to find a solution to this since we were slated to shoot on Friday. I called my friend to figure out what was going on, and to try and convince her that the right thing to do was to follow through with her agreement. I literaly used the term "we're fucked" since that was the truth. Her explanations were her explanations, and there was, in the end, nothing I could do to persuade her. (We had re-scheduled the shooting to fit her schedule.) At that point, between my two crisies, I was just about ready to try my hand at noose tying. However, once again, sincronicity landed at my feet. I literally walked out of the cafe after work, and ran into a friend of my, who would be perfect, and showed interest. Of course it would be several days of spotty communication before the deal was sealed.

So about that weekend shoot.......It was a blast. My friend was better than perfect, and everyone else was too. We met early Saturday in a bar at 8:00 a.m., which I found a little disorienting. The first hour was just setting up and figuring out how things were going to look. I ate bagels, and traded smart ass remarks with the rest of the cast and crew. Finally, wethe first shot rolling, and it was like clockwork from then on. We were still waiting for the lead actress to come, but I had told her 9:00 anyway. The funny thing was that no-one really knew if we had anyone until she physically arived. I finally got a phone call, and went out to fetch her. You would have thought I was bringing in the gall who invented the vegan dog; so much applause and hollering. From here on out, we knew that we were actually going to do this thing. We got the next couple of scenes going, and finally put her in one. It totally clicked, and we cried tears of joy. We got done at that location, and took a luch break before the next. Of course that was supposed to be in a park, and not with the inclimate weather that had suddenly set in. We did a mad dash to find a fill in spot, and when we got there the rain had subsided. Go figure. So we lethargically set up for th next scene. When we were finished it was a bright and sunny day, and as such the Los decided that we needed to go to the original site, and re-shoot the scene there. We got through it twice, and the bamafied batteries in the camera kicked the bucket. So that was that; day one, in the can. Today was a much easier day. I got up and lazily pedalled up to bruch. After that I went accross the street to the next shooting location. Parking was a nightmare, things had been left behind, and the lead actress hadn't seen the script yet. By the time we got rolling we had an hour and a half to shoot and leave. You could feel the stress in the air. But not only did we do it, we did it well. I was amazed how quickly we got in there and did the job right. So once again we took a break and got some food. Okay so the break lasted a little longer than anticipated. The half the talent fell asleep (okay one of two), and the rest of us watched tv. When she came to we were ready to shoot the last two scenes, the first of which was a bedroom scene that was about....well....making out. I suppose this should have been hot since she's very attractive, but it just felt like shooting another scene. After that Kylos filmed the "dead naked bloody in a bathtub" scene, which sounded very strange from the other room. And that was that. We were done. I don't know why I can't spend every weekend doing this (instead of working at ANOTHER cafe). I cannot wait to see the finished product.

So onto the last dillema, moving. That girl that dropped out of the trailer three days before the shoot? Yeah, that was my new roomate. However, it's the same situation as with my other friend, just a let down. Getting her to answer her phone calls was abit of a struggle, and a little panicky since she had the keys. The other problem was finding a vehicle to move in. She was using the guys she seeing's van, and I thought I would be able to use that as well. However since I heard little from her for most of the weekend, that was a no go. Once again, FORTUNATELLY, I ran into my amazing friend Rusty on Saturday night, who said that he would bring his bands van around Monday night, and give me a hand. So here I am, in my new room. Still beaming from the great weekend. Releived and nervous about my full rehearsal tomorow, and very, very, very happy to move into a new place. Here's to hoping that this is a trend.