-Shooting a film in LA/NY/Big City: You pay for locations, permits, etc... BUT cast, crew, and resources to work for dirt cheap are a dime a dozen.
-Shooting in Hickory: You pay nothing for anything. Don't need permits... BUT, finding cast and crew, resources, (in general,) are impossible.
"The reason I think we should shoot it here is because I can square down locations for free and that ultimately keeps the low budget," I said to Ryan.
"I don't give a shit where you shoot it." he replied.
"I've got two locations in mind... Shouldn't be a problem."
...........AH, Garrick and his big fat mouth..... Ol’ and lets not forget I haven’t opened the crew can of worms yet. Ol’ and lets not forget, I haven’t opened the crew can of worms yet.
Since losing Viewmont Square before I ever even had it, pre-production has halted to a stand still. As more leads and more leads dwindle, I begin to worry that we may not find what we are looking for. People are telling me I am over analyzing the situation by fighting to find an "All in One Location," and ruling out possible different locations for the different scenes in the final sequence of the film. I understand the “Beggar can’t be Chooser,” attitude, but you gotta’ also remember, I have 4 days to shoot this picture and in order to be able to fight to pay crew and cast, I’ve narrowed the Gaffer’s services to the two big days. The two big days being the:
1)Downtown Night Exteriors
2) The Apartment Finale Sequence
Both of these days will take all night to shoot, especially if we include the actual dialogued scenes at the end of the script that takes place in the apartment.
Let’s breakdown the dilemma:
SEQUENCE ACTION:
Scene 11 – EXT. APARTMENT - ENTRANCE (Can’t be shot during day or faked) Dana walks up the stairs, slams her key into the outside door and enters. Henry follows.
Scene 12 – INT. APARTMENT – LOBBY (Could be faked if shot close with lack of windows at location) Dana walks into common room and into elevator. Henry follows behind.
Scene 12A – INT.APARTMENT - ELEVATOR – (Could be faked and we should build a replica elevator for this scene to have full control over lighting, etc. You can’t use lights in elevator unless you can shut it completely down. At the rate we’re going, we’re not going to have that luxury. The alternative is another set up as well as added dollars to the budget.)
Scene 12A - INT./EXT. APARTMENT – ELEVATOR - HALLWAY – (Could be faked with lack of Windows) MAN gets off elevator leaving Dana and Henry
Scene – 12A – INT. APARTMENT – ELEVATOR (**See above) Dana exits elevator and down the hall to her apartment. Enters the key and enters the room. Henry follows from elevator, tackling her into her Apartment
Scene – 12B/13 - INT.APARTMENT - HALLWAY – (Gonna’ be real hard to fake on a low budget film) Dana and Henry wrestle around
Scene – 14 INT. APARTMENT – DANA’S – (**See above) The final scene with the cops etc…
Every one of those Scenes requires a sort of different location so to speak. Even so much as that extra floor needed so that the Extra Man in the elevator can get off was to be a location. All this has to be taken under consideration when we are on a four day shoot.
OK, so here’s how, “The Pieces of Location Theory” can ruin a low budget film.
Alternate locations I’ve been looking at have ranged from the Abbey Apartments to Broughton Hospital. Where Broughton has a couple perfect exteriors, they do not allow shooting on the inside of any building. The Abbey has the elevator, hallway to the apartment and maybe even apartment itself, but its hallways are very narrow, making it hard to light and it is an actual functional apartment complex where we won’t control the elevator, (seven stories of tenants to pick up through out the shoot.) There is no common room. The door opens into the elevator… That’s it. OK, so let’s just say The Abbey allows us a free empty apartment. So we have Scene _____ taken care of. What do we have now?
EXT. Broughton – Outside Apartment
INT. Apartment – The Abbey
INT. Elevator – A Set (Built Elevator using Flats) OR
INT. First Plaza - ** First Plaza on Tate has an elevator is closed after hours with a 24 hour security guard. That would be a key place to ask for, to get an elevatore we could shut down. If we get it, we have to find an elevator similar to that one that has the hallway leading into a row of apartments on at least a 3rd Floor. This location has yet to be found. Let’s just say for the sake of arguing: Viewmont Square turns over a new leaf and allows us the hallway needed to complete the sequence. Now we have:
EXT. Broughton
INT. Apartment – The Abbey
INT. Elevator – First Plaza
INT. Viewmont Square – Hallway
Now, let’s say I SETTLE to do it this way.
BOTTOM LINE: We’re looking at 2 to 3 hours to move, setup, breakdown for each small shot list for each location. Not only is doing this scene this way going to kill our budget and time, it’s going to interrupt the creative flow for the crew and cast. (Let’s not forget, the time spent in the editing room trying to conceal the little differences between the locations. The lighting will not be the same, nor can I imagine the elevators being identical.) If we get delayed in one location, it may screw us up in the location after, especially if somebody would be taking their free time to let us in to do the shoot. If I had two weeks to shoot, I would do it this way and that’s only IF I HAD TO. This system cannot be done efficiently on our budget and time constraints. Since beginning this entry, I have found a very kind gentleman that has offered his erray of hotels. I have also discovered another building in downtown that has an old school elevator and 4 floors to it. I am constructing a letter to the owner to see if maybe, he may be open to letting us use it. I toured the Hickory hotels over the weekend and have found a possible match. It isn’t at all what I envisioned, but may be a close enough match to justify taking it on.
In the end, I will withdraw my comments of saying that securing locations in the Piedmont area is one of the easiest parts of filming in the area. I will restate that using Public Property is a dream here in Hickory. Teresa Randle and the wonderful people of the city make my job easy. Using private property…. Ouch! The Charlotte Film Commission… Wonderful. Sent me dozens of locations that suited my needs, but I couldn’t fathom going to Salsbury to shoot my film and maybe before Leatherheads you could get away with a cheap location, but not now. Clooney slung some cash. Lane wouldn’t stand a chance this soon after of scoring what I needed. (And again, moving the location there boosts my room and board costs by 3.)
By next week, I plan on having this situation completely resolved and moving on with production. Anybody have any great ideas, you know where to find me. I’m all outta’ them.
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