DAY ONE

It’s our first day of shooting, which happens after already pushing the date back because of 80% showers(a day which actually ended up being a clear one). We’re going for it, exteriors and all. Of course the day starts out with pouring rain. We’re all set up at a difficult to load in location, everyone is available. We have to do this.

The forecast calls for sporadic showers, so start rehearsing, waiting for the drizzle to dissipate. We then discover the amulet prop has been forgotten. A call goes into Kid Friendly, who’s driving the van(another BIG prop) to the location. The Kid has to drive back to West Hollywood, break into an apartment, and retrieve the amulet. Meanwhile, we decide to shoot the scene in the doorway, where the fact that it’s RAINING won’t really matter. The other set is still being built and can’t shoot there anyway because one of the actors isn’t available till the afternoon.

Most of the actors who are there have never met, so workshop the heck out of them, finding a comfortable place somewhat off book. By the lattice of coincidence two of the thespians playing Mexican ‘bad asses’ are both named Gonzalez. Julian Gonzalez looked hilarious in the get up he created for the part, even bringing a matching shirt for his cohort Hector Gonzalez. Would have been pretty funny, but the Real Deal pointed out how one of them had to actually look bad ass. The twin thing didn’t happen.

We then shoot a three page scene in three parts, fighting rain, airplanes, loud traffic, and an amulet that kept breaking. Yet, we get it done!

Our good pal and fellow cohort Gina brings over a wonderful lunch of homemade pasta .

Next up, a scene taking less than a minute of screen time, with a set that took about three days to create. The Real Deal, with help from Katia, created a dark carefully crafted lair for the Lord of Evil and Darkness in an empty room in the Kid Friendlies’ basement. An important scene establishing one of the lead characters so it had to be spot on, which it was! Lord Deal even went so far as to contact a coven, meeting up with the best witch in the world to get the props necessary to make everything authentic. We blocked the scene to get the angles of coverage necessary for Neil the Set General to best play it. One problem, the pagan alter is not in a place where it can be properly seen. We have a great respect for our pagan friends so moved some things around and wha-la, the alter is now in the shot. But the part of the set looking through the door isn’t, which was a bitch to get into this location. Can’t movie that. The actors do their thing, and it’s a wrap.

OR IS IT. It’s dark, POURING rain, and we need to load out down a long, narrow, dangerous set of concrete steps. What a sight, including four foot eleven sister Abby hauling a large table down the treacherous steps in a big ‘ol rain coat as buckets of water pours on down.

photos by Suzan Jones