Misc.

The heavy breezes have begun. That is to say the heavy breezes promised us by the weather weenies.

Apparently there is a heavy-duty storm system heading due east, wide enough to sweep through all of Illinois and on through the southern-most part of Michigan to Marquette! The worst of it will sweep MI from top to bottom throughout the overnight hours.

Some areas may get torrential downpours and damaging winds, while other spots across the UP and LP will see rain - lots to very little. Again, all depending upon how the mass develops and what goes where.

All I know is the large maple in my front yard is throwing those little 'helicopters' at the house in huge numbers. The ground is awash in paper-y tan seed pods - the porch, the flower bed, the gutters. Holy Moses, it's a crazy sight to be certain!

A good idea

It's been some time since I've had the opportunity to make smoothies, and today was the day! I dusted off our trusty blender and went to town once Brian woke up.

After tidying the kitchen - and before advancing my cleaning frenzy to the bathroom - I caught a glimpse of three tired old bananas on the halfwall and the idea just clicked. I couldn't bear to simply toss them away, and the heat had already reached 'intolerable-degrees-Farenheit,' so making a batch of smoothies seemed the intelligent thing to do.

About two weeks ago I made a mad dash through our largest area supermarket and gathered a lot of frozen fruit and Greek yogurt, with the idea of making smoothies on my weekends off during production [but it never happened]. So, I was well-stocked and ready for business.

Five types of fruit, some yummy yogurt and a few ice cubes later we are mmmmm-yumming our way through 87*F+.

Aaahhhh. Who needs to eat when you can drink your lovely fruits and veggies refreshingly cold. Try it, it's a good idea.

The decision

As much as I need the work....as much as I want to work....as much as having another credit on my CV (with this director, this producer, DP and so on) - not to mention adding another layer of contacts and a work history for these people to remember and think on when next they need a scripty in MI (or anywhere)....

I am telling them "no thank you."

It hurts to think about, and I am readying myself for making that call in a couple of hours. I just that I can't bring myself to do it all again for very little pay.

Hey! I hear you out there. Trust me, I know I have to 'pay my dues' (by the way - blah, blah, blah [raspberries]). I know I should be grateful for the work - and I am. I am flattered that the director liked me and my book and asked me right there and then to join them. I am good at what I do, that is why I was selected. Even his comment about my lack of experience didn't put me off that much, because I know we all start somewhere. But hey, fella...if you interviewed a couple other ["older"] scriptys and you're willing to forgo their experience for me, um....what am I missing? I mean YOU also needed to gain experience before you had a buttload of credits, and at some point broke through 'the barrier.' I am no different, so quit with the condecension.

But, more than that, have a little respect for the position and pay for the work involved! Stop thinking that the camera and lighting teams are worth more because of the physicality of those positions. Try remembering that we script supers sit, hunched over in the dark, in the cold, in the heat, in rain and snow and whatever else, notating every little thing, and taking the abuse for opening our mouths. And then, work beyond the end of day to get [your] reports done.

Just because I am not toting cables or setting lights or carrying a large camera does not mean my work is any less grueling. At lunch, I am still working to give your team a lunch report, and fielding questions and trying to catch up if necessary. You all sit and laugh and kibbutz, and I look anti-social.

So think on that for a while.

Yes, I would love to jump on this project, but I have to get my own house in order. As much as it pains me to turn the gig down, I think for the sum of money they want me to swallow I would be better served passing this one by and staying home for June, working on my own project(s) and waiting for the next something to come along instead.

Decisions, decisions. Sometimes I hate being the adult.

Does it begin again, or doesn't it?

This morning I had an interview with the Director, AD and DP of another horror genre film starting up in short order. They say I was the third script super they had interviewed, and then said they were hiring me - but failed to talk numbers. I know that the filming is near enough to home, and that the drive should be fairly pleasant, but....

For everything they did say, they would not answer the important question about what the rate would be.

Hmmm.

So, as I sit and wait for the paperwork (deal memo, non-disclosure agreement, blah, blah, blah, etc), and the rewrite on the script (a locked verson would be nice), I have to wonder: will I be taking this gig?

It's an 18 day shoot schedule with what's left of pre-pro. Will they be paying the pre-pro day(s) for pre-timing, day/night counts, one liners (which I really do not want to do in a short amount of time)? Is it worth it to them to pay my time for me to get my book ready?

C'mon above the line, get with it and let me know if I am saying "yes" or "no thank you."

That's a wrap!

The three most favorite words of film crews (almost anywhere - I guarantee). Uttered this morning at 12:41AM, it could not have come too soon. By midnight it was already one and one-half hours past a twelve hour day - so it really didn't come soon enough.

It was a good day though, however fraught with anxiety and frayed nerves it was. A tough schedule and lots to get done, plus the added notion of wrapping out my book directly afterwards instead of having a day after production to wrap out.

And throughout the whole day it began to sink in that after today, I would have nowhere to go and no income again until the next project. Then I began to feel melancholy around the fringes; 'cuz with the current state of things in Michigan, large projects are going to be few and far from 'far between,' and the small jobs that do materialize...well, they're going to be these low budget deals that pay very little. Very, very little.

I do have a lead on another gig starting soon - which might end up leaving me no time to get anything done around the house.

More later, for now, I am going to congratulate myself for a job well done by going to bed and NOT waking to an alarm clock. Doesn't that sound decadent?!

That's a wrap!

Holy zombie heads, am I tired

Don't know which is kicking my butt more....the cold or the work, but I am pooped, plum tuckered and wiped out. Had huge expectations for finishing the report and sending the top page to the Prod Manager tonight, but I think I am heading to bed early. I will rise with the sun tomorrow and complete the task with a fresh set of eyes and a clearer brain before going in.

Today was a very unproductive day on set, and that is too bad...and even though tomorrow is another day, it's one of only three days remaining.

My co-workers have been trying to scrounge their next jobs the entire time we've been in production, and the latest two 'up' are Citizen and the prequel Oz, the Mighty and Powerful. Everybody seems to know somebody, and I am so out of that loop that I may not get on either.

There's another small handful of productions queued up for the last of the spring and into the summer, but I am wondering if I should stick with this script supervisor thing or focus even more time on finding corporate work and leave the dream behind.

Is it time to 'wake up' or do I keep dreaming?

Today was a good day

....a good day. Finally got some things accomplished that were terribly overdue. And for Karl's sake, they were all good things.

Did you know you can't open a bank account without a licence or state ID card?

Did you know you cannot get a state ID or a DL without a birth certificate (among half a dozen other forms of documentation)?

Did you know that your mom can actually con you into getting a haircut against your will, and you can end up thinking it looks good, too? (OK, that last one was more for me than Karl - sue me.)

Did you know people will not correct their own mistakes (but they will happily correct yours). And in our case, none of the business or government entities that deal with the documentation of a live birth will cop to making stupid mistakes; NOR will they fix said errors without you having to shell out copious amounts of money to do so.

That said - his corrected birth certificate arrived in the post last week. Karl is now (officially) a boy! A parade will be scheduled shortly - until then...huzzah!

Today he received his temporary identification card and opened up his own bank account...

...tomorrow, who knows.

Just a little something from the Director

Alex snapped this photo of me as I was deep in to the paperwork.

He called "Scripty," and just as I looked up....that's when he took it. I had been resting my forehead in my hand, and I guess I figured he would be asking for some timing issue or a line to run with an actor (as he usually does).

Nope.

Click.

Awe, snap!.

Reviving

Okay, so the last week is on the horizon, and so is the sun.

I've been up for a little while and have heard the world awaken (at least, in my neighborhood). A quick storm lit up the last of the slumbering sky moments ago, and I suppose I will just have to wait and see what the daylight brings.

I haven't been online or seen much TV over the last week, which means my knowledge of the weather forecast is (or has been) limited to what is printed on the call sheets, and what I may hear on the radio as I drive to location. Mostly, I just carry a sweater in the car (for just-in-case-chilliness) and dress in t-shirts and jeans. This May weather has been a bear to contend with, but as a Michigander I am (of course) adaptable.

We have a new caterer on set, thankfully, but it took several weeks of horrible-turned-disgusting experiences to move the above the lines to making the decision to change it up.

It took completely under-cooked (to nearly completely uncooked) pork chops - and a few sick people - to make it happen. The lack of enough food to go around several days in a row didn't do it...but the still-oinking meal pushed us all over the edge. Yesterday's lunch was phenomenal, and exactly as I remembered film catering meals should be. The food was Carleson-standard-delicious...and abundant, and it was the first time I can remember EVERYbody smiling and relaxed after our half hour meal on this gig.

The last two days have had us on EXTs (exterior scenes), and night shoots - and with no budget to play with, we could not afford a lockdown on the streets to keep traffic noise down while filming. It was noisy and awful, and besides the normal daily business traffic and overhead noises (planes, distant icecream trucks, etc.) we also had to contend with gawkers in very loud cars and radios blaring who heard 'something was going on' and decided to check it out.

Ah, yes...and two nights ago we had a crazed/drunk/high (you choose) lunatic drive over the curb and past the barricades to get into the set area. He grazed the grip truck parked next to video village (backing up at that point), and tried to drive up onto the sidewalk! Talk about surreal and out-of-nowhere. Our AD was yelling at us to leave the area and get into the building because who new what he would do next!?! After 3 or 4 minutes he drove off, circled the area a time or two and then blew away.

Ah, low-budget indies. ;) But then, thank goodness for the wannabe actors who peppered our set for free as students and zombies. It was fun for us behind the camera to watch them flounder and flop and growl and respond to prompts from the director and AD. I really think you will enjoy this quirky film. I have come to be fond of the story, and charmed by the characters, over the last few weeks.

That's it for me, for now. The girls have figured out I am awake and available to their hungry tummies. I may end up taking a nap this morning, as I am recovering from a headcold (which I mistook for allergy symptoms). I didn't sleep as well (or as long) as I would have wished, so today will have moments of laziness mixed in with the needful/neglected chores. Oh, and Crosby, if you are out there, you are right! It will be all the sweeter to get outside after the long wait and all the rain delays. I tried to respond to your comment days ago, but Blogger is still fouled and won't work properly - but thank you.

I still can't get into my other blog at all to write, and I wanted to post a quilting photo or two.

See you all again soon. Be well and be happy.

Some strange stuff

People utter some strange stuff on movie sets, and most times it doesn't even make folks think twice or bat an eye.

For example, the call for a "touch up" to a body part that normally wouldn't require make-up -- ever -- nary raises an eyebrow. Your MUA will just strut on in, dab or brush or apply this or that, and then saunter on out and check a monitor for how it reads on camera. Same thing for SPFX, hair, wardrobe....well, you get the idea.

So, it was one of those kinds of days when the AD asked for SPFX to "wrangle some meat for Mark's mouth" and a bunch of seasoned filmmakers began to giggle like school children. [It was pretty funny...even if you had every idea of the context for the request, it was strange enough to make one laugh.]

I mean, what card-carrying zombie doesn't require meat in their mouth?

And then you have moments of silliness when the director decides impishness is the order of the day.

First, he leaned over and apologized for "going in" and then asked if the barricade was up or down. When I told him "down" he disappeared. Next thing you know, the door in the scene opened and in place of the critical character we expected to come through and deliver her lines (to move the scene along), in pops the director, who proceeds to give our necking couple a rather homosexual stare, stomps his foot and then exits the scene the way he came in. The looks on the faces of the surprised couple was priceless...and so was the moment of levity.

Sometimes strange stuff can be good.

And another thing...

I was really hoping to get some stuff done on my time off, but due to the never-ending rain, I haven't been able to get into the gardens or touch the lawn.

So not fair.

Rats!

However, there is a riotous explosion of color happening just now between the virginal spring green of the trees and the flowering intense pink - almost fuscia - buds of the crab apple; the lovely innocence of the apple tree out back in it's pink-white veil, waving over the new growth of the clematis and hydrangeas below - it's all so tempting and deliriously eye-pleasing, ah...but so inaccessible.

It's a fair trade-off (I guess)...but I am antsy to get going, so enough of the rain already, please.

Oh boy

Thinking I had enabled a function on the Half.com site (where I have books listed for sale) that suspends your listing(s) for however long you choose to do so, I was quite surprised to find three sales in my 'absence'. What the @$?!%!!

Wouldn't you know it, the minute you decide to walk away...right? A watched pot never boils and all of that.

Well, I have just returned from grocery shopping and shipping out the three sales, and I am ready for bed! Two more weeks of this sort of chicanery and I am going to do myself an injury - and I am not kidding. I am just so very thankful that Meijer has an exceptional customer service center...which includes complete US postal service amenities.

Now the question is: do I continue to let sales roll in while I am too busy to do anything in a timely fashion, or do I make another stab at turning my sales site off for the duration of the production, knowing full well I might miss more sales income? Hmmm.

So glad to be home

So, SO glad to be home...the last two days have been long, long, l-o-n-g. Thirteen-plus hours each, and grueling. By the third hour in today my pencil was begging for a day off! ;)

I'm just coming in the door and I'm ready to nod off, but I wanted to take a few minutes to let some air out here, first. I tried to write an update last night (technically, Thursday evening - after getting home) but I found Blogger was still on the fritz for a second day. (We bloggers have been unable to access our blogs to enter anything new since Wednesday, but you folks on the reading end could still see them.)

Anyhow, the ghosts of the school we are filming in have been up to silly shenanigans, and this week especially they have been busy.

While filming in the library, a large oak door in the back of a small adjoining room slammed shut for no reason and without the help of a breeze or human touch. It hadn't happened before and it hasn't happened since...so, go figure.

Mid-week, the fire alarm in the building suddenly sounded, and persisted for about seven minutes, until one of our crew figured out the cheater's method for "dealing with it."

Flags have been found neatly sorted and stacked against a wall, when in fact they had been left hastily in disarray by the lighting crew as they set up a new shot or went for lunch moments before. Strange little things that can't be reasoned away.

Then, there are the neighbors and their guns........and the gunfire. Oy vey! Two nights ago the crew, out in the parking lot on a cigarette break, was herded quickly back into the building as an armed citizen (and two 'friends') - frequenting the neighborhood drug house - ran into our lot and headed for the milling group.

Film people like to think we're a tough lot, but we are no match for gun-carrying nutjobs.

[Yawn]

Now, I am heading off to bed, but I will post more over the weekend. Until then..........I am so glad to....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

psssst!....Happy Birthday, Maria!

...and Happy Mother's Day to all of you mommies, grandmommies, aunts, sisters, friends, mommys-to-be, stepmoms.

You know who you are.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you - very much! <3

Big list today

Holy Moses, what a week!

I have some time to myself, but then have to get right back to it soon enough, so I will be squeezing in all I can in a very short amount of time.

This morning, I 'slothed it out,' and slept in. Lazy and unproductive (I know), but I loved it almost as much as chocolate cake! When I awoke, I found Cleo still nestled in bed with me from last night - and that hasn't happened in some time. So I have a smile on my face from the get-go.

Next: went to the front room window and looked out upon the shaggy green lawn and the fairly well-weeded flower bed to find blossoms of hyacinth, tulips and daffodils scattered amongst the thriving peonies, hostas and treasured poppies. [sigh] Pretty, pretty, happy, happy.

I surveyed my handiwork from last weekend. I was afraid I may have too severely trimmed the Jackmanii clematis...but it is now sprouting a lot of new growth. I will have to transplant it to a new - sunnier - spot this year, and since I loosed it from the ground, we are both ready for that portion of the journey. I also transplanted two of the sprouting peonies to temporary places, and left the other three alone. I have no more room to temporarily move the remaining three peonies to...so we are all kind of stuck.

I read online that transplanting peonies before the bloom cycle squelches their season (meaning: they most likely will not bloom the year you disturb them). I was more concerned that I had done some serious damage to the tubers, but it seems they are a hardy lot, so I will proceed with the garden remodel when the space is prepared and ready for action.

Everything will move (eventually) as I try to create a four foot dry zone along the front wall of the house. The poppies will be spared until late summer/early fall just because I cannot do without seeing their colorful, gloriously bobbing heads each year (and I know that moving them now will not come without consequences for the show this year).

Watched a wren pull seeds from the maple tree pods that will soon be dropping and gunking up my eves. I urged the little bird to eat to its heart's content, and the cats simply sat and chittered at it in their comical way. My trio of blue jays ran riot through the branches of the stately old tree, and I was enthralled by their aerial acuity. None of them seemed to hit one branch while flying and fleeing and chasing and cavorting. Amazing!

See.....there was one list, but now I have a to-do list to conquer, and the clock is already ticking loud and strong. I'll return to regale you with tales of filmmaking silliness tonight or tomorrow night, and maybe post a photo or two, but for now - GET OUTSIDE AND ENJOY YOURSELVES. I am!

But most importantly...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARIA!

This is where...

This is the point in time where I begin to wonder why I hate myself so much. :)

At the end of each production day I am looking at mountains of paperwork, knowing full well I still have at least another hour to go (if not more) - making certain I've got everything logged and lined and legible, and that the math is correct, so that I can turn in my daily report and walk away.

No, you don't get paid for this extra time beyond the twelve hours. I am barely getting paid the worth of the position to begin with.

Oh, and I didn't get the corporate thing. Had a phone call during day one from the headhunter. He said that the company had identified someone for the CM position - and that it must have been someone internal (meaning: it isn't me).

I would be lying to say that I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of having regular work...regular working hours...regular health insurance (hell, ANY health insurance). I would be less than honest if I didn't admit that the possibility of having cash to spend on screen doors, and finish the staircase, and perhaps to pay off the student loan (you get the picture) wasn't a huge fantasy.

I suppose I let myself count my chickens too far ahead of the eggs hatching.

This is the part where I cry a little and then keep moving forward.