 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
Behind the Scenes
Recently I started going through the pile of behind-the-scenes pictures taken by our set photog,
Steven Barston, and thought it would be fun to regale some tales from the set. Though I shouldn't
admit this, I don't remember much about the shoot, so most of below is completely fabricated.
We shot December in LA, and it was COLD. Not nippy, not chilly. I'm talking breath-in-the-
air-goosebumps-cold; Massachusetts-in-February cold. I've never experienced a winter like this in
Los Angeles in the entire 8 years I've lived here. We all arrived on set about 6 am (I rolled out of
bed at 5, as the set was my house), and if we finished prep early, we had to wait until the sun rose
enough to hide the frigid breath coming from the actors mouths.
My two cats were shoved in the only room not written into the script, and occasionally we smelled
their musky butts in the hallway (One day, we realized the smell was actually a wall fire, but more
on that later.)
On the outside mornings, everyone was dressed in thick coats and gloves--except for the actors,
who were wrapped in blankets in between takes.
Don't know what's happening in the above picture, except that we all appear to be working. To the
right, master gaffer Vikram Jayakumar. To the center, DP God, Mike (Smellcheck) Testin, who calls
me 'Stinky' for no apparent reason. In the middle, me--a rare photo where I'm not eating. Jessica
Jorde, our wardrobe dept, is haloed by light far left, and Erik McDowell (Dennis Wade), is probably
complaining about something on her right.
Andrew Veeder, one of our two resident set PAs, was on dummy-cam duty. Since we 'shot' the film
through the lenses of these babies, (at least in story-world) we had to make sure every
dummy-cam was in its appropriate place when we 'filmed' them with the real camera. With only 6
cams to work with, Andrew's life was very busy.
"Eagle Eye" Gabe Montero was our script supervisor. He spent hours staring off into pre-dressed
sets, probably connecting planes of light from the past to the future. Gabe, a true man of action,
was ready with an answer to any question I asked, including, "What just happened here?" and
"Who the hell are you?" Gabe only had to slap me once, when I accused him of being the errant
mailman and tried to mace him.
When we weren't shooting in there, the 'sitting room' was actually the green room. Wardrobe
maven Jessica Jorde (left) and makeup genius Kirsten McKune (right) would beautify or mutify Erik
and Johanna, according the scenes for the day. The lovely stencil job on the wall was done
meticulously by our incredible production designer Sara-Mills Broffman.
This is Levi Powell (Frank Wade), looking extra sweet in the green room because he's probably
about to ask for something, which is pretty much all he did. He also used to kick people's stuff to
improvised spoken word, mostly about the mistreatment of sweet blonde actors who asked for
things. He called his cretinous acts "Kick hop."
If you look closely at Rich Karat, our first A.D., you can almost read his mind. I still owe Rich five
dollars for losing a bet on the amount of scenes we would shoot on the first day. Rich has never
taken me to court for that money. I suspect I will guiltily pay him interest, simply because of his
patience.
On the right, Mike sets up one of the bathroom cams. Though it's on a tripod here, usually the
cameras were mounted with a rubber suction-cup, made especially for prima dona DP's who don't
like to "Just hold it there." Mike would often leave the mount, say "Baby-sit the camera, Stinky" and
spit on me, before going outside to watch Jim Henson videos. Mike's Henson obsession was
much like a baby's with milk. It wasn't iffy and it wasn't pretty.
When we were shooting in the "Sitting room" the kitchen served as our green room. It was pretty
amazing to see how quickly our crew and actors adapted to any external circumstance to make
everything work onscreen. I feel so privileged to have been able to work with such a dedicated and
talented group of people, and I hope to work with them all again, many times over.
Shooting in the bathroom was tricky. Here's our production sound mixer, Mondo Vila, huddled like
a trapped rat with his boom as we sort out the bathroom set, just out of frame, to the left. Eagle-Eye
Gabe sits behind him, taking a career-placement test for me. Thanks, Gabe!
Bathroom almost ready. Here, Sara, our production designer, waits with Andrew and Rich to get
rolling.
Inside the shower, Mike refuses to give me the winning lotto numbers.
More to come on another, rainy day...
Steven Barston, and thought it would be fun to regale some tales from the set. Though I shouldn't
admit this, I don't remember much about the shoot, so most of below is completely fabricated.
We shot December in LA, and it was COLD. Not nippy, not chilly. I'm talking breath-in-the-
air-goosebumps-cold; Massachusetts-in-February cold. I've never experienced a winter like this in
Los Angeles in the entire 8 years I've lived here. We all arrived on set about 6 am (I rolled out of
bed at 5, as the set was my house), and if we finished prep early, we had to wait until the sun rose
enough to hide the frigid breath coming from the actors mouths.
My two cats were shoved in the only room not written into the script, and occasionally we smelled
their musky butts in the hallway (One day, we realized the smell was actually a wall fire, but more
on that later.)
On the outside mornings, everyone was dressed in thick coats and gloves--except for the actors,
who were wrapped in blankets in between takes.
Don't know what's happening in the above picture, except that we all appear to be working. To the
right, master gaffer Vikram Jayakumar. To the center, DP God, Mike (Smellcheck) Testin, who calls
me 'Stinky' for no apparent reason. In the middle, me--a rare photo where I'm not eating. Jessica
Jorde, our wardrobe dept, is haloed by light far left, and Erik McDowell (Dennis Wade), is probably
complaining about something on her right.
Andrew Veeder, one of our two resident set PAs, was on dummy-cam duty. Since we 'shot' the film
through the lenses of these babies, (at least in story-world) we had to make sure every
dummy-cam was in its appropriate place when we 'filmed' them with the real camera. With only 6
cams to work with, Andrew's life was very busy.
"Eagle Eye" Gabe Montero was our script supervisor. He spent hours staring off into pre-dressed
sets, probably connecting planes of light from the past to the future. Gabe, a true man of action,
was ready with an answer to any question I asked, including, "What just happened here?" and
"Who the hell are you?" Gabe only had to slap me once, when I accused him of being the errant
mailman and tried to mace him.
When we weren't shooting in there, the 'sitting room' was actually the green room. Wardrobe
maven Jessica Jorde (left) and makeup genius Kirsten McKune (right) would beautify or mutify Erik
and Johanna, according the scenes for the day. The lovely stencil job on the wall was done
meticulously by our incredible production designer Sara-Mills Broffman.
This is Levi Powell (Frank Wade), looking extra sweet in the green room because he's probably
about to ask for something, which is pretty much all he did. He also used to kick people's stuff to
improvised spoken word, mostly about the mistreatment of sweet blonde actors who asked for
things. He called his cretinous acts "Kick hop."
If you look closely at Rich Karat, our first A.D., you can almost read his mind. I still owe Rich five
dollars for losing a bet on the amount of scenes we would shoot on the first day. Rich has never
taken me to court for that money. I suspect I will guiltily pay him interest, simply because of his
patience.
On the right, Mike sets up one of the bathroom cams. Though it's on a tripod here, usually the
cameras were mounted with a rubber suction-cup, made especially for prima dona DP's who don't
like to "Just hold it there." Mike would often leave the mount, say "Baby-sit the camera, Stinky" and
spit on me, before going outside to watch Jim Henson videos. Mike's Henson obsession was
much like a baby's with milk. It wasn't iffy and it wasn't pretty.
When we were shooting in the "Sitting room" the kitchen served as our green room. It was pretty
amazing to see how quickly our crew and actors adapted to any external circumstance to make
everything work onscreen. I feel so privileged to have been able to work with such a dedicated and
talented group of people, and I hope to work with them all again, many times over.
Shooting in the bathroom was tricky. Here's our production sound mixer, Mondo Vila, huddled like
a trapped rat with his boom as we sort out the bathroom set, just out of frame, to the left. Eagle-Eye
Gabe sits behind him, taking a career-placement test for me. Thanks, Gabe!
Bathroom almost ready. Here, Sara, our production designer, waits with Andrew and Rich to get
rolling.
Inside the shower, Mike refuses to give me the winning lotto numbers.
More to come on another, rainy day...
