Production: The Book of Caleb

Way back in the fall of 2005 I left the comforts of my parents house in warm, sunny south Florida to spend the winter in the cold of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. I drove over twenty hours in order to work on my very first feature film. I was to be the script supervisor on the ultra low budget indie The Book Of Caleb. Written and directed by FSU alum Matt Manahan, The Book of Caleb was a production unlike any I've seen or been a part of since.

It was run incredibly professionally, crewed with immense talent, fueled by passion. And done on a tiny budget that shouldn't have allowed most of the things we accomplished to occur.

Now, after a long wait and much anticipation, The Book of Caleb is finished. I'm incredibly excited for Matt and everyone else who has spent countless hours putting this thing together. And I just wanted to share my excitement and spread the love.

So go visit them at their website. And if you want to see it, check them out at From Here To Awesome. Or even at YouTube.

For your viewing pleasure, a taste:

Production: A Sport Show

Tomorrow I start work on a sports show that's being shot for the Fox Sports Network (I think that's the deal). I'm going back to being scripty. A development I feel sort of ambivalent about. But hey, it's not a bad gig. Hopefully it will be fun.

I did most of my prepping today after spending a couple of days last week shadowing the Script Supervisor for the upcoming Comedy Central show American Body Shop (which has the potential to be hilarious btw). I'm a little excited about the work I got done today. I have new forms and templates that, at least aesthetically, I like a lot better than the ones I've used previously. I know I'm a dork. But I like the idea of paperwork that actually looks professional.

I also purchased a new digital camera. As well as my old one treated me, it had its limitations and it was just time to move on. So now I've got a little Casio that will hopefully be my new friend. As soon as I figure out how to turn the flash off...

And since I have to be up super early it's off to bed for me. Maybe I'll actually post stuff about what I'm doing during this job. That would be fun. We'll see.

Production: A Short and A Nomad

A pier we shot on in Ft Myers, Fl

I really have been terrible about updating this blog. The Ft Myers film I was scripty for back in May went really well. I possibly would have posted if I had actually had access to the internet. As it was, I was offline for the month. June I spent in New York. I had a day working for the Ft. Myers film and then two weeks as an AC for a short a couple of friends were shooting. Both of those also went well. I was in New York through the 4th of July and got back to Florida last Monday.

And on to current things.

This weekend I'm scripty for a short filming in Ft. Lauderdale. It's only for today and tomorrow but it's something fun to fill the time with. The crew is pretty cool and I was happy to find that I had worked with a couple of the kids previously. The gaffer and the girl doing make-up were both in Ft Myers and I'm glad to be working with them again. They're very cool kids. I also know a couple of the guys helping out as grips. So good times there.

Coming up in August I'll be script once again for some friends on a film out in San Fransisco. I can't wait to get out there and the idea of working in San Fran is hugely exciting. I'm also just looking forward to working with these guys again. It's a film being produced by the 2nd AC and 2nd/1st AD from the film I did last fall. A few other people from that film will be on this one as well so I'll be getting to work with a lot of people that I just really like.

Ha, now if I could only find a few more jobs that paid a bit more my life would be perfect. I'm also excited about getting a decent number of scripty jobs, I'm just looking forward to getting more camera jobs as well. Hopefully that will start happening more as well.

But yes. Speaking of jobs and work and whatnot. I should get my things ready for tomorrow and get some sleep. It's a nice and early call.

Production: Pre-Production Day 1

Arrived in Pa today around 5ish after decent driving from DC. There was some traffic around Philly so I was a little later getting in than planned but it wasn't too bad. They were doing camera test when I got here so there really wasn't anything for me to do. The Production Coordinator showed me around a bit and introduced me to some people. I followed a few different people around for a while, hung around in the kitchen, hung around in the office, just kind of hung around. Did get to say hi to the guys I know and I finally got to meet the ones I've been talking to on the phone for the last two months. So that was all good. I'm still trying to learn everyone's names and jobs, I'm sure I've forgotten most of them already. That should come pretty quick though, it usually does. And as long as I get them all straight before shooting starts I'll be good.

I was sent along with the crew to one of the locations to be a stand-in while they did camera tests there, so I didn't feel completely useless today! There was at least sitting around with a purpose. It was just weird watching the crew carry all of the lighting equipment and not being a part of that.

Tomorrow there's going to be a tech scout and I will eventually get moved into the place where I'm going to be staying. I'm not hugely sure about what I'll do on the tech scout but I figure it will be good to get a feel for everything. I also need to read the revised script. And just review the script in general.

That's pretty much it for day 1. The night ended with a midnight meal at the local diner and now I am more than ready for sleep. Hopefully the alarms will wake me, I'm terrible at waking up. And I'm sure tomorrow is going to be the first of many long days. But that's what coffee is for.