Check out the trailer for PORNOGRAPHY, the thriller produced by Dark Blue Films’ Sean Abley for Triple Fire Productions, written and directed by SOCKET editor David Kittredge.

World Premiere: Newfest, the New York LGBT Film Festival, June 8. Cast and crew will be in attendance.
Frameline, the San Francisco LGBT Film Festival, June 21.

www.pornographythemovie.com

The Vegan Producers and I decided to mount a One Night Only! backers audition for Wildcat Road to fill in our financing gaps. Which means that, even though we’re shooting in Fall 2008, we need to cast now. So we announced the casting call and set up some auditions.

One of the first submissions we received was from an email that I recognized from our casting call for Pornography: A Thriller last year. An email conversation ensued back then, and continued now. Here is the conversation, which sort of jumps back and forth in time, but I’m sure you’ll follow:

On Apr 12, 2008, at 1:56 PM, XXXX@XXX.com wrote:

Any update on the casting?

On Apr 12, 2008, at 2:00 PM, Sean@XXXX.com wrote:

Yes.

Do you remember the email conversation below? We do.

YOU:
An all caucasian, gay, porn, movie. now THAT’S original! Wonder what race the writer is,,and what race the crew members will be? My point is…THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE!! Unless, of course..you’re only after an all caucasian audience as well. If that’s the case….nevermind!

Have A Great Day!

Instead of just submitting your headshot/resume and finding out whether or not we were open for colorblind casting, you sent us this confrontational email. And P.S., we ended up with a very multiracial cast.

And that’s why we didn’t call you in.

Date: April 12, 2008 4:33:22 PM PDT XXXX@XXX.com wrote:

Fair enough. However, I made my point, and maybe that had a little something to do with the fact that you ended up with a multiracial cast. Either way, it’s progress on your part.

Date: April 12, 2008 5:27:48 PM PDT Sean@XXXX.com wrote:

Actually, it didn’t. Anyone who knows my work, which you don’t, knows that I always cast my projects multiculturally. If you’d done your research, you would have known that, and had a chance to be part of one in a long line of racially diverse projects.

Date: April 13, 2008 3:23:02 PM PDT XXXX@XXX.com wrote:

That’s cute! No need to worry about me. I’m not that hungry. I’m an experienced, and talented performer. There will be many opportunities down the road. As to your “alleged” long line of projects, and my missing out….well….I’ll just have to find a way to hold my head high, and forge through life. I’ll take some solace in the fact that you’re hardly re-creating “Gone with the Wind”, and Steven Spielberg..you’re not!

Good Luck to You.

*********

I understand where this guy is coming from, at least from a philosophical standpoint. And I get that he has to try and save face, or maybe he actually believes that I’ve been left crying in his dust with his scathing responses. But dude, stop being such a douche.

The first time he emailed me, back during the Pornography: A Thriller casting sessions, he wisely didn’t provide any real contact info, agent or otherwise. I tried to lure him out with a phony audition notice on Craig’s List for a project about “Proud black men and the issues they face in today’s society”, but he didn’t bite. So when he submitted for Wildcat Road, not remembering who I was, he provided agency information.

Each time this happens, when an actor goes above and beyond the call of assholism, I let their agent know how their client is behaving in front of producers and directors. Sadly, although not unexpectedly, the “agency” this guy listed on his resume is all over the Better Business Bureau and internet message boards for being a total scam job. No need to call them and tattle, he’s being punished enough already.

Thankfully after sitting thru a lot of bad actors, and a smaller amount of good actors we just couldn’t use for one reason or another, we found an amazing cast.

And here they are!

	Pete Scherer Pete was in Pornography: A Thriller, and is one of the best sports I know. He’s straight, but has no problem playing gay dudes who take off their clothes and have sex with other dudes. His performance in Pornography: A Thriller is going to be amazing. Originally we didn’t call him in because I thought his very ‘heavy’ persona wouldn’t lend itself to the comedy of Wildcat Road. But when a front runner for his role dropped out of callbacks at the last minute, I figured ‘Why not?’ and called him in. He nailed it, and now, thankfully, we get to keep this role in ‘the family’.
	Dylan Vox as ‘Jett’ Dylan is also in Pornography: A Thriller, almost by accident. We were trying to find someone who could play a pornstar from the 90’s who would be willing to do full frontal nudity and shoot simulated porn videos. We had exhausted almost all the options from our casting call. I remembered Dylan from The Lair, in which he took my attention away from all the other cast. I tracked him down via the interweb and asked if he’d be interested in auditioning for the film, and after describing what he would have to do if he was cast, his only question was, “Will I have any wardrobe?” We assured him yes, he came in, nailed it and was cast. When we started casting Wildcat Road I immediately thought of him, and again got to keep a major role in ‘the family’.
	Kevin Stea as ‘Kevenn’ Kevin is in Naked Boys Singing!, Truth or Dare and, more importantly, Showgirls. He found us thru The Vegan Producers, I believe. They sent him the script, which he loved. i wasn’t sure where to put him in the cast at first. The role of ‘Kevenn’ was written for an African-American originally, but in the casting breakdowns we opened all the roles up to all races. We read him for a couple roles, but in the end he was perfect for the innocent ‘Kevenn’.
	Sara Maraffino as ‘Tammy’ Sara actually emailed us directly when she found out about the project. The role was originally written with an actress that had appeared in both Gay Bed and Breakfast of Terror and Socket in mind. But scheduling just wasn’t working out, and the nudity and sexual situations were going to be a problem. So finding an actress that could either change the voice in my head, or match it perfectly, was tough. But Sara pretty much nailed it on her first read. What sold me? She was the only actress that made me laugh repeatedly when she read the line “I’ve done some acting. Stand-in stuff mainly. Although I was the body double in that very special episode of ‘Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood’ where Lady Aberlane got raped…”
	Coco Peru as ‘Dot’ Coco is, of course, one of the stars of Girls Will Be Girls, as well as an award-winning stage performer and the total scene-stealer from Trick (’Ever get cum in your eye? It burns….’). The Vegan Producers and I were discussing some stunt casting, and the idea of having one of the three supporting women’s roles be someone in drag came up. We immediately thought about Girls Will Be Girls, and how Coco would be a natural as the diner waitress. So we contacted her via her website, sent the script to her agent, and she said ‘Yes’! Amazingly, her incredibly busy schedule is allowing her to be part of the reading and the film, and we’re thrilled to have her.
	Alexandra Billings as ‘Mavis’ Alexandra was in Socket, the Romy and Michele prequel, as well as a handful of episodic TV shows like ER and Grey’s Anatomy, and approximately a billion stage productions in L.A. and Chicago. Lynn Redgrave even played her mom once! We’ve known each other for over a decade, done long, long running shows together (Cannibal Cheerleaders on Crack and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom) and she’s one of the most talented people I know. When we were casting Wildcat Road we thought about her for all three of the supporting female roles, but the image of her running around a ranch, wearing an eye patch and serving dead horse for dinner was too perfect.
	Tim Hearl as ‘Sam’ Tim was in Socket as the mugger who is accidentally killed, thus propelling the madness further. He was very close to being cast as one of the leads, but when we had to make that heartbreak decision, we asked him if he’d like to play a smaller role because we thought he would be good, and we liked him as a person. He also got pretty close to a featured role in Pornography: A Thriller, but again we ended up not casting him. So I was thrilled when he came in and gave such a great read for Wildcat Road so we can once again work together.
	Jonathon Walsman as ‘Tug’ We almost cast someone else in this role. When we called everyone in for callbacks, Jonathon told us he could make it, but ended up getting stuck onset somewhere and missing them. We were bummed because even in the first audition we thought he’d be perfect. After we held the callbacks and cast a different actor (who we hadn’t notified yet), I thought I’d give Jonathon one more try. He was available to meet with us at The Vegan Producers’ house later in the week, so we set it up and had him read. He was great, and we had our ‘Tug’.
	Nick Salamone as ‘Morton’ Nick was in the first feature I produced, Nine Lives. He’s SAG so I couldn’t use him in either Gay Bed and Breakfast of Terror or Socket (both were non-union), but was lucky enough to get him in front of to audition for Pornography: A Thriller. He was great in Nine Lives as a sleazy TV producer, Pornography: A Thriller as a sleazy porn producer, and now he’ll be great in Wildcat Road as a sleazy snuff film producer. One more movie and he’ll be playing a sleazy infomercial producer.
	Sarah Lilly as ‘Alice’ Sarah came into our auditions and read for both ‘Alice’ and ‘Dot’, and was pretty much the only actress that understood the style and tone of the script. She nailed both roles, and we originally cast her as ‘Dot’. But as we searched for an ‘Alice’, we realized that we could probably find another ‘Dot’, but ‘Alice’ was going to be tougher. With a perfect ‘Alice’ already in our cast, we realized we really needed to have Sarah play that part - it’s a bigger role, which means we’ll get to use her great comic timing even more. And who doesn’t want to play a part that includes shooting someone in the eye with a crossbow? Extra bonus - Sarah appeared in Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds for my friend Phillip Bartel, and The Mangler Reborn.
	David Pevsner as ‘Cole’ Pevsner is one of the many writers of songs for Naked Boys Singing as well as one of the cast members of the NYC production of Party. I remember hearing his name tossed around when we were casting Socket, but didn’t actually come face to face with him until we were casting Pornography: A Thriller. He appears as a dismissive photography professor in that film, and now as a crazy, bisexual rapist in Wildcat Road. His only worry? He has a deviated septum, so when we do the plaster head cast of his head for the decapitation scene, he has to be able to breath out of his mouth.
	Judi Evans as ‘The Rest…’ Judi an Emmy Award-winning actress from Days of Our Lives who just happens to be a friend of The Vegan Producers. When they told her about the project, and mentioned that we would need a ‘utility woman’ to read a bunch of parts in the script for the reading, she immediately volunteered. She’s very sweet, and I can’t believe our luck in getting someone as busy and established as she is to be part of this project!
	Alisha Seaton as ‘More of The Rest…’ Alisha ended up in one of my favorite parts in Socket - the comic book nerd member of ‘The Group’. She’s done a ton of independent films, and I’ve been waiting to work with her again ever since the Socket days. She’s going to be our other ‘utility woman’ for the reading.

Right after we wrapped Socket, The Vegan Producers from Velvet Candy Entertainment came to me with an idea. “What would you think about doing a gay Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!?” I immediately said “Of course!” They sent over a story outline, and I started writing the script.

Less than two weeks later I had a good first draft, which made The Vegan Producers very happy. We immediately started discussing how we could get this made.

Months went by, and we sent the script to a bunch of production companies that specialize in gay flicks. One of them, Unnamed Gay Production Company, was very interested in giving us the money for the film. Hooray, right?

Sadly, after several meetings with the Owner of Unnamed Gay Production Company, we had to walk away. UGPC had never been soley a financier before - they always developed and produced their own content, answering only to themselves and their loyal customers. After making a Well Known Gay Film almost a decade ago, the company had turned almost exclusively to gay softcore, and Playgirl videos. Because this was their business model - impossibly hot guys doing full frontal in videos with little to no plot - doing a plot-heavy gay road flick made them jittery, even though they loved the script.

OoUGPC and his very silent partner couldn’t get past how Wildcat Road would be cast. “You’ll never find guys as hot as the guys we insist on that will be willing to do the full frontal and the gay sex scenes. You think it’s easy, but just ask David DeCouteau. He has guys quit on him all the time, right before they shoot…” He kept going on and on about how we’d never find our cast. “Yes, the Socket guys were hot, but not UGPC hot. They have to be models…” We tried to tell him that we didn’t necessarily think we needed full-on models, that we could cast handsome men and that would be good enough. Nope, it had to be models.

He also got completely caught up in artistic control. Even though The Vegan Producers had come up with the idea, and developed the script with me, OoUGPC couldn’t understand why they would want to be in control artistically (with me). Again, he developed and produced all his own stuff, so now giving up that control was too much for him. We had many, many conversations where I talked him off the ledge of “Well, what happens if we’re onset and the three of you gang up and I can’t get what I need on film?”

As a side note: Right before we began talks with them, they’d released Slasher Flick About Hot Rapists Getting Murdered, which had a bit more plot than their other softcore stuff, but was still firmly in their production model - impossibly hot guys doing full frontal, but this time being revenge-killed. Supposedly this was a “gay” film because it featured hot guys doing full frontal, even though the guys were rapists and straight. The more I think about this being sold to the gay audience, the more disgusted I get.

Anyway, after several conversations between The Vegan Producers, OoUGPC and myself that involved strange lapses in OoUGPC’s memory, we broke off talks.

Which brings us to now. We feel like we need to put the Wildcat Road script on its feet, so we’re going to do a staged reading for investors. May 5th, save the date!

We’re in the thick of casting - next post, pictures of porn stars and drag queens that will be appearing in our film!

Today is our last day of principal photography, so I’m going to try and blog as we shoot, rather than recap later based on my notes.

Call today was 9:00 A.M., which is officially a “forced call”, meaning the cast and crew get less than 12 hours for turnaround. I hate doing this, but thankfully we’ve only had forced calls twice on this shoot. Amazing, considering how much work we’ve done over the last 15 days.

We’re starting with some quick stuff of Matthew Montgomery in his bedroom. Each shot is 1/8 of a page, so they should be quick. For those that don’t know, when you calculate the amount of work you have for each day, you break the script pages down into 1/8 segments. I’m not sure how this became the official mileage marker for production, but I’m sure it has to do with some average calculated over the years. However, this can be misleading - the old joke goes “We’re only shooting 1/8 of a page today, so it should be a short day.” “What is the scene description?” “EXT. FIELD - DAY: An army of a thousand warriors races over the hill and battles the enemy”.

11:30 PM - Finished the bedroom stuff, now moving on to the bathroom. We’re shooting a shower scene, and a “What the Hell is that?” scene (the character finds something “mysterious” in the bathroom). We’ll shoot the dry shot first…

12:30 PM - Finished the bathroom stuff. Now we’re moving the entire apartment and all the film equipment to one end of the space so we can shoot a tracking shot of the characters entering and seeing the space for the first time. Rasool is back in her second role as the “Realtor”, leading Matthew and Walter thru the space. Rasool and Matthew are onscreen together for the first time since the Socket shoot.

This is tough because we can’t move the equipment to the hallway, so we’re crammed into one side. I send a few of the crew up to the roof to relieve the occupancy and collective body heat.

Because this is supposed to be a sunny loft, we pull back the huge blackout curtains, close the windows (for sound) and let the baking sunlight flood in. “Turn on the air!” As we move all the furniture someone asks, “Is that blowing hot air?” Sure enough, someone accidentally set the thermostat to “Heat”, raising the tempature another 10 degrees.

1:30 PM - We’re getting our first shot off. Once we cover this angle we’ll need to move everything across the loft to the other side so we can get the reverse.

2:00 PM - I fucking lose my mind. Our keys are not listening to each other, talking over each other, and we’re not moving forward, just like last night. I’m furious. I blow up at them. There will be blood.

2:05 PM - It gets much quieter, and work gets done.

3:00 PM - We’re at lunch. I chat with Director Kittredge about what went down. “I totally agree with you, but don’t call me a ‘whiny baby’ in front of the actors…” And he’s right. I feel like it was justified to put the smackdown on them, but I shouldn’t involve the director in a confrontation in front of the crew.

I call Matty and tell him what happened. As much as I’m willing to go off when needed, I always feel like shit afterwards. (I know some of my loyal readers will find this hard to believe.) We talk and he gives me good advice on how to handle the aftermath, which I’m happy for. At the end of the day, I’d like to work with most of this crew again, so I don’t want them to think I’m a crazy, mean producer. And I don’t want to end this shoot, which despite all the problems has been a great experience, on a downer.

3:30 PM - Back to work, we’ve moved the entire loft to the other side. We seem to be moving forward and working more efficiently.

4:00 PM - Rasool is picture wrapped. Big round of applause. Fan favorite Hawt Top Jon Gale is here to play his second role, “Mover”. We’re moving MUCH more efficiently, and everyone’s mood seems to be upbeat. We place a camera up on the shelf above FJ’s closet to get the crazy “security cam” angle.

5:10 PM - Jon Gale is picture wrapped. Big round of applause.

We move on to a very complicated series of shots involving Matthew, Walter (in “I just got beat up” makeup) and Key Grip Jeremy as “The Figure”. I’m nervous - we’re actually doing well time-wise, and this scene has the potential to put us REALLY behind.

6:30 PM - We’ve shot our first shot in the scene. Director Kittredge has broken down the scene into tiny takes, which we need, but as always each new moment is a camera and light repo. A nailbiter for a producer watching the clock. We have to shoot all of Walter’s coverage first because he has to leave for work by 9:00 PM.

8:45 PM - Our desperate circumstances drive me to an unthinkable act. “10-200″ (aka onset radio code for “taking a poo”. “10-100″ is taking a pee) in the one bathroom in the loft, which is also being used as our makeup room. We’re all trapped in the loft - all 20 of us - so right outside the door is a crowd of people. I’d almost rather die than let people know my bathroom business in real time (except for Matty, he has boyfriend “privilege”), but if I don’t I’m going to explode. For two days I’ve held it for 12+ hours, but today my body is rebelling. I wish I could yell at it like the crew and make it obey. Alas…

9:00 PM - Walter Delmar is picture wrapped. Big round of applause. We start shooting Matthew’s coverage, which involves Key Grip Jeremy attacking him and (presumably) killing him. Matthew has to work himself into hysteria over and over, which must be incredibly hard after being on the set for 12 hours.

We’re officially in overtime now, with three more scenes to finish after this one. Call Dominoes for our third 2nd meal of the shoot. More pizza, even though we’re still finishing the leftovers from last night. Director Kittredge has predicted midnight. I’m hoping 11:00 PM.

10:15 PM - Director Kittredge is camera operating for a long jib shot. After three long takes, and reviewing the footage, we discover that a certain effect/lens/something called “ground glass” wasn’t ….on? Something? We have to do it again. Most of the room is in darkness for lighting purposes, and everyone is dead quiet. We’re all waiting for our second wind to kick in while we digest our pizza.

10:30 PM - I shoot my third 2nd unit shot while they set up for something in the main room. A door being unlocked, once fast, once slow.

10:45 PM - Matthew is picture wrapped…sort of. We have a couple scenes we need to shoot in a month or so. Big round of applause.

12:08 AM - Pete Scherer is in for his two scenes tonight. About two pages of dialogue and a fight scene. The set is the loft, but cleared out with just a chair, tv monitor and video camera as set dressing. For some reason putting this together takes longer than clearing the room.

We’ve just shot the two pages of dialogue, and now we have to shoot the fight. A complicated fight.

12:39 AM - Finished one angle of the fight, shooting it with two cameras. Repoing to 2nd angle. Matty calls, he’s going to bed.

1:03 AM - The fight isn’t working. Key Grip Jeremy is too big to be beaten by Pete. There’s no fight choreographer, so the fight itself looks sort of lame. I pull Director Kittredge aside and we discuss a new end of this scene - the fight is cut, there is new, simpler business which will cut perfectly (we hope) with the scene that follows.

I’m reminded of Socket when we were trying to shoot the ending of the film at 1:00 AM in the morning. I hated what we were shooting, so I stopped, rewrote it, and shot it.

1:14 AM - Wrap. Crew photo. Load out. We’re all still friends.

Back at FJ’s loft today. I’m wearing shorts cuz it was so fucking hot yesterday - for sound reasons we can’t have the air conditioning running or the windows open when we shoot. We also have to shut the blackout curtains because most of the stuff we’re shooting today takes place at night, and the loft has floor to ceiling windows - great for living, not so much for shooting nighttime.

A nice surprise is the kitties from next door make a guest appearance while we set up. They are super cute, but I worry someone will roll over them with the dolly, so after some petting it’s time for kitties to go home.

What I didn’t mention yesteday is during these three days we’re shooting the bulk of Matthew Montgomery’s scenes, most of which include Walter Delmar. (Walter is double cast in two roles, both of which are leads. So he’s already worked quite a bit in the other role).

This film is broken down into three distinct acts, each with a different set of characters. Which means we’re basically shooting three different short films. For the most part we’ve scheduled the shoot so we’re shooting out one segment, then moving on to the next. So each time we start a new segment, we’re jumpstarting the emotional arc of the film. You wouldn’t think it matters from the physical production side - lights are lights, you set them up and move on. But there’s that subtle “We finished….aaaaaaaaaaaaand we’re starting all over again…” feeling that forces you to reset your mental timeclock “back to one” each time. Not good or bad, just interesting.

We seem to be on schedule as of lunch, but that will change shortly after. Although the stuff we’re shooting isn’t overly complicated, and there isn’t much to report of interest, we slowly fall behind. At one point we shoot an ECU (extreme close up) of Walter’s lips saying “Smile for the camera” about 14 times. “Smile for the camera… Smile for the camera… Smile for the camera… Smile for the camera… ” A crazy mantra.

About two hours from the official end of our 12-hour day it became apparent our exhaustion was keeping us from moving forward as quickly as we should be. The main reason is, with tempers raw and energy low, people are getting either passive-aggressive or just not on the ball. Our keys start sniping at each other (including me), which is uncool, not only for interpersonal reasons, but the actors are affected by it, too. If the DP and the director have a big passive-aggressive tiff, then call “Roll cameras!”, the actors are going to be unsettled and not perform well, thus slowing us down.

So it’s time for a little sit down with the keys. I pulled them all aside and gave them the “I love you all, but we need to work together to get this shit done…” I pointed out what all of them were doing that was slowing us down - not meanly, but honestly - and they all agreed. Script Supervisor Heather is totally right when she says, “We made it this far without this lecture, so we’re doing pretty good…” Which is exactly right - this crew is amazing, they work super hard, but for this one moment they needed an outside voice to re-streamline. It feels weird giving the speech on the second-to-last day, but I worry we will be screwed and not get the film shot if I don’t.

We decide that we’re going to muscle thru and go into overtime to make our day. Which means a second meal. The line producer in me screams “No! They can eat craft service! There’s tons of chips!” But the producer in me prevails and we order pizza.

We wrap at 14 hours. We almost made our day - 10 pages out of 11 2/8s! We have one day left…

We’re back after four days off, with three days left of principal photography. It was great to have four days off. All I did was watch a bunch of movies (Another Gay Movie, Diary of the Dead, The Signal), Reality TV (Project Runway, America’s Next Top Model, 80th Academy Awards), surfed the net, slept, ate food that is bad for me, and basically vegged.

One piece of business on Friday - the payroll company sent me an email informing me that we’ve spent our deposit for the SAG salaries already, and they won’t be able to send out this week’s paychecks until we get them another check. The fact that we burned thru our payroll deposit isn’t a surprise - we always knew that we were going to have to deposit more money into the account at some point.

But finding out TODAY, with no warning, on the day the checks are supposed to go out is a problem. Technically SAG can charge us $10 per day per actor for every day the paychecks are late. I don’t have time to get the check to the payroll company before they close for the day, so I have to wait until Monday, when we’re shooting downtown, to send someone to the Valley with the check. I consider this the payroll company’s fault, so I’m ready to fight the good fight for them to either A.) pay the fines or B.) explain the situation to SAG.

Today, Monday, is our first day in FJ’s loft. The first day in a new location is always stressful. You can’t really know what problems might arise until the company actually loads in. You’re basically starting over, and that’s a gut wrencher. To top it off, I have a flat tire this morning, causing me to be late. Arrgh.

Because ’s loft is currently on the market, I’ve threatened everyone with decapitation if something is broken, scratched or marked.

Strangely, even with four days’ rest, everyone’s mood is really prickly for some reason. And of course, we’re trapped in this apartment for three days, like some emotional crock pot, simmering until the crazy blow up. Fingers crossed that won’t happen, but right now I’m ready to cut someone’s head off.

We shoot a lot of scenes involving Matthew Montgomery on the phone, one of which is with one of my characters. I’m double cast as the “DP” of the modern day porn production company, and “Gunnison”, the editor of a porn rag who is only heard over the phone. We decide to record my half of the conversation “live” during the shooting of the scene, which will save us time in post. So Sound Mixer Brian puts a mic on me and I read my lines off camera. (Of course I don’t have them memorized.)

One thing that takes some getting used to when you’re an on-camera actor is shooting conversations with overlapping dialogue. You would think you could just shoot the scene and overlap, but that actually makes editing the scene a nightmare unless the scene takes place entirely in a master shot with both characters on camera at the same time. But if you want to cut back and forth between the characters’ closeups, and you have someone stepping on someone else’s line, you have to use that take in total - you can’t cut around someone’s voice overlapping someone else’s, meaning you can’t do any post magic. No tightening up the pace, no using different takes to create a different tone for the scene, etc.

So to create a dialogue scene you have to shoot each characters’ lines “clean”, with no overlap. Which is sort of weird, especially if the conversation is either A.) an argument or B.) between two characters that are supposed to be interrupting each other. Each actor has to deliver his lines as if he’s either cutting someone off, or getting cut off, without either actually happening. It’s like a slo-mo fight. “I hate your fucking guts!” PAUSE “Well your mother is –” PAUSE “Stop right there, bitch!” Because my lines will need to be put thru an effect later to sound like I’m on the phone, the witty banter between Matthew and I currently has trains running thru the pauses. Later Director Kittredge will push them together in post and make them overlap.

During “golden hour” we shoot a scene on the roof that is doubling for the NYC skyline. Of course, anyone in LA or NYC will screech that we couldn’t possibly double the LA skyline for the NYC skyline. (I imagine the LA peeps saying “Are you fucking kidding me?” and the NYC peeps saying “LA filmmakers are dumbasses…”). But the roof has a view that has all the roof stuff - air conditioning stuff, ladders, machinery - that obscures the actual skyline. So we’ll shoot the scene in that direction, then do one static shot of the reverse as a “plate” so we can lay in the correct skyline for the establishing shot in post.

We shoot over 9 pages today, which is incredibe, but of course I’m unhappy cuz we planned on 11. I’m SUCH a slave driver!

Today we’re shooting at the Melrose Lightspace, a classroom/art gallery space on Melrose Ave. It’s super cheap - $220/day if you book in advance, $120/day if you book the day before (roll the dice…). The space is perfect for shooting - versatile and cheap. I’ve actually been toying with an idea for a script that I want to shoot in there.

Once again we’re creating a fake wall within a larger space, but today we’re using the movable walls provided by the gallery. The set we’re shooting today is the “before and after” of a set we shot in the United Pacific Stages last week. In this scene a character enters the Starblazer Video offices (circa 1995), moves thru the outer office (Melrose Lightspace), turns a corner and enters the sleazy porn producer’s office (United Pacific Stages), has an argument, kills the sleazy porn producer, then runs out and back thru the outer office (Melrose Lightspace) and into the street.

The reason we have to shoot this section at this location is we simply ran out of time in our first location. We made the decision to push the outer office stuff based on the assumption that we’d be able to find a generic location in which we could create a set that matched the other part of the scene. Thankfully the Melrose Lightspace is just that. Part of the matchability is actually due in part to a storage issue. Along one wall of the Lightspace are several risers, normally used for classes, propped up against the wall, underside facing out. Turns out the undersides are the same color as the UPS location, and they work perfectly as shelves for video box inventory.

The second location we’re creating here is the hallway that leads to the “Empty Room” we’ve already shot at the Second City Training Center. In this scene the character walks down the hallways (Melrose Lightspace), does some business, then turns and enters the “Empty Room” (Second City). Bad things happen to the character at that point, so no need to film him running out, cuz he doesn’t…

The SCTC was too perfect for the “Empty Room” to pass up, so when they told us we couldn’t shoot in the hallway, the decision was made to push that part of the scene based on the assumption that we’d find a generic location in which we could creat a set that matched the other part of the scene. And here we are.

Today PA Kevin’s parents showed up to watch filming. We got a handful of crew members from the Ithaca internship program - Juniors and Seniors move out here for a sememster or two, take internships on films, in production offices, development departments, etc., for school credit, and hopefully make some good connections for when they actually move out here. I’ve used interns on most of the stuff I’ve produced to varying degrees of success. One of my past interns is actually not available because I got her a good paying job (sad for me, cuz she’s awesome and I’ll probably end up working for her someday), and this time around we got a couple guys who are really great workers and very dedicated.

So PA Kevin’s parents showed up and today was the perfect day because there was no nudity for the 15 minutes they visited the set. Phew! However, Director Kittredge did bust out with a “That was fucking goddamn good!” about 2 minutes after they sat down.

We’d planned to possibly shoot a quick insert shot at this location - We need a “POV crossword puzzle” shot pointed up toward the actor from below for a scene we shot earlier at UPS. The original set was basically black, so the camera department put some black cloth on the ceiling in anticipation of shooting the insert here at the Lightspace. Sadly, we ran out of time - we needed to get to our second location of the day, across town near USC - so we scrapped it for the moment.

We packed up the gear and drove down to the $40 diner location that I wrote about in the last Production Diary. The thought was we’d break for lunch, have everyone order off the menu for a change of catering pace, then start shooting in the location. I felt guilty about the low cost of the location, so I figured throwing some business their way during a time of day when they normally had no one in the joint would make me feel better.

$250 and 2 hours later (ugh on both accounts) it was time to go back to work. Strangely, once everyone got into the restaurant, it became ordering chaos, as if none of these people had ever ordered off the menu before. Super loud, and a lot of “Which is better, the meatloaf or the chicken?” questions for the waitress who obviously had more on her hands than she could deal with as she was covering the entire restaurant.

I felt like the disapproving dad when I had to tell everyone to hyper down and just fucking order their lunch, but I didn’t want that thing to happen that drives me crazy on film productions - The whole “We’re taking over and acting like this isn’t someone else’s business/home/location cuz we own the joint” syndrome. Our crew is awesome, I’ll say that a billion times, but I never want to encourage the “We’re doing God’s work, which gives us license to step on people” attitude that so many productions adopt. It’s just a movie.

Before we shoot inside the restaurant we need to grab a quick reverse of a shot we did at Director Kittredge’s house yesterday. In the scene one of the characters spies a character on the street as he drives around town (Director Kittredge’s place), stops the car and takes a picture of the person, then drives away. The reverse will be the subject of that photograph, now standing in the middle of the adjacent motel’s parking lot on an island of grass with a tree in the background. We have to put the character in the shade because the previous shot was filmed on a rare cloudy Los Angeles afternoon. Fingers crossed the shots match.

The reason we didn’t shoot the reverse with the rest of the scene was this would have been the only thing the actor would have done that day - stand on a street corner for ten minutes. We couldn’t justify paying a SAG day rate for that, so we pushed the shot to a day when that actor actually had a couple of other scenes. SAG Ultra Low Budget day rate is $100 a day, which sounds like nothing, but on the budget we’re working with $100 could be a day of craft service. We gotta save it where we can.

Once we move inside we’re set up in both the “big party” room and the booths just outside. The restaurant is still open while we shoot, although as we set up there are only two tables in the other section of the restaurant. There is low level ambient noise in the joint, but we’d have to put in “restaurant walla” in post production anyway, so this isn’t the worst thing in the world.

However…

Once we start actually shooting? Suddenly it’s time to chop onions with butcher knives on metal prep tables, dump bags of change on the counter to count, yell at the cooks, and those two girls in the booth around the corner? Talking, talking, TALKING endlessly about NOTHING at the top of their lungs. I swear, they’re talking at the same time not even listening to each other.

I mentioned how lucky PA Kevin was that we didn’t have nudity when his parents arrived, but we’re back on the naked track here at the end of our day. Once we finish the scenes in the outer area of the diner, we have one more left. Time is running out - we have 30 minutes before we’re kicked out - but the scene involves one character spying a surveilance camera, walking up to it, taking off all of his clothes and standing there for a moment. Now, I sort of left that scene off the list when I booked this location, so they don’t know we’re doing nudity today. So that’s going to be a challenge. Another challenge is the windows that cover every wall of the restaurant, allowing anyone walking up to the door, or even passing by, to see inside.

First job - grab every piece of cloth we have on set and clamp them over the windows in the “big party room”. Next, move all the equipment we’ve staged in there out, and all of the equipment we’ve been shooting with in the outer area into the room. Reset the “big party room” back to an actual restaurant. Frame up the shot. Post our crew in front of the door to the “big party room” in exactly the right spot so the patrons eating dinner can’t see in, but the camera inside the room can’t either. “Action!” Two takes of the actor walking in and stripping off his clothes, and we’re out.

We managed to get almost everything we wanted to get today, with the exception of three short scenes involving a payphone and an actor that will be out of town for the next three weeks. This actor will also have some insert shots to do, so we’re just going to cross our fingers that he doesn’t bleach his hair or get horribly scarred on his trip so we can match the footage already shot.

We have four days off, starting tomorrow, then we move into FJ’s loft for three days next week. Sadly Matty left today for a business trip for those four days, so I won’t get to spend them with him. I will be doing mostly nothing for as long as I can, reenergizing for the last push…

Two days off was amazing. I feel totally refreshed!

On Sunday we scouted FJ’s loft, which is perfect for what we need. HOO-RAY! Such a relief. And just to make sure you don’t think DP Ivan is a mean dude after the blowup story I wrote about the other day, here’s a picture of him holding one of the kitties that live across from FJ’s place.

On Monday we scouted a diner that Bobaloo recommended. He appeared in a music video for some band that shot there, and as we frantically searched for diners that weren’t $5000 a day, he remembered that location. I grabbed Director Kittredge, we drove down near USC and there it was - a perfect diner. We talked with the manager who was more than willing to let us shoot there, as long as we paid the extravagance sum of $40.

Yes, $40. For an entire day of shooting. I couldn’t believe it, and in fact felt almost guilty about the price. I mean, I like a deal as much as the next person (my Jewish boyfriend has beaten that into me), but $40? We told her that we would have the crew eat there, so we could throw some business their way. “Okay, but if the bill is less than $40, you won’t have to pay…” STOP IT!!!! Finding a location this welcoming for this cheap? I’m sure we’re on Punk’d.

Now we just have one location left - an office that can stand in for our porn production office from 1995. We’ve already shot part of the scenes in the UPS location, so we need something to match. And we need it for tomorrow. Morning. Yikes.

Today we’re shooting a ton of driving stuff, as well as some exteriors. We decided to use Director Kittredge’s apartment’s exterior as one location, and the streets nearby for all the others. So we’re back in his apartment.

We need Sunny LA to match another shot, and of course today it’s super gray and rainy. Fuck. We’ve used up our cover set, so we have no choice but to shoot today. We figure out we can shoot everything we’d planned except one shot, which we’ll have to pick that up on a future day of inserts and pickups. My compulsive need for clean lines, things in their place, and completely shot out scenes rebels against this notion, but logic wins. Stupid logic.

We’re using Dave Cobb’s car again, so today starts with me driving out to the valley, picking up the car (and transferring all the craft service from one trunk to another), then dropping off the SAG payroll information, THEN hitting my bank to deposit the check for the 2nd place win at the Indianapolis GLBT film fest for Socket (four months later). So I’ve worked for two hours before our 11 A.M call.

We steal all of the exterior shots. We ain’t got permits, cuz that’s how I roll. And to permit all of our locations would cost another $1,000 or so, which we can’t afford. No coppers show up - the only real danger is all the dog poo in the grass around Director Kittredge’s block.

Next up is the continuation of a scene we shot way back on Day 3 in the UPS location. Two main characters enter a stairwell, descend into the darkness, the reemerge in a new location - basically some dream logic going on. We shot the first part - opening the door to the stairway, entering the stairway - at UPS, but we had to push the actual “in the stairway” shot. We never picked it up at that location, so last night I came up with the idea of shooting it in Director Kittredge’s front stairway. It’s inclosed, and with the right lighting you’ll never know that it isn’t some creepy dream stairway.

In the script there is a scene where two characters are parked in a lookout spot on Mullholland Dr. Actually shooting up there would be tough, mainly because we’d need a generator for the lights (costly) and we’d have to permit the location because the residents would call the cops on us the second they spotted the camera.

So the solution is to set up a green screen in Director Kittredge’s garage, shoot the scene, then composite the skyline in later.

In the middle of our day, after wracking my brain, I remembered a location nearby that I’d scouted for Socket. I took a quick trip around the block to get the phone number off the front door, then called the guy. I asked him if there was any possible way we could shoot in the space tomorrow. “Actually, it is available tomorrow, and you’ll get the last minute booking discount of $100 off the price, so it will only cost you $120 total.” Holy shit! It’s raining location deals! We’re set for tomorrow!

The only real downside today is I tried to get away with not shopping for craft service because of the small crew - oops! We had a ton of some foods available - basically anything that would keep over the weekend, like packaged donuts, candy, breakfast bars, soda and water, etc. And since we were starting at 11 A.M. I didn’t feel like we needed coffee (which we never finish anyway). But we tear thru the stuff we have pretty fast and by the time lunch rolls around every one is starving.

I’ll make it up to everyone tomorrow. We’re ordering off the menu at the restaurant for lunch, so turkey reubens for everyone!!

Shooting at Top Design, a design studio that is owned by a friend of Vegan Production Designer Doug.

One of the first things we shot today was a scene that we’d pushed from last week involving Bret Wolfe. This is a continuation of the tracking shot we did in the UPS location - We started with the two characters walking thru the porn production office with all the stuff happening in the background, then the characters turn a corner and we pick them up in a different part of the production facility, which is actually this location clear across town.

Part of the shot involves Bret arriving in a robe, presumably from shooting a scene. We did two takes - one, the LOGO version, with the robe closed, then the “Uncut Director’s Cut” version with the robe open and Bret nude underneath. Bret is a sport and had not qualms about the nudity, except that it was cold in the location. He’s also about a foot and a half shorter than Pete Scherer, the actor playing one of the leads, so shooting the over-the-shoulder shots for the scene was tough. If the camera was positioned wrong, it would look like a scene from Lord of the Rings between Viggo and one of the hobbits.

Next we shot a scene involving the porn producer character, played by Steve Callahan, and some “porn newbies” auditioning for him. To get these featured roles cast, both of which required full frontal nudity and a sex scene with another dude, took multiple casting calls. We were set to shoot this scene a week ago, but one of the actors dropped out. Rescheduling meant we had to lose the other actor as well, so I was back at square one for naked guys. After putting out ads last night on Craig’s List, I had a bunch of responses. I had them all meet me at the set (Director Kitredge’s house) one at a time the night before so I could suss out their reliability and whether or not they looked like wannabe porn stars. Of the lot, I had two who weren’t scared off by the street-side interview (we couldn’t go into the apartment because cameras were rolling), so I booked them both.

Then just as I was leaving the location I got an email from an honest-to-goodness porn star, Enrique Currero. A friend had forwarded the Craig’s List ad to him, and he was hot to do something outside of porn. Apparently he’s worked in independent film before, and thought the project sounded cool. After chatting with him on the phone, I booked him as well - My thought was normally you have a high flake rate, so I’d book three and fingers crossed at least two would show.

Next morning - wouldn’t ya know it, all three showed! So now instead of a couple, we had a big gay three-way auditioning for the porn producer. Enrique arrived with his manager/boyfriend “To make sure this is legit…” He is actually very sweet, and beautiful in person. Director Kittredge and I figured out how they should be positioned - one fucking another one doggy style while he makes out with the third - and then left it to the three men to decide who was what position. Enrique told us, “I should be top, to fit with my image…” and the guy who wanted to be the bottom was more than happy with that arrangement.

All three were very comfortable with being naked, and excelled at bad porn acting. This is one of the very few humorous scenes in the film, and as far as I can tell these guys nailed it. Speaking of nailing, yes, I looked and yes, Enrique has what it takes to make a very good top.

Fighting light today - have exteriors that require it, and our therapist’s office is all windows. Rasool Jahan, “Carol” in Socket is working today shooting one of her two roles (the “Therapist”.) It’s great to have her on set again. This girl needs to work more, so somebody put her in more movies. We originally cast Georgia Jean (also of Socket and Gay Bed and Breakfast of Terror) in this role, but a series of circumstances conspired to make her drop out - mainly a car accident and a move to another state. I was bummed, as was , but double casting Rasool made sense for the film, so the transition was painless.

I’ve raged against other folks who have bailed in the past, but Georgia Jean’s circumstances are legit and unavoidable, rather than “I’d just rather do something else,” so she gets a pass. We had another actor miss a day because his mother died, and yet another actor may miss his day because his father is ill. Both completely understandable, but it makes me wonder why misfortune is in the air these days.

I’m hitting a wall, as are many people. Today during a long take I leaned my chin on my hand, then woke up to “Cut!” I’d totally fallen asleep at the production table. We just had a day off, but it was only our second in 11 days of shooting. We’ve made the decision not to shoot Sunday and Monday, and two days off in a row sounds like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one.

We shot with Dave Cobb’s car today/tonight, making this the second time the Sebring has appeared in one of my films, the first being Nine Lives. When I picked it up he asked “What scene are you shooting?” “It’s a car accident where the character slams into a truck full of Jarts, then careens over a cliff, rolls down a hill and lands in the LaBrea Tar Pits…”

The one thing that has changed since I used this car last is the driver’s side door is broken - you have to use the outside handle to get out. Since we had a shot of the character pulling up to the driveway, then getting out in one unbroken take, the 1rst AD Mike had to scoot up to the door, out of frame, and open the door for the actor to make it look like he could actually get out of the car.

Tomorrow we scout FJ’s apartment as a replacement for the loft we lost last week - fingers crossed it will work!

Today we did what most low budget filmmakers do at some point during the shoot - we shot in the Writer/Director/Executive Producer’s apartment.

Director Kittredge’s place stands in for one of the character’s L.A. apartment, and we literally shot it from one end to the other.

There isn’t much to report this day, except that our moods are pretty much at the breaking point, as evidenced by the fight between Director Kittredge and DP Ivan. Now, let me state for the record that this happens on EVERY shoot at least once. The production is working on too little sleep, trying to make something great, and there is always a point when it all boils over and there is a fight. The key is, at the end of the day, to make sure everyone parts friends if possible.

The circumstances are actually quite humorous in hindsight. I was sitting in Director Kittredge’s office, with Data Manager Mike, the new makeup girl who had arrived about an hour earlier (to sub in for Makeup Goth Gage who had to go to the Siouxie Sioux concert), and Director Kittredge’s husband, Rob. This office is not very big, and it’s currently packed with equipment and Director Kittredge’s furnishings that are not being used while we shoot. Suddenly DP Ivan comes storming into the room, obviously angry. He goes off for a few moments, then Director Kittredge’s walks in (followed by 1rst AD Mike) and shuts the door behind him (to keep the impending blowup as far away from the company as possible). The bell clangs, and the two of them go at it while the five of us are trapped not two feet away from them in this tiny room filled with stuff. I literally was backed up against a wall.

In the middle of it all my phone rang. I was coordinating some naked extras for the next day, and they were all calling me to get the info. Do I answer my phone? Hmmm …no. I also considered stepping into the fray, but figured this was something that needed to happen for whatever reasons, and just let it play out.

As quickly as it had started it was over. Director Kittredge and DP Ivan went back out, got the shot, and I called a ten-minute walkaway break so everyone could take a breath.

At the end of the day everyone was friends again. We live to fight another day.

We made our day today, which is great. Tomorrow we shoot at another location in the Valley, which is somehow appropriate for a movie about porn.