I am writing this from the Northeast, Ohio to be exact, holed up in a Super 8 with my cat on my feet, a gloomy and frozen day outside the window, and a granola bar in my belly. I've been here for almost a week and honestly I feel like I'm going to pinch myself and wake up at any point in time.
We're working on this movie, and seeing it all come together has been so ridiculously cool that it's sort of absurd. The production office is abuzz with people who do this all day long, every day, and it's fun watching everything fall into place. From script revisions to scheduling to casting I've gotten to glimpse the inner network of people who have to bust their asses to make a movie happen, and it's nowhere near as glamorous as the tabloids make you think it is. It's hard work, a lot of politics and paperwork and phone calls and compromise, but in the end you make art that gets released into the world. You're making something that will (hopefully) entertain thousands, maybe even millions of people. Your footprint will always be there, on video store shelves, on the Internet… debated on forums, dissected in reviews, rehashed at conventions.
Kind of fucking cool.
I've also been working closely with some of the coolest cats I've ever met. Our director, of course, Rob, who I love dearly. He's like a mixture of a boss and a big brother, and he can make me laugh so hard I'm snorting or inspire me to sit down and pound out pages of writing in ways I haven't in years. Watching him work is nothing short of awesome because even now, in the 'boring' pre-production stage rather than the energy of actually shooting, he is a mad genius. He has a thousand things happening at once, dozens of people wanting his individual attention in blocks of time from the moment he wakes up to the time he eventually goes to bed, and he still manages to stay focused and aware of his vision for the film. It's so cool watching him and seeing how he makes this stuff come together from his head to reality.
And of course our DP, Joe. It's so funny, Joe has shot dozens of movies I love, including Repo! The Genetic Opera. He's hilarious, down to earth and really fun to hang out with. He really knows his shit too, which makes me feel about an inch tall as the amateur photographer I am, but it's great listening to him talk gear. You learn more listening to Joe talk for five minutes about his technical set-up than you would taking a college-level crash course in photography.
Andy, our AD, is fucking rad as well. He's a very funny, dry Australian who is a calming, very assertive presence even in the middle of chaos. Andy knows his job inside and out and so even when he's rattled, he's always in charge of his world. Under pressure, he's still amiable and in control, something I definitely envy since I tend to freak out under that kind of demand from others.
The crew's got a lot more people in it of course, but these three boys are the ones I'm working with the most closely right now and so we've spent the most time together since we all got out here. They're fun as hell and really helping me forget things like missing LA and missing Texas and missing my friends and family and being nervous about this job.
It's been pretty inspiring though, for me as an artist as well. I got to write a press release to announce our casting decisions for Fear Clinic, and several of the big horror sites have picked it up and published the information. It's so cool seeing tidbits of something I wrote on sites I go to myself for 'breaking news'. I love setting up interviews and set visits and coordinating with press liaisons. My press release so far has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish and German and posted all over the Internet. I kind of love seeing my Google alerts pop up with new places that have reposted the info about this project that's become pretty dear to my heart. Whatever kind of fan base, critic response or exposure Fear Clinic finds, I will always love it even more for the friends and experiences it's allowing me to have. I'm a very, very lucky girl.
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