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…