Thanks to the Producer

Well, had another meeting with the assistant director of the short film formerly known as "Drop Box 2" and we had some serious concerns.

DB1 was shot in one night, mostly adlib with few extra scenes. Most of the customers were encountered using the same setup in the same positions. It worked well and with two cameras, was a quick shoot.

However, DB2 came to me as a 20-page or so script. Going in, I was aware that we had 2 nights to shoot this, from 11 p.m. to about 5 a.m. We were tied to these times because we are shooting in an actual Blockbuster video store and can only shoot there when it is closed. That, along with the fact we got started 45 minutes or so late the first night and my extensive lining of the script, meant there was no way we could shoot this in two nights.

As the director, I certainly have a vision for how I want it to look. That goes without saying, right? But the writer/producer was in charge of securing equipment and scheduling the shoot. And two days just wasn't enough to get my vision on camera.

So, during my meeting with the AD last night to plan out our shoot for this coming Thursday night, she agreed. And being the wife of the producer, she was not shy about asking for another day to shoot. I should have been so bold, but I'm still trying to get a firm grasp on this directing thing and I am trying not to step on any toes. Regardless, Eric agreed, and so now we are going to have a third night of shooting. The truly unfortunate part of this is that we will probably miss the deadline for one of the film festivals Eric wanted to enter.

Even so, I'd rather miss one festival and make the film as good as I can make it, rather than make significant compromises that damage the quality of the short.