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Meeting Mark, Julia and Bill
"You're fired!" Mark yells at Bill. Bill smiles. He's been fired 4 timesthis morning - 2 more in the following 24 seconds. Julia assures me you'renot in Mark's movie until you've been fired. She explains it's this littlegame they play where he fires people, mostly Bill. It's silly really, shesays. Mark fires her. Day 1 Sunday July 20, 1997 Today we begin filming at Todd-A-O (formerly Skywalker Sound, so it's doublycool). The movie is in two parts, separate stories shot in separate locations."Dear Jenny" stars Melanie Lynskey, Wil Wheaton & Lisa LoCicero and will beshot in Los Angeles, while "Love, Trevor" stars Corin Nemec, Yelena Danova &Steve Valentine and will be shot in San Francisco. Lots of cool andinteresting actors will stop in for small parts throughout the shoot, from Mr.Blackwell (of "Mr. Blackwell's List of Best Dressed") to James Michael Tyler(Gunther the Rachel-smitten coffee shop guy in Friends). Today's special because it's the only day we'll be filming actors from both stories on the same day. My job involves a lot of little tedious things - far more than I knew aboutwhen I decided to become a script supervisor. Every time the camera rolls, Iannounce which scene and take number to put on the slate so the sound and filmrolls coordinate with the script (the master shot along with all the differentclose-ups and angles within a single scene have to be labeled separately). Inturn, I note all of this in my script for the editor's reference during post-production (so he knows where to find a particular shot during our non-chronological shooting schedule and which take the director prefers). I alsokeep track of what we've shot and what we still need to shoot, the runningtime of each take and how much screen time we've shot and still owe, and allcontinuity (from knowing what word the actor was saying when he set down theglass during the master shot to making sure all props and wardrobe areconsistent throughout the scenes). It can be pretty stressful, especiallysince everything needs to be kept straight throughout the entire shoot. We begin the morning by shooting a series of successive scenes with Melody(played by Melanie) sitting at her receptionist desk, answering phones in onescene, daydreaming in another. I call scene 19 scene 26 by accident, Wardrobecatches the error, and I have to admit to the crew I messed up on the 2ndset-up on our first morning. Mark leans in. "You're fired." We then shoot the theater scene with Wil and Melanie, then record voice-overstuff with Corin Nemec and Steve Valentine, followed by lunch. Costume designer Caroline walks over to discuss the day breakdown (the numberof different days as written in the script) with me and Mark, imploring him tocombine some days or she'd just have too many clothes for the budget. Sheloses some fights, then gains one which throws off my whole day count. Sinceit's Day 13, Mark suggests we omit it and say because it's unlucky. I say notif you're an Addams Family fan and I am. We eventually get to the car scene, which involves Corin and Steve drivingaround town with the camera stuck out the window (facing them) and directorMark and sound Dean scrunched down in the back seat. A group of us sat in avan and waited for them to get started (then for them to move on). Mark'spleased because it's the really small film crew he'd rather work with (insteadof dealing with juggling different departments and keeping up with whichresponsibility goes where).
We finish at the LAX parking lot, where huge planes fly right over our headsand over palm trees. Very picturesque, but it scares one of the crewmembers. |
Okay, so I'm in the Foreign Correspondents production office to meet producer Julia, UPM Bill, and Mark the writer/director whom I will woo so he'll hire me to be his script supervisor. If you're lucky enough to be the scriptsupervisor on a movie, you get to sit next to the director and write lots ofnotes in your notebook that very few people understand. You also get to weara stop watch. Daylong proximity to the director is a requirement, workingwith a nice director is a luxury.
During a break, Corin and Steve get in the van with us to enjoy the airconditioner. Corin's sporting an English accent that's very convincing. Whenwardrobe Bethan, who's from Wales, asks him where he's from and he answersArkansas, she says she thought he was from London. He smiles - his accentpassed! Then Stan gaffer and I start talking about The Dark Side of Oz, which I watched last night. When Corin hears us talking Pink Floyd, he says helikes Pink Floyd, but didn't know about the Wizard of Oz thing. Steve andSherry want more details, which I give them (you watch Wizard of Oz with the sound down and listen to Dark Side of the Moon, and it becomes a whole new music video). Corin says he'll have to try that - but it sounds like he should have a couple of mushrooms before, huh? We laugh, and the conversation turns toward Mars Attacks! (Steve played Sarah Jessica Parker's TV director). Eventually talk swings to Corin's father being a production designer (Twister, Speed 2, Patriot Games), and they're called away to work. |