ICEBERG

Alright, here we go...

It's been a mess.

It was looking up at first. I was able to secure the location I wanted to do the band rehearsal about a week in advance.

That was the only good news.

My backup for the quit actor quit, so I met with Grant last Saturday to discuss our options. We brainstormed several alternatives, the worst case scenario being that we cut out a character altogether to keep the same amount of actors.

And until yesterday, that last solution was looking to be the case.

Drew has a friend that he thinks can fill the role. I got very anxious, because he invited them to the rehearsal even though I (still) haven't auditioned them. So that was a source of stress for the past 24 hours.

But finally, I was able to calm down and accept that I've done all I can do, and things outside of my control will happen regardless (which is actually a good way of thinking; whenever you get stressed about something, only worry about what you CAN control, not what you can't).

Twenty minutes ago, I had to cancel tomorrow's rehearsal.

Three people weren't going to show (for sure), one of whom was friends with the actor that quit, and doesn't feel comfortable around people they don't know, so they only want to be there when we start shooting.

At this point, everything's so topsy-turvy. I don't have a definite cast list or schedule anymore, and the knowledge that there is no guarantee that this movie will actually be made is starting to become bigger, stronger, louder.

So, at points like this, I have to seriously ask myself: Is this movie worth it? Is it worth going through months of trial and error just to have a script that might not even be good be seen by strangers who could tear and rip your movie apart?

My answer: fuck yeah.

I'm not abandoning my ship. Sure, a few leaks have sprung that might/might not have wiped out half of the boilers. If this ship does goes down, then fine, I go down with it. But I need, need to do everything in my power to make sure that this movie sees the light of day. Because that's my job.

"I am da captain now."

Had to say it.

Script Read-Through

Yesterday was the main cast script read-through.

Including myself, there were six people in total. Only one person didn't show up, but we were able to go ahead without them, reassigning their role temporarily to someone else.

Grammatical issues aside, reading through the entire script went better than I expected! Despite my anxieties, everyone really seemed to enjoy it. Before everyone left, I  and it seemed that the rest of production was going up from there.

A few hours later, I got a text. One of the main cast members who attended the read-through has dropped out. They feel they've got too much on their plate at the moment, and I can understand. Fortunately, I do have a backup in mind, so it's just a matter of seeing if they're up to the task.

We'll all be meeting up again on the 23rd for a music rehearsal. In the meantime, I've got a lot of work to do...

March - Month in Preview

For the next few months of production, I will be making these types of entries at the beginning and end of each month, aptly titled "Month in Preview" and "Month in Review". For the MiP posts, I'll be going over how I generally expect the month to go in terms of the film. For MiR, I'll go over how the month really went, what goals were/weren't met, and how I could learn from what occurred.

So I'll be starting this short series with...

March

In a perfect world, this will be last month of pre-production.

The read-through with the main cast is this Saturday, and there I'll be getting an overall feel for the cast chemistry for the first time. It is also when I'll be able to get schedules sorted out. Keep in mind that several of these kids are seniors in high school, and this project is just one of many that they have on their plates. Once I get a clearer view of scheduling, I'll be able to properly secure my locations to shoot sometime in April.

I also need to complete my prop shopping this month. I have a complete list printed out, and several I know I can obtain without hassle, while others I'll need the American Dollar for.

And costume shopping! Costume shopping is going to be very important. I can't have these guys wearing shirts from 2018 when they're supposed to be in 1999.

The trickiest part of this is going to be "band rehearsals". It's going to be interesting teaching a mix of people who range from fair instrument proficiency to never having picked up a pick how to play these stupid af songs. It's going to be disjointed, but I'm counting on that. Just so long as it's the right kind of disjointed...if that makes sense.

I'm really not too worried about cast rehearsals, because I'm not too worried about people sticking to the script. As long as these interactions feel real, that's all I want. And if all else fails, the script is there to lean back on. It's a support, a site to build upon.

I re-watched This Is Spinal Tap yesterday. That was a film that really shaped the direction I want to go with this film. As far as I'm aware, there was no set script on that film whatsoever; they were just THAT good at bouncing off one another. Of course, there was HOURS of footage they had to go through to put the story together. But it's still brilliant.

This isn't going to be anywhere near that, but it's going to be fun. :)