Meet the Elite Eight

[Behind the scenes on the set of Partners in Crime]

It's been even more crazy-busy than usual since the last time I wrote. In the past 6 weeks I have moved to a new apartment and made a new short film, each of which took a boatload of time as well as physical and emotional energy. Last weekend was the first weekend in over two months, since I got my new job, that I did not have to do anything moving- or movie-related. It was so awesome to not have any weight on my shoulders that it didn't even stress me out (too much) when my roommate's bedroom flooded two days in a row during the torrential downpours.

But, what I really want to tell you about is my new short! It is called, "Partners in Crime," and I am not going to tell you a single thing about the plot, cuz I am mean like that. You'll just have to find a way to see it! But I am going to tell you about what an amazing experience it was to make.

Way back in 2008, after completing work on "Smalltimore", which had an ensemble cast of 12 people, I vowed that the next film I would make would be TWO people. In one room. And they would both be mimes. And, during the short time that I remembered what a giant pain in the ass it is to shoot a film with so many speaking parts and subplots, I actually did write a short script that was set in one room with two characters. But, for various reasons I never shot it, though I still intend to. And no, they are not mimes.

So now in 2011 I had forgotten ALL about the difficulties of an ensemble cast and only remembered the good parts, which, in the end, far outweigh the tough parts anyway. So I am glad I forgot.

There were a lot of wonderful things about this shoot. I got to shoot in my friend Drew Rieger's AMAZING home in Mount Vernon, again (we shot Jason Baustin's "Gone Forever" there last Labor Day weekend). I got out of my comfort zone, i.e., working with Michelle Farrell as my Director of Photography, and this time had my dear friend Phil Calvert (who you may know as Thom in "Smalltimore") as our DP. All of that was great, but when I am on the set I am so laser-focused on getting it done that sometimes it is hard for me to enjoy the moment. But pre-production, for a change, was a different story.

Usually pre-pro is a giant pain. But, since we were shooting in one location, and the story takes place all in one evening, I didn't have to spend a lot of time worrying about wardrobe and continuity and location changes and transportation and parking and blah blah blah blah BLAH. My cast were all experienced and laid back, everyone was comfortable wearing clothes and jewelry that they already owned, and the ladies were cool with doing their own makeup and hair.

So let me back up a little bit and tell you what the true, true beauty of it was for me, as a writer, and as a director. Over the course of three years and almost two dozen productions that I have worked on, I have met a lot of talented people. For "Smalltimore," I was not in that situation, therefore I had to go through a lengthy casting process, which I did take my time on and therefore found some fantastic actors. For "The Red-Headed Menace," I knew who I wanted and again had an awesome group of actors, but it was a totally different animal than "Partners in Crime". "RHM" was a comedy short, again with a large ensemble, but no one had more than a few lines. So we didn't have a table read, we didn't have rehearsal, and some of the actors had never even worked with each other before they got to the set that day. I even shanghaied my friend Lisa, who had only agreed to be the makeup artist, into having an onscreen line, right on the spot.

But "PiC" was very different. This is a story that is important. Well, actually, it is a very small but important piece of a much larger and even more important project. A prelude, if you will. I knew what, and for the most part, who, I wanted for this project. I needed actors who were not only extremely talented but also who would personally invest in the project, and basically collaborate with me on the story. I needed people who would trust me, and each other, implicitly. And that is exactly what and who I got.

I want to tell you a little about each of them. I'm not sure who to start with, so this will be in rather random order. Of the eight actors, I had worked with seven of them before. Rain (Pryor) was the only one I had not worked with, though we had been talking for some time about doing something together. I actually had thought of her for the role of Melanie in "Smalltimore," but she was having a baby at exactly that time (and Kelly Coates thanks her very much for this!). Jessica (Felice), Michael (Alban), and Altorro (Black) had worked with me on other projects on which I was the Assistant Director, but had not worked with me on one of my own projects. Megan (Rippey), Kelly (Coates), Tony (Bonz, a.k.a. Antonio Jefferson) and Alexandra (Hewett) had worked with me on other projects on which I was writer, director, and producer.

Michael was the lead on "Gone Forever," which we shot in Drew's home last year. I helped with casting, though the final call was not mine. I pushed for Michael and was very glad when the director agreed with me. He played opposite Cici Carmen and honestly they may be the most ridiculously good-looking onscreen indie couple ever, not to mention TALLEST. They each have significant others, but for the sake of the industry, they should just make little actor babies. But more importantly, Michael is super-dedicated and while we worked together I was very impressed with his preparation and professionalism. I knew I wanted to write something just for him some day, and soon, before he gets all famous.

Kelly (a.k.a. Mel in "Smalltimore") plays his onscreen sweetie, and really, I just miss her. She makes me laugh all day long but the only time I get to spend any time with her is when I put her in a movie! In "Smalltimore" she didn't really get any action til right at the end, so the least I could do was give her a hot husband that you actually get to see throughout the movie this time.

The whole cast is pretty smoking, I must say. There is adorable Megan Rippey, who is simply onscreen candy (who can act her face off). She is sort of the free spirit in the story, a dinner party with everyone else being mostly overeducated type-A's. For wardrobe I asked her to, "show up in your hippie-dippie Sunday best." She arrived in a get-up so spot-on I didn't have to change so much as her earrings.

Jessica Felice plays Megan's onscreen sister, though I realized after editing the short down to the 9-minute parameters of the competition, I had dropped the expositional line that lets the audience know that they are sisters. So in the short version, sisters, lovers, you decide! I worked with Jessica on Steve Yeager's film, "The Rosens." She was such a pleasure to work with, I really wanted to see what else she could do.

I met Tony Bonz, who is an R&B singer, at the beginning of this year when Michelle and I made a music video for him. We got Tiger Dawn to play his onscreen girlfriend in the video. Tiger is incredibly talented, but Tony held his own. He had never done anything like that, acting onscreen, but he pulled out all the stops, and he trusted me. He truly is fearless and I thought of him immediately for this project.

I had seen Altorro at Stonehenge (mass auditions), I think, and also in some clips from other local indies before I met him at the casting call for "Gone Forever". He only had a small speaking role in "GF," but I could tell, strictly from his talent, that he was more often cast in leading roles. Still, he never had a moment's attitude and did a great job, and I kept him in the back of my mind for something in the future. Of the eight cast members, I knew Altorro the least, personally, and he was the only one that I thought might say no. I'm very glad he didn't.

I met Rain a few years ago, after she married someone I know here in Baltimore. She is friends with many of my good friends here, so we had these overlapping circles but we never hung out with each other until earlier this year. I had approached Rain in February about another project (not my own), which ended up not coming to fruition. When that fell through we were both disappointed, but we mutually decided that we would simply have to find something on which to work together. She was the first person in the cast that I talked to when I came up with the idea for the short, and she was on board immediately. Rain always has many irons in many fires, in addition to having her hands full being a mother of a three-year old, but she took the role very seriously and brought me a performance that packed the punch I was hoping for.

And then there is the lovely and talented Alexandra Hewett. Two years ago, soon after meeting her at the Creative Alliance, I cast Alex in "The Red-Headed Menace," and we quickly became friends. Last summer I cast her in a non-speaking role in the short, "Janis". I've seen Alex perform onstage several times, and last fall we were even cast mates in a production of "The Laramie Project" at UB. Alex has been so loyal to me, as a director, and as a friend. I really wanted to give her something much meatier to show her considerable range and talent. I did, and she did not disappoint.

I do want to tell you more about the time we spent together leading up to production, because it was very special and I want to write about it while it is still fresh in my mind, but alas, it is past my working-class bedtime! So you will just have to watch this space...

Journey... No, wait, REO Speedwagon!

Tonight I am listening to the sound of the rain pattering on the skylight in the second floor hallway, and enjoying my last few days of central air conditioning. Timmy (my yorkie) is doing the same, sitting beside me on the bed. He is nice and calm now. Earlier he was not too happy about all the thunder. Stuck in my head is an REO Speedwagon song that my friend Elizabeth put on my birthday CD last year (I haven't received this year's yet, HINT HINT). It was the first song on the disc and probably my favorite:

"So if you're tired of the same old story, baby, turn some pages.
I will be here when you are ready to roll with the changes..."


A week from today I move into my new apartment, one mile down the street from where I live now. I love the apartment itself, it is huge! But I was there to sign the lease yesterday and after spending just 5 minutes of the near-hour it took to sign everything and do the walkthrough, I had about melted into a puddle. I haven't lived in a place that had window units in 13 years. Oh well, the lease is signed now!

It will all be fine, I can't wait to move in, and make it my own. Well, my own + Bentley's own, though he keeps telling me he'll won't be there much. Which kind of sucks, because now that I am used to living with another person, I kind of like it, and Timmy does, too.

I feel like I need this new apartment, to go with my new life, my new job. Living in this house with Lisa, and everything about my life for the past year+, has simply been a lengthy transition. Preceded by 20+ years in the hotel industry, I had the last two years of the hotel job (and corresponding apartment) and new movie life overlapping, and now for the past year, no hotel job, no apartment of my own, just 12 months of limbo, trying to figure out if I could make it, and if I wanted to make it, as a full-time freelance filmmaker. The answer to both questions, apparently, is no. And this week really left no doubt in my mind about that.

I found this last year of trying to spin gold from thin air exhausting, and sometimes depressing. I did get to work on some wonderful projects, like Chris LaMartina's "Witch's Brew", Jason Baustin's "Gone Forever", and Steve Yeager's, "The Rosens". Some other projects were not always as enjoyable or of the same quality, though. And as a freelancer trying to make ends meet, I no longer had the option of picking and choosing what I wanted to work on. If it paid, and if I could convince the person writing the checks that I was the right person for the job, I took the job. But I also spent a lot of time talking to some very nice people with good ideas, but for whatever reasons those ideas never got off the ground. Michelle warned me about that early on, and she was right. For every 4 or 5 meetings I/we would have with a potential client, maybe one of them saw it through to actual production.

And while all that was going on, I was having issues getting my own project, my documentary on Joyce J. Scott, off the ground. I had plenty of time to shoot, but no money or equipment. I couldn't afford to go to New Orleans with her to film a very important project she is working on down there, something that I see as being essential to the film. Now I have a job and the money to go - and no time! But I will make it happen, somehow. I always live up to my word.

At the moment, I have another promise to live up to, and that is making a short for the 29 Days Later Film Project 2011. We had our first cast meeting last week, and it was simply inspiring, which was exactly what I had envisioned it would be. I don't want to talk about it, though, as I don't want to give anything away. But I will say that the cast is nothing short of stellar. Most often when I write, I hope and pray that the cast can succeed in translating the emotion that I put on that paper to the screen. But honestly, my cast is so crazy-talented and so emotionally invested in this piece themselves, I hope my writing can live up to their expectations.

Okay, I will tell you this much: most of the cast has never worked together, and many of them had never even met. But after putting these people together in a room for a little over 2 hours, the energy level was so high that I got next to no sleep when I got home that night, I was still so wired. They are each very strong personalities but very sensitive people, and that's why I chose them for this project, and that's why I knew they would appreciate each other. As different as they are, they are like-minded souls. When the meeting drew to a close, it was the actors, not me, who insisted that we have another cast meeting before I put pen to paper.

That itself was an amazing thing, and that is what really had me high that night. When I was managing the hotel at the same time as making movies, one was always interfering with the other. But now I have this great job and though I am not making movies all day, the things that I am doing are movie-related and are making me a better filmmaker, and the paycheck that I am generating there allows me to do the niceties that make all the difference, like bringing wine and cheese to a cast meeting!

I suppose that REO Speedwagon song is a love song of sorts, but when I sing it (as I do, very loudly, in my car with the top down whenever possible), I think of it as me talking to my Gemini self, my practical twin and my creative twin coming to terms:

"As soon as you are able, I am willing
To make the break that we are on the brink of
My cup is on the table - my love is filling
Waiting here for you to take and drink of

So, if you're tired of the same old story, oh, turn some pages
I will be here when you are ready to roll with the changes..."


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand DRUM SOLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(which I also do while driving in my car)