Stress, Editors, and Monicalogues: The "Pink" Month in Review
Wow! Long time no blog. Almost a month now. I'm assuming it probably has something to do with the fact that I've been busy and exhausted...Nonetheless, here I am on my lunch break, finally taking some time to chart the last month's "Pink" progress.
Sometime towards the beginning of the month we finally went ahead and filmed the birthday party scene, which is sort of the centerpiece of the film. As a writer, I honestly can't tell you how gratifying it is to walk into a house where people are throwing an honest-to-God birthday party for a fictional character that popped out of my head during my early (bitter) college days. Birthday parties, as some of you might have guessed, are sort of a recurring theme in the stuff I've written - in fact, there are TWO birthday break-up scenes in "Pink" alone. This is thanks in no small part to that most notorious high school mishap of mine: the night I got dumped on my 17th birthday. To this day, as most of you know, the month leading up to my birthday is always riddled with daily e-mail reminders of my special day. Dane says I'm like a child and that no one should take their birthday this seriously, but, hey, aside from the years I've spent with my family at Paul B. Johnson State Park, my birthdays have almost always sucked. So I figure, what the hell? Maybe if I remind people to be nice to me, they might actually do it. :)
The birthday party scene quickly evolved into the first semi-official "Pink" cast party, rolling on into the wee hours of the morning (we're talking 4-5:00 here.) This might not have been the best idea we've ever had, seeing as how Gregg, Kelly, and I all had to be up at 8:00 the next morning to meet with a potential editor...He ended up flaking out on us for one melodramatic reason or another, but still, it was cool to discuss how it will all fit together.
Towards the middle of the month I had a little bit of time off, which allowed me to put in some quality time at Chaffe (i.e. to make sure I don't get fired.) Then, just last week I went back to Oxford to film a couple of days worth of Monica's monologues (we call them "Monicalogues" for short.)
This past weekend we finally managed to set up our New Orleans Lucy scenes with Jessa, the shot girl Keith and I befriended at the Famous Door almost a year ago. I felt a certain amount of pride, I must admit, finally making good on my promise to put her in a film. (Lord knows there are probably millions of people nationwide who've said "I'm making a movie" but who've never actually gotten around to...you know, making a movie.) We also had several guys onhand to play the guys getting dumped. Among them, my buddies Leo Olivier, Tim Horn, and Michael Indest, as well as Meredith and Tony, who played the ultra-happy married couple. Everyone did a great job and we had a really great time, but unfortunately the scenes were deemed sub-par by the powers-that-be. Thus, we have to go back and re-film them in Oxford during the first weekend of April. Such is life. We're going to make a road trip out of it.
On Monday, we filmed two of my very favorite scenes, the first being the second half of the Mindy and Michael scene, starring the very talented Miss Sarah Fineout. One of our cast members decided not to show up, which means Big Head Gregg got to be in yet another scene (I hope you're sooooo happy, Gregg! hehe) Anyone who laughs at the same things I laugh at will find it impossible to watch this particular scene without saying "I'd do it myself, but it's just REALLY PAINFUL right now" like a million times.
After that, we trucked it on over to Kelly's place to film the soon-to-be-notorious bunny rabbits scene starring Marta Dees and Billy Armstrong. Marta of course was ravishing, decked out in pink and black lingerie and an awesome black silk robe (special thanks to Frederick's of Hollywood.) And Billy, being her perfect counterpart, is one of those guys that girls start giggling over, all hunky and well-built - the kind of guy you'd never want to leave your woman alone with for more than a few seconds. He's a great guy and everything (made the trip from Houston to help us with filming), but I'm sure all the average-looking males out there will appreciate what ends up happening to him. Serves him right: good-looking asshole. hehe j/k Say it with me, kids: "Talk dirty to me, Super Daddy Rabbit!"
Winding down this monthly wrap up is the Ben and Olivia scene, which we filmed at Two Stick yesterday afternoon. What I found most interesting about this scene is that our actor and actress - Beau Kenny and Laura Watson - were both called in at the last minute to fill in for some other drop-outs, and yet they did a better job than I believe anyone else could have done. It's funny, I know Beau through his sister Missy, whom I've been promising to put in a movie since mid-high school. Here we are ten years later and it's her BROTHER that got a part. hehe Sorry, Missy. But, if it's any consolation, Beau (and Laura) did a killer job. (Now that I think about it, though, it WOULD be funny to cast a brother and sister as two people on a date...Or have I been watching too much "House of Yes"?)
Anyway, I'm here in New Orleans once again, eagerly anticipating Easter and next week - the home stretch of the filmmaking process. We're having a great time, but that 5-hour drive every weekend is really starting to wear me down. People say to me, "J, you are really losing weight!" And I say, "No, I'm just wasting away to nothing."
Now then, before I sign off, how about another round of WHO CAN SPOT THE INSIDE JOKES?
These all come from the same scene.
1) In the abovementioned bunny rabbits scene, the characters Tiffany and Caleb refer to each other as Momma Rabbit and Big Daddy Rabbit. Who inspired these nicknames?
2) During one shot of the bunny rabbits scene, Marta's character Tiffany lays down on her stomach with her feet up in the air and a book laying dog-eared in front of her. What is this a reference/homage to?
3) BONUS: At one point in the bunny rabbits scene, Tiffany tells Caleb that his "thing" looks like a Vienna Sausage. Where did this description of the male sex organ come from? (Hint: it has something to do with a funeral.)
By the way, congratulations to Steve Morris for being the only person to have correctly guessed why one of the sex-driven characters is named Claudia. Way to go, Whiggy!
Until next time, Happy Easter Everyone. Oh, and be sure to check out the pictures from this past weekend's shoot in New Orleans. (I'll be posting them shortly.) We won't be able to use any of the footage we shot, but at least we got some cool pictures out of it...and dinner at Joe's Crab Shack too. *Thanks for the pics, Joey.*
Sometime towards the beginning of the month we finally went ahead and filmed the birthday party scene, which is sort of the centerpiece of the film. As a writer, I honestly can't tell you how gratifying it is to walk into a house where people are throwing an honest-to-God birthday party for a fictional character that popped out of my head during my early (bitter) college days. Birthday parties, as some of you might have guessed, are sort of a recurring theme in the stuff I've written - in fact, there are TWO birthday break-up scenes in "Pink" alone. This is thanks in no small part to that most notorious high school mishap of mine: the night I got dumped on my 17th birthday. To this day, as most of you know, the month leading up to my birthday is always riddled with daily e-mail reminders of my special day. Dane says I'm like a child and that no one should take their birthday this seriously, but, hey, aside from the years I've spent with my family at Paul B. Johnson State Park, my birthdays have almost always sucked. So I figure, what the hell? Maybe if I remind people to be nice to me, they might actually do it. :)
The birthday party scene quickly evolved into the first semi-official "Pink" cast party, rolling on into the wee hours of the morning (we're talking 4-5:00 here.) This might not have been the best idea we've ever had, seeing as how Gregg, Kelly, and I all had to be up at 8:00 the next morning to meet with a potential editor...He ended up flaking out on us for one melodramatic reason or another, but still, it was cool to discuss how it will all fit together.
Towards the middle of the month I had a little bit of time off, which allowed me to put in some quality time at Chaffe (i.e. to make sure I don't get fired.) Then, just last week I went back to Oxford to film a couple of days worth of Monica's monologues (we call them "Monicalogues" for short.)
This past weekend we finally managed to set up our New Orleans Lucy scenes with Jessa, the shot girl Keith and I befriended at the Famous Door almost a year ago. I felt a certain amount of pride, I must admit, finally making good on my promise to put her in a film. (Lord knows there are probably millions of people nationwide who've said "I'm making a movie" but who've never actually gotten around to...you know, making a movie.) We also had several guys onhand to play the guys getting dumped. Among them, my buddies Leo Olivier, Tim Horn, and Michael Indest, as well as Meredith and Tony, who played the ultra-happy married couple. Everyone did a great job and we had a really great time, but unfortunately the scenes were deemed sub-par by the powers-that-be. Thus, we have to go back and re-film them in Oxford during the first weekend of April. Such is life. We're going to make a road trip out of it.
On Monday, we filmed two of my very favorite scenes, the first being the second half of the Mindy and Michael scene, starring the very talented Miss Sarah Fineout. One of our cast members decided not to show up, which means Big Head Gregg got to be in yet another scene (I hope you're sooooo happy, Gregg! hehe) Anyone who laughs at the same things I laugh at will find it impossible to watch this particular scene without saying "I'd do it myself, but it's just REALLY PAINFUL right now" like a million times.
After that, we trucked it on over to Kelly's place to film the soon-to-be-notorious bunny rabbits scene starring Marta Dees and Billy Armstrong. Marta of course was ravishing, decked out in pink and black lingerie and an awesome black silk robe (special thanks to Frederick's of Hollywood.) And Billy, being her perfect counterpart, is one of those guys that girls start giggling over, all hunky and well-built - the kind of guy you'd never want to leave your woman alone with for more than a few seconds. He's a great guy and everything (made the trip from Houston to help us with filming), but I'm sure all the average-looking males out there will appreciate what ends up happening to him. Serves him right: good-looking asshole. hehe j/k Say it with me, kids: "Talk dirty to me, Super Daddy Rabbit!"
Winding down this monthly wrap up is the Ben and Olivia scene, which we filmed at Two Stick yesterday afternoon. What I found most interesting about this scene is that our actor and actress - Beau Kenny and Laura Watson - were both called in at the last minute to fill in for some other drop-outs, and yet they did a better job than I believe anyone else could have done. It's funny, I know Beau through his sister Missy, whom I've been promising to put in a movie since mid-high school. Here we are ten years later and it's her BROTHER that got a part. hehe Sorry, Missy. But, if it's any consolation, Beau (and Laura) did a killer job. (Now that I think about it, though, it WOULD be funny to cast a brother and sister as two people on a date...Or have I been watching too much "House of Yes"?)
Anyway, I'm here in New Orleans once again, eagerly anticipating Easter and next week - the home stretch of the filmmaking process. We're having a great time, but that 5-hour drive every weekend is really starting to wear me down. People say to me, "J, you are really losing weight!" And I say, "No, I'm just wasting away to nothing."
Now then, before I sign off, how about another round of WHO CAN SPOT THE INSIDE JOKES?
These all come from the same scene.
1) In the abovementioned bunny rabbits scene, the characters Tiffany and Caleb refer to each other as Momma Rabbit and Big Daddy Rabbit. Who inspired these nicknames?
2) During one shot of the bunny rabbits scene, Marta's character Tiffany lays down on her stomach with her feet up in the air and a book laying dog-eared in front of her. What is this a reference/homage to?
3) BONUS: At one point in the bunny rabbits scene, Tiffany tells Caleb that his "thing" looks like a Vienna Sausage. Where did this description of the male sex organ come from? (Hint: it has something to do with a funeral.)
By the way, congratulations to Steve Morris for being the only person to have correctly guessed why one of the sex-driven characters is named Claudia. Way to go, Whiggy!
Until next time, Happy Easter Everyone. Oh, and be sure to check out the pictures from this past weekend's shoot in New Orleans. (I'll be posting them shortly.) We won't be able to use any of the footage we shot, but at least we got some cool pictures out of it...and dinner at Joe's Crab Shack too. *Thanks for the pics, Joey.*
posted by J. Wiltz at 3:52 PM
1 Comments:
hey, i have a good idea why her name is claudia.
--joey
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