I’m pretty sure that most people like the behind the scenes content more than the actual film, so we just decided to only make the behind the scenes content so, here you go. That’s a joke, by the way.
A few months ago I wrote a short film called The End that means a tremendous amount to me. I’ve had endless conversations trying to think it through and refine it. Then finding the right actors, location scouting, bringing on crew, all the normal hard things it takes to make something you’re proud of. Then, this past weekend was the actual day of the shoot. Our lead actor flew in from New York City and we spent some time hitting it off and then began to talk through the role. Now prior to this we’d been sending rehearsal videos back and forth to refine the character so he was pretty much ready to go but we still talked through the details of his look and the other nuances that were hard to do long distance.
We arrived at the location mid afternoon and crew began setting things up as we stepped through the script. The sun set and we started to dial in the lighting and the overall look of our scene while our lead was in makeup. It took a little while to get going, as it often does, but this shoot was different. See several days before I had checked the weather and to my great concern, rain. Now there was no rain before our call time or after we had planned to wrap, but rain all during our shoot.
We brought rain shelters to protect gear and crew, but with the rain came wind, and a ton of it. At times we were paused on shooting just to keep shelters from flying away and at one point one of the shelters literally took flight and we had to jump up and grab it. Eventually lakes began to form under the tents and in the trench where all the shooting was happening.
The night continued to devolve as we abandoned the vast majority of our shot list outside of our lead actor Nathan, who had to fly back to New York the next day.
In the end we only got maybe a third of what we set out for, but I also got to watch something incredible. Amidst the stress and discomfort of what we were enduring, I never heard a single complaint from anyone. The challenge brought us together and we problem solved from one issue to the next, deep into the night. We had planned to wrap at midnight but by the time it was all over I ended up in bed at 6am. I almost fell asleep on the way home! To many this night would be a failure, and in a way it was, but in another way, a much more satisfying and real way, I got to spend time with friends in a storm fighting the elements to try to make something awesome. And, I know we’ll figure out how to complete the film despite our setbacks, it’ll just be a slower process than I had planned.
Creativity always has to bend to reality, but when you run into something immovable, I hope you’ve got a team like we had, because succeeding is awesome, but the process of failing can surprise you. I also hope you don’t waste your energy being upset about the things you can’t change, because when you choose to ride the ride it starts to feel like a roller coaster, going up is nice, but going down, while terrifying, can also be way more fun.
Like I’ve said before, success for me is not defined by what you get at the very end whether it’s money or accolades or whatever. It’s about the friendships you make along the way, and nothing builds friendships better than adversity so in my book this shoot was a success. Even though we don’t have a film to show you we still have some rad BTS and really that’s what everyone wants anyway so, who cares. By the way there will be a film coming at some point so keep and eye out for that, just not right now.