May 22, 2009 by me.

The good news is, we finally have enough funds to pay one of our SAG actors, which means we can release more of our pilot online. The not-so-good news is, it may be a bit before this happens, as I again need someone to help me do this… technology, technology, technology… ugh.

But yeah, something new to look forward to..!

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May 20, 2009 by me.

I have to say it was fun (albeit a little tiring) walking around the CBS lot. Part of this was my own doing, as I had brought my backpack with me and true to form, it was weighed down with a mess of things inside. So traveling from soundstage to soundstage for the various breakout sessions was a bit of a personal production, this due to the fact that I tend to be directionally-challenged, even while walking (my friends call it a quirk; I find it rather annoying, but there it is).

Still for me it was a bit wierd finding myself walking down Gilligan’s Island Avenue (or maybe it was Road or something) and later Mary Tyler Moore Street (ditto), standing in line for lunch on New York Street and checking out the buildings, stores and commerce signs dotting the ’shops’ along the lot. This being the weekend, most productions were of course closed until Monday (well, excepting one of which we’d all been cautioned to be respectful of the cast and crew at work, and so to keep myself from being a pest — I tend to ask a lot of questions) I stayed away from the shoot completely), still I found myself wondering what shows would be shooting there in the following days and yeah, how busy the lot usually is with people bustling about and…. things like that.

Having been in a different soundstage the previous night and seeing everyone at work (the camera crew, the sound guy, the warm-up guy, and the crowd of people watching the monitors during each scene) gave me an insight I hadn’t previously — and for this I am glad to at least see it all from this side of the stage and screen. As for when I and my mates will get the chance to do some creating of our own… well, we’ll see what happens.

Ugh, I’m running out of time again. Next time (if I don’t forget), I’ll touch on Q-factors and the one ring/two ring phenomena…

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May 11, 2009 by me.

When it comes to obtaining certain city shots, guerilla shooting just isn’t the way to get things done. Take for example, our scenes at Engine Station 8 — conveniently located not only Cermak Avenue in Chinatown but around the corner from Mandarin Kitchen as well.

We knew we needed at least one shot depicting Richard at work as a fireman and another approximating a jail scene for Julian, but in order to do so there were several permissions we needed to obtain, beforehand. Among these were the District Chief and the Chicago Fire Commissioner, who both required information as to how the station was to be used in the scene, in what context and for how long. Finally, with the stipulation that their Fire Media Affairs Director be on site with us during our shoot, we were allowed on site and subsequently gained the footage we needed for “Bubble Tea & Sympathy.”

For the cast and crew, it was a fun shoot. Not only from seeing the Chicago Fire Department in action (the engines and ambulance went out a couple of times while we were there) but also from the stories told us of when the cast and crew from “Backdraft” had also shot a few scenes in their station.

Some months later following the Competition, I was able to return to the station with a copy of our competition DVD and show our pilot to the on-duty staff. Needless to say, they were most supportive of our lead character Richard as being one of their own — a strong but silent, lovable guy-next-door type on whom you can always depend, again and again.

So it goes without saying that it’s our hope (and intention) not to let any of them down about Richard…

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