One of the best days on any shoot I have been on ever! Last night was so amazing. We didn't get started until after 10pm and then we shot a bunch of footage until after 2am. I didn't get home to sleep until after 3:45 am. Then up again at 6:35 to see that Rob left my coach and got to his day job on time(he's awesome after everything last night he wakes up and drives an hour and a half to get yelled at all day in the photo-lab at Wally World. AKA Wal-mart.
The shoot started out normal and we where getting the shots we wanted. The only bad part is that it was freezing cold. So we decide to try and find a place that was open and try to thaw out while planning what we would shoot next. Then Spiro suggests that we go a friend of his place called "the Joint" and we decide to check it out.
At first it seems like the guy at the door is not going to let us in then he finally gives in and as soon as we get in the place Spiro goes straight to the back and right up to the owner, who when he seems him gives him a hug like a long lost relative and Rob and I are introduced to Stan and his associate Paulie. The nicest guys in the world, Stan grabs us a couple of beers and we go to separate lounge so we can hear each other over the band.
For the next 20 minutes the four of us talk shop about the site, Stan of course understands the merit of what we are doing and starts telling us of all of these other events that he would like us to film that he is apart of.
We tell him our going rate $$$ and he likes the price. At this point Rob and I are really pumped, it's just par-for-the-course for Spiro and Stan.
The next thing you know we're are filming in the bar! Stan gives us the green light to film some raw footage for our opening for the whole show right then and there! So of course we put Stan in the shot next to the best looking blond in the room!
I know I am forgetting stuff but it was all good and a crazy gorilla shoot. We had the band get in on it "Vangando" that's there name. They we're really good to work with and some of the other patrons of the bar to fill up the shot. By the end of it I am getting handed business cards and shaking hands(getting um....very affectionate hugs from some of the women). As it turns out one of the cards I got was from the General Manager of the biggest night club/bar in the city. He handed me his card between takes and was like "We should talk, we gotta work something out" and began selling me on how great his club was.
I can't believe it, earlier that day we had tried to deal with the business office of a well known but smaller club and they sent me a curt email stating that they where "not interested".
Now usually I am not offended by rejection emails, but this one was really cold. Then the same day we get a Club that is so big I had not tried them yet because they are so intimating, and then they came to us.
It would seem that the moral of this story is that no matter what happens keep shooting. If you keep at it, and you have the right team together. Eventually they will come to you.
I should say that by "keep at it", I mean all of it. Specifically shooting though. Rob said something on the way back to my place that struck me as very profound.
He said "I love working with you" and I of course tried to respond with a similar platitude, but Rob being the mind that he is took it a level deeper and explained further.
He said "I love working with you because things get done. I worked with a way bigger company, more people and it was a whole lot of talk."
Rob explained that the ratio of talk to actual filming for the resources they had was ridiculous.
Something that both he and I learned early is that if you want to find success you have to keep filming, you have get on a set or whatever in pre-prod. Most important is to keep shooting, that's it.
FINAL THOUGHTS: on last nights shoot
I am sitting here in my apartment, with no real good prospect for what I am going to eat today. Not a whole lot of hope that I will be able to pay rent (and I am 1 month behind) this week. I can't seem to go back to sleep so I am tired. Most of all I am content, it's strange, it's some kind of strange monster but it is mine.
Many of you may not know this but I am a man of a certain faith, I've prayed about this specifically the night before. This was more then I asked for and more then I dared hope for, but I had faith that it would be taken care of. Do what you want with that, to me it's just giving credit where it's do without shouting about it in the courtyard of some church/synagogue/mosk/temple. He gives to me and I am grateful.
Hmmm, I wonder-maybe now I can sleep.
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