White Knuckles
One week from Sunday I will be standing on a street in Winnipeg with twenty trucks around me and fifty crew members and generators and props and wardrobe and catering and many many lights shedding beautiful expressive light on---
---nobody.
Because I have not yet cast the movie.
There are two leads. The 70 year old female and the 30 year old female.
The Major Historical Star who has agreed to play the 70 year old now feels, after we arrived at a salary figure that seems acceptable to all, that she is not comfortable changing planes ( there are no non-stop flights to Winnipeg from anywhere; I actually think that people driving here from other cities in Canada have to change cars to get here) and has asked for a private jet in her deal. The network has already balked at paying $5300 for her to bring a private assistant, and has compelled us to pay that out of the budget of the movie. But $50,000, the price of the private jet? Tomorrow we'll find out what's going to happen with this. Wait, did I say tomorrow? First the question goes to the studio. Then the studio asks the question of the out-sourced business affairs office hired by the network. The then out-sourced business affairs office asks the question of the network. This could take four days. Next week is Thanksgiving, and after lunch time Tuesday the entire business of Hollywood shuts down. We start shooting a week from Sunday.
But that's not all.
For the young lead, Big Deal Comic Second Banana, familiar as the funny foil to the plucky heroine in many films, but who has never carried a film on her shoulders, turned us down. The old "Did not respond to the material." Fine, neither did I when I first read it. That, given the tortuous process described above, took just about two weeks to play out. Then we offered it to Extremely Promising Young Starlet Who Everybody Thinks Is About To Pop and she is reading it tonight, but may have conflicts with another movie even if she loves it. And we start shooting a week from Sunday.
So it's white knuckle time.
But not, oddly, for me.
I'm just prepping my movie. Picking locations, choosing props, and most important of all, and most challenging, designing the shots with my director of photography. Today we obsessed for almost on hour on how best to bring two people through a graveyard to a waiting limousine. The options are limitless. I find that limitlessness much scarier than having no stars a week and a half before shooting.
But one way or another, a week from Sunday, the cameras will role.
On somebody.
---nobody.
Because I have not yet cast the movie.
There are two leads. The 70 year old female and the 30 year old female.
The Major Historical Star who has agreed to play the 70 year old now feels, after we arrived at a salary figure that seems acceptable to all, that she is not comfortable changing planes ( there are no non-stop flights to Winnipeg from anywhere; I actually think that people driving here from other cities in Canada have to change cars to get here) and has asked for a private jet in her deal. The network has already balked at paying $5300 for her to bring a private assistant, and has compelled us to pay that out of the budget of the movie. But $50,000, the price of the private jet? Tomorrow we'll find out what's going to happen with this. Wait, did I say tomorrow? First the question goes to the studio. Then the studio asks the question of the out-sourced business affairs office hired by the network. The then out-sourced business affairs office asks the question of the network. This could take four days. Next week is Thanksgiving, and after lunch time Tuesday the entire business of Hollywood shuts down. We start shooting a week from Sunday.
But that's not all.
For the young lead, Big Deal Comic Second Banana, familiar as the funny foil to the plucky heroine in many films, but who has never carried a film on her shoulders, turned us down. The old "Did not respond to the material." Fine, neither did I when I first read it. That, given the tortuous process described above, took just about two weeks to play out. Then we offered it to Extremely Promising Young Starlet Who Everybody Thinks Is About To Pop and she is reading it tonight, but may have conflicts with another movie even if she loves it. And we start shooting a week from Sunday.
So it's white knuckle time.
But not, oddly, for me.
I'm just prepping my movie. Picking locations, choosing props, and most important of all, and most challenging, designing the shots with my director of photography. Today we obsessed for almost on hour on how best to bring two people through a graveyard to a waiting limousine. The options are limitless. I find that limitlessness much scarier than having no stars a week and a half before shooting.
But one way or another, a week from Sunday, the cameras will role.
On somebody.
posted by Tom at 10:13 PM
2 Comments:
It sounds to me as if you are handling things with professionalism and optimism, both of which you should be exceedingly applauded for.
Keep up the great work!
At the very last minute the Major Historical Star will gain some professionalism and either be driven from the nearest non-stop destination or maybe a helicopter? lol..then a beautiful, extremely talented young woman will jump for the other part and they will both give you the performance you dream of! The time is full of prep work anyway, no time to pander right now. I would absolutely love to watch the process you are going through.
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