the zoo

I got hired on a film shooting in Kalamazoo. I’ve been living in a dorm on Western University’s campus for a few days so far. That’s a little odd, but it keeps the crew in close quarters which makes for good fun. This is the first time I’ve not been on crew from day 1 so I feel out of the loop but everybody is great and friendly.

Today is my day off so I don’t know what to do with myself.  I have books, today’s newspaper and a dvd player without any dvds.

-p.

All’s well

Shooting for All’s Faire in Love ended last Friday.  I was sad because I wanted to be there for the actual “thats a wrap” moment, but my time was up because I was on days and the shoot was nights.  Oh well. 

I’m still on to work helping out at the ol’ office. 

This was a really fun movie to work on, not sure yet if it will be a good one to see, but I will definitley have to go and call out everything I helped with.  Being in the art department with a great Art Director and Production Designer helped speed things along during the marathon.  If I don’t get into anything camera related I’d be more than happy to keep going with Art.  When I think about it, since highschool, if I’ve worked in productions whether it was theater, tv, or whatever, I was more into the art side.  I don’t think I realised thats what I actually liked doing and could do it as a career until now.  Weird.  Now all I gotta do is fight being pigeon-holed as a PA for life.

-pa the pa

Holly(wood)

Cedric the Entertainer is quite the fellow. 

Yesterday we had him wearing some big heavy prop/costume (don’t wanna give away the story), and he was cool with it, so the day went swimmingly.  Ann Margaret smiled at me too, its at moments like these that I must take a deep breath and appreciate the cosmos for working positively right now.  Cause I like it. 

We’re filming in Holly.  Which just dawned on me that its almost Hollywood, get it?  Not that funny I guess. But still..right?

Thus, the marathon continues.  I have Sundays and Mondays off, and as much fun as I’m having, I can’t wait to get some time to eat more and sleep well and maybe read. 

Oh yeah..so I found this canoe for the movie which is great, but the guy that we got it from has been asking if he can come visit the set, with 6 people.  I’m not that concerned, but I just think it’s odd that he’d want to drive an hour to see his boat being used.  It honestly probably won’t be worth it because the crew doesn’t need any extra bodies just chillin in the way for more than a minute.  Oh well.  I guess its kind of exciting. 

Renaissance people kind of freak me out.

-pa the pa

the silver screen

Pretty much ever since I’ve watched movies I imagined what my name would look like in the credits, opening or closing was fine with me.  I would even look for either part of my name up there, why, I’m not sure..maybe to pretend it was me instead of some guy in the grip department. 

Well, now that the ball is rollling in my quest for work, this small dream is starting to be realized.  It feels funky.  I’m not sure if I’m ready to say I’ve officially started my career or not, maybe its starting for me and I’m just riding along. 

Things are going well so far around here.  Art department rocks, everything looks great.  I drive a lot, but thats ok cause I like to keep up with all my NPR. 

Thats all.

-pa the pa

back in the thick of it

…well not thick yet, but I landed another job.  Hallelujah!

I’m the art PA on Alls Love in Faire.  I’m excited and very grateful.  So far I’m doing a lot of running around, and researching things.  Not too bad so far.  I forget if I talked about this before (probably have) but once again, I’m amazed at the convergence of so many creative and fun people for a movie, its crazy.  Hopefully egos don’t clash or anything.  

Since I started yesterday, I’m working the weekend.  It’s ok though.  I believe I’m well prepared for this jaunt, I shall keep things posted as much as possible.

-pa the pa

wrapped

Who knew it was gonna be this much fun.

The Man Who Collected Food wrapped production on Sunday morning.  25ish days of hard work, good times, and great people.  I can’t wait to get on to a new crew, but I’m definitely going to have some quality r&r this week.  This having been my first time working on a feature, I learned so much and am grateful for having the opportunity to work with such a helpful and welcoming group.  For the last time, I’m sorry I couldn’t write everyday about my experiences but I tried to make it a fun and comprehensive look into what its like working on a movie.  I hope you enjoyed this chapter. 

Till next time. (hopefully soon!)

my trusty clipboard

pa-the-pa

11 A’s

here are the 11 A’s to being a good PA

1. Awake
2. Aware
3. Alert
4. Active
5. Able
6. Agile
7. Apple
8. Ambitious
9. Amazing
10. Abominable
11. Assuring

Best Things

Today I decided to get crew to tell me some of the best things about working on this movie.  I got a lot, and I agree with pretty much all of them, or at least the ones I understand.  Here they are:

• 1st AD’s and Key PAs.
• All the free food you want.
• Not only is every day different, every minute is different and Iraq and maps of Africa.
• You get lights, all kinds of lights-you can break em’ and knock stuff over. And there’s the weirdest stuff said on the headsets, like “can you fly me some blood?” The props are good.  Don’t get to see skinned/burned bodies or have a whole living room filled with groceries filled with beans every day.
• Blood in copius amounts.
• Amanda Tong.
• The art lounge.
• Schnappsclapper.
• Crafty.
• Crafty.
• Poindexter.
• Crew.
• The pitz of Fritz (?!)
• Sitting in a director’s chair.
• My face hurts when I go home..in a good way.
• Wrap party
• David Cooper
• C-47 clippings
• Construction? Cones
• Bandanna Day
• Ocho Ocho Ocho!
• Wrapped panties
• Points
• Pine tree perfume.
• Getting Married
• Slumber parties
• Crafty
• Steady Cam (Will Eichler)
• “fuckin’ cranberries!”
• crew
• Helpful PAs (they carry heavy things)
• Music on channel 16
• Art dept. lounge (mood lighting & couch)
• Quote of the day
• When Cooper said “no!”
• 3’s
• Dave as Eustice!
• Laptop parties
• “Flashing!” pictures of course
• Ole’ Henderson
• Great extent of collective movie knowledge
• Funny impersonations
• Room tone
• Dance parties
• “fuckin cranberries!”
• Hobo Octobo beer
• Flaky Bob cereal
• April Showler
• “I do what I want-you want a beer?”
• Being hungover
• cha cha
• mid-afternoon 10-2
• keying
• mediterasian females
• “markel”
• Roger’s face in frame
• Working with Patrick (aw)
• Seeing Jesse’s sweet ass every day
• Taking naps at lunch with 3 dudes
• Working with and staring at sexy PAs
• Getting no sleep and working the next day
• Stealing Hugh’s ice tea
• Jesse keying while 10-2
• Special stock of 700T
• Slumber parties at the warehouse
• Sleeping with the wolf-pack (E squad) at lunch
• Staring at Patrick’s muscles
• James Mann’s gangster swagger
• Patrick’s dance moves
• Cleverly named C-47s
• Bandannas
• Air freshening G&E
• Zach B’s marathon condor ride back to the warehouse
• The entire group of actors playing “the victims”
• Jesse James Cooper (son of Jesse and James)
• Keying for 5min at a time
• Dr.Doom takes a boat ride
• Eichler stretching
• Weekends
• Matt blowing a burp in my face.
• Roger’s hair
• Travis singing
• Being an extra at the market
• Set/Hawaiian drinks
• sweating a lot
• Cast at conference center, esp girl with eye stab.
• sweet sfx make up
• Leah’s pierced finger
• James Mann x2
• Roger
• Mike Kelly
• Hillbilly grip suits
• Jack Stacking

Phew.  There were some repeats, I know.  I think the repetitiveness helps ensure how great they are.  Feel free to let me know any more that got left out!  It really has been a wonderful shoot and I love working with everybody.  We only have a few days left too, so I want to make the best of it. 

-pa the pa

Rest

After a marathon of working almost two weeks straight, today I have time to rest and see whats going on in the world.  The strange thing about working that much and for the majority of each day is that it goes by quickly, you’re always doing something so there is no time to think about time. 

We only have one week left of shooting, it seems like we’ve been working on this thing for 6 months.  The crew is still great and we have a lot of fun.  It’ll be sad to part, but I like to think I’ll be able to work or hang out with some again. 

Anyway, the shoot has been goin alright.  We were behind for a while but I think we’re ok now after going overtime and going a 6th day this week.  The last peice of the house is almost finished too, the walk-in freezer.  The fake cadavers arrived a few days ago and we got to see em, pretty creepy.  Once the room is all done and the art is set, its going to be pretty sweet, but I might get nightmares. 

We celebrated Friday with a Hawaiian theme Ocho Ocho Ocho party at the end of the night.  Crafty did a good job with everything.  It was fun.  I also got promoted to Key Set PA, I enjoy it, the other PAs make it fun and not stressful at all.  Sometimes I think we might be having too much fun and gotta remember to keep the task at hand, but a little joking around during some downtime never hurts.  Sparked by a strange conversation with a G&E guy about thunderstorms, we created a short comic strip called Dr.Doom takes a boat ride.  Check it out.

 

pa the pa

sorry

Yo. Sorry for no posts in a while.  I wish I could write every day when I get home, but I only have time to shower  and sleep right away.  Right now I have a few minutes to write a quick note while we set up for our next shot.  Things are going well.  Lots of fun.  We’re in the warehouse, the set is fantastic, sometimes I feel like I’m in a real house..the only bad thing is how hot it gets.  OK, thats all.  BACK TO IT!

-pa the pa