Int:
Vandalia IL, and Cottleville MO

A beautiful, sunshiny, warm weekend.  I almost forgot what those were like.  Yes, of course we were running late.  Of course everything went wrong. What you think  anything goes according to plan?  For us?  Really?

Saturday started out a little late.  And I’ll take the heat on that one.  It was all me.  I thought we had more time than we did.   What I didn’t keep in mind was that we were running with a skeleton crew.  Justin our makeup guy was graduating this weekend. (Congratulations Justin!), but fortunately we’ve gleaned enough from him and we were either brave or foolish enough to go ahead anyways.   Tim and Maria were doing tornado clean up (you can’t really plan for that one) and T had her daughter Kayli’s confirmation this weekend. (Congrats Kayli!  Sorry we missed the party) .

So, I should have been thinking every minute counted.  Instead my head was in a “we have time” and “it’s not a long shoot”.  Well it is when there’s only four of you to do everything and you’re used to eight…  We arrived in Vandalia a bit behind schedule (which actually worked out okay because Christian was having car trouble, so we stopped and got him on the way)  got into our location, and then showed the cast why we wouldn’t be shooting there the next day (the foot of water in the basement).

Stanislavsky once said “There are no small parts, just small actors”.  This weekend is proof positive of that.  When I first wrote the script, which is very drama heavy, I wasn’t sure how this was going to play out.  Is there enough talent in the area?  Can these folks here in little old St. Louis bring the depth to these characters that they need?  I mean, it’s St. Louis…. I don’t know if we’ve just been fortunate, or if there is an abundance of untapped talent in the area, but there have been so many amazing performers that have been involved with this project.  Even the little parts.  Kerri, Christian and DeHaven took these small roles, and really did some wonderful stuff.

We got DeHaven in makeup which took 2 hours, and that young man gets the “Trooper of the Week” award, for patiently sitting while his makeup was done, and then having the contacts put in.  He’s a brilliant little talent, who takes direction amazingly well.  So well that I got to try a couple of things just to see what worked and what didn’t.  So big massive thumbs up for the little guy who delivered big!

Kerri played Brian and Jacob’s mom.  She’s pretty, chatty (and I mean that in a good way) and has flawless, poreless skin.  She looks wonderful on camera and is a lot of fun to shoot with.  She’s got some real talent, and I really want to see her in a bigger role, because I know she could do wonders with it.

Christian, who was cast as John for Summer, but had to back out due to an injury, played Brian and Jacob’s dad.  When he’s waiting for his takes, he’s quietly sitting outside, smoking a cigar, or listening to his iPod with his eyes closed.  Despite being in a back brace (which I wanted him to keep on for shooting because it added some dimension to the character)  he still was willing to try any suggestion I had.  He’s the kind of actor that builds up to the performance.  But once you explain what your wanting and he has a chance to physicalize it a few times, he’ll give that one great take, and you’re done and moving on…

Kerri and Christian took the brunt of it this weekend though.  This was Clark’s last shooting day.  And not only did we have to get them in makeup, but we had to carefully match the blood stains from the night before.  And after all the time it took to get them in makeup, we set up and started shooting.  The first two shots took next to no time to get right.  It was the third that had the potential to be a problem.  And it was…

I hoped we could get it in one take.  It took six.  We had to wait for makeup to be reapplied, and honestly, we only called cut when the stunt prop broke.  But the last take did the trick.  And after that we were wrapping up.

It was mothers day, and I had a cast and crew full of moms and people with moms, and I have to take a moment and publicly apologize for keeping everyone late.  So to Kerri, Karen, and Mandy, sorry about that.

And then, it hit, like it always does… we’re finished with Winter.  Now, you may imagine that it’s a bunch of high fives and jumping around and a victory lap.  The reality is, for me anyway, it’s a quiet sense of relief and satisfaction.  The thought that itches in the back of your head is “If this person leaves, we have to scrap everything with them in it…”  You never feel completely safe until it’s over.  So if anyone there thinks I was feeling let down… no, I wasn’t.  It was more like the weight of the world was lifting.  I really was and am in a great mood.

I wanted to make a big thing out of the last day of shooting Winter, but by the end of the day, I could tell everyone just wanted to go home.  So did I.  So we said our goodbyes.  I can’t believe it’s almost over.  We’re down to the last bits and pick up shots, almost a year after we started filming.

So this coming week, we may be shuffling some stuff, because they’re forecasting rain, as I edit furiously.

More to come.  Stay tuned…