"Cinderella Drives A Pick-Up" Day 1 and Day 2

Status report:

Two days.
18 pages (17 pages, 6 day one, 11 day two)
14 hours of shooting.
Three hours of footage.
Four cast members.
Six crew members.
Two work lights.
One china ball.
1 case of water.
One mother.
One sister.

It has been an amazing, exhausting, inspiring, overwhelming, incredible weekend.

DAY ONE:
We began an hour late on Saturday. I had hoped to start by 2:30 but, due to numerous circumstances, I don’t think we got the first shot off until after 3:30. A bit worrisome but, somehow, miraculously, we wrapped by 6:15 and I think we got everything I wanted.

Reduced an eight page scene into five pages, changed locations three times, I think, until I decided to just use the Ark Theatre, since we had access to it. Tidied a lot of extraneous things up with the script on the fly.

Great cast. Vanessa Mizzone as Jessie Andrews has really channeled my voice and my thoughts. It’s amazing watching her work. She’s effortless, natural, comfortable. A.J. Bowen as Nick Whitaker, one of my favorite actors and one of my favorite people, is so easy on the eyes and easy on the director. Michelle Welton as Allison found a very nice level to what could have been a cardboard character. It was such a pleasure to start the shoot working with these talented people. They make my job so easy, having done do much work on their own, bringing their thoughts and ideas and working so comfortably with me.

Great crew. Kate Murphy, my DP, I met just a week ago through a friend at a birthday party. Somehow, within hours, she managed to begin to read my mind and anticipate what I wanted. Her input over both days was invaluable. Her respect for me while offering up suggestions was just what I wanted with a DP. Meagan Lindahl, script supervisor, is a luxury I have never been able to have on one of my one projects. Her eye and her gentle voice really helped keep things on track and make sure we got everything we needed. Tracey Gorin, what would I do without her? Not sure I can do a project without her somehow involved. My favorite collaborator, Chairman Barnes, a producer who understands that working on a no-budget feature means that he will end up playing PA – in this case, holding the reflector or the “dolly” (also known as a moving cart), or dropping a bolt on the ground over and over again.

Kinda weird having Mom and my sister, Cindy there. Mom gets bored easily. I get my short attention span from her. Cindy, however, was fascinated by the process and also I think by hearing our story out loud from girls that are not us. But it was also great having them both there, sharing in this very special weekend.

Birthday party afterwards that I stayed at way too late but I just couldn’t seem to leave. Two great cakes, as it was my birthday and my friend, Patty’s, birthday. The grown-up cake with chocolate mousse from Michelle and the cute kiddy cake from Chairman with a pick-up truck.

DAY TWO:
We got started pretty much on time today. Had a lot of pages to do – 11 1/3 altogether. Lots and lots of dialog. God, I have to learn how to write shorter scenes. Vanessa Mizzone and Suzannah Fagan really have such terrific chemistry. It’s so easy to buy them as sisters. Cindy was particularly pleased with her counterpart. And I think Suzannah enjoyed meeting Cindy to get an idea of who she is playing.

Kate continued to be great, very collaborative and very respectful. Peter Ross Stephens was our token boy-toy on set… or slate bitch as he was fondly referred to. He didn’t seem to mind being trapped on a set all day with six creative, talented women.

It was startling to look around and realize that the entire crew practically was female. It was completely unintentional. I had originally brought on a male DP who never returned my phone calls and apparently never checks his email. I’m glad I found Kate. She was a perfect fit. She cannot do the whole shoot but the person she is being replaced by is another very cool woman, who stopped by the set today to check in. The energy on the set was just so generous and so warm. It was nice to have so many women around.

Spent the day making vats of fudge for the scene. We celebrated the end of the day by toasting with the best of the fudge.

This was an incredibly fulfilling weekend. I cannot believe that we hav even started on this venture. I never really thought I would see this piece on film (video) really. I just didn’t think it would happen. But way back in November, sitting in an IHOP in Vegas, Chairman assured me that he had faith that this project would get off the ground. So many friends have told me that they really thought this project was going to be THE PROJECT for me.

And now, the day after my 44th birthday, I sit in my living room, dubbing the dailies from yesterday and today, hearing my own words cascade out of the speakers, watching my own dailies. It’s astounding. Some day, maybe I’ll be jaded and not be so emotionally charged over these things. But this film is special and I can never thank all the people involved for their time, their love and their passion for this project. The biggest blessing is that I get to work with my dearest, best friends and my favorite people on the face of the earth. My mother said to me last night at dinner, “Wow, they all really like you.” I laughed. Of course they do. Because I like them, well, maybe love them. So blessed am I.