A web series within a web series
Movies about the making of movies (Fellini's 8 1/2, Truffaut's Day For Night and Tom DiCillo's Living in Oblivion) have long been among my favorites, so to realize this series of episodes about a production going off the rails has been incredibly satisfying.
Beyond that, it was a lot of fun because of the amazingly talented and generous actors and crew members. They threw themselves into this with a professional commitment to their craft and to the success of the project- but with no attitude. This makes for an enviable work situation (click on photos of cast to enlarge):
Trouble in Paradise
All the fun came to a screeching halt when it came time for the editing. From the sound files, it seems that the sound mixer, whose job was to record the sound in this episode, must have been having a very, very bad day. Thanks to the skill and care of our sound editor Laura Hanna you'd never know it. (Just to be clear, this actual crew member is never seen on screen.)
Props in a pinch
The 'wireless mic' (above) which Ava wears on her thigh was made by someone on the real crew. (Deb Micallef, Nik Kundel and/or Mike Huson) Fashioned on the fly, out of a box of Glide dental floss, a dead cell phone battery, an inter-tooth brush and some really good glue, Jennifer Sklias-Gahan sportingly taped it to her leg. (Please let us know in the comment section below if you were fooled on seeing it from afar. Come onnn!)
Riot on The HighlineThe day we shot this, Christine Cook had her first (and maybe only) short day in Season 2. She joined us for her (one bar of) butter pecan ice cream in the very late afternoon. Only by leaving a lot on the cutting room floor, was it possible to cut around the excitement Christine Cook stirred up on The Highline.
In case you want to watch again, here's the link to episode #30. (Episode #31 goes up on April 1st. Please sign onto the mailing list to receive the link to it and to the next blog. Thank you for reading and watching!)