Today I roll out of bed knowing that, depending on a location I’ve never seen, we could possibly finish principal photography for Socket. No pressure.

Wait, I mean tons of pressure. Gaffer With All the Toys has hotboxed me into a “situation”. He needs to know if we’re working tonight by 2pm, because if we’re not, he’s going to take another gig out of town and needs to get on the road ASAP. If we are going to work and can finish principal photography tonight, one day early, he won’t charge us for the tenth day for which we booked him. If I don’t get back to him with a decision, he’s going to charge us for the tenth day regardless. Is this making sense. To sum up - I need to get my ass to the location, scout it, and let everyone know whether or not we’re working tonight in time to save hundreds of dollars.

I arrive at the location - a power plant near I-5. Hmmm…This could possibly work. In fact, it will work. I’ll make it work. It’s not in the middle of a field like I wrote in the screenplay, and it’s not on a hill, but it will work.

And not only will it work for the climax of the movie, but with some creative angles, this location will double for the hospital parking lot for two scenes. Score!

Phone calls are made, work is scheduled for 6pm tonight.

This will be the first day of shooting that involves no permits - run and gun, fingers crossed that we won’t be caught by the cops. I’ve shot run and gun before and never had a problem, but this time it’s my film as opposed to films I’ve produced for others, and it’s the (maybe) last day. We’re sort of fucked if we can’t get the three scenes we need shot tonight.

So, here we are, giant production truck, crew, lights, cast, and enough cars to create a parking lot. Nothing to see here.

The first scene up is Handsome Leading Actor’s confessional phone call to Swarthy Young Leading Man’s character. HLM has to completely break down in his car (Vegan Producer John’s gold SUV rental). So while the camera and sound are being set up as quietly as possible in the SUV, HLM and SYLM rehearse. Once again HLM impresses me with his committment to the role. It’s uncomfortable being so close to him while he’s losing it. Once the camera and sound are set, and HLM’s makeup is touched up, SYLM and I slide into the backseat. The camera rolls, and HLM breaks down. Twice. Although this is a heartbreaking scene, there is humor in the execution. At one point HLM is supposed to start the car, but doesn’t have the keys. Thru his tears he says, “I don’t have the keys…”. I gently tell him it doesn’t matter, just make the motion of starting the car, and we move on.

Next is the parking lot scene, which is just Swarthy Young Leading Man racing out to his car, jumping in and driving away. Since we’re in a dead end street, and the building next to us is the same depressing shade of gray as Entertainium (which has stood in for the exterior of the hospital), we line up all of the crew’s cars tandem style and voila, parking lot.

And finally, the climax scene. Handsome Leading Man has driven to an electrical plant (I won’t give away the ending) followed by Swarthy Young Leading Man. Because we’re shooting without permits, I’m paranoid we won’t get everything we need with the power plant in the background. So we set up the camera to shoot everything favoring the plant first just in case we get kicked out. Done. Now we set up the cameras to capture the reverse, which includes two cars screeching into place and the drivers jumping out and hitting their marks - all in one shot, naturally. Done.

And then…it’s over. We’ve completed principal photography on Socket.

In nine days.

During the day today I got a little misty, thinking about the possibility of finishing tonight. I had an anticipatory lump in my throat all day. And now? Now it’s done, and I should be collapsing in a heap on the ground. But I’m not. I’m just happy.

And not finished shooting. Stay tuned for one more day of shooting.