Our schedule was to shoot 6 webisodes in 6 days....Our director, John Asher, wanted to shoot an episode a day so that we wouldn't owe anything at the end of each day. This helped continuity as well as the general feeling of the cast/crew, but it was difficult with scheduling. With scheduling conflicts and several episodes with multiple locations, we knew we were going to have to make some company moves. Luckily, in the end, all of our conflicts worked out.
DAY 1: HOTEL PALOMAR, WESTWOOD
Our director managed to get us this location for our premiere episode for very little money. We had use of an entire floor, as well as some conference rooms to set up craft service and holding. The usual "first day" issues were there, people all trying to figure out what the show was, what the look was, and how we are all going to work together. But for me, it was really exciting. The crew was working really hard from the time they arrived, and still seemed very friendly and interested in what was being shot. Once we started rehearsing the master of the main scene, everyone's energy perked up. I think they were happy to see that this was going to be funny, and that their hard work was not going to be for nothing.
DAY 2: THE POST GROUP, HOLLYWOOD
Due to our DP's contacts, we were able to shoot our office scenes at a major post house in Hollywood, on a weekend that they were closed. This was one of the toughest locations for us to find, as well as to shoot. Our production designer, Elvis Strange, did an amazing job transforming the office into a hitman organization with wall and door graphics, personalized art dept., props...everywhere we turned he had some funny list on the wall-"Top 10 Rules for Handgun Safety" and of course "KILLZ" paint cans....it was a fun little set. The first day at this location we shot our fourth episode, which was two separate pieces that are cut between in the final edit.
This was a tough scene to make work because of the tight hallways. In the scene, my character (Anthony) chases Jessica Landon (Lola) trying to get the courage to ask her on a date. The chase goes down several hallways, back and forth. The director decided he didn't want to use any steadicam shots in the show, trying to create a very specific look. Plus, with the redrock and nikon lenses, the shallow depth of field makes it pretty tough to maintain sharp focus in this situation (i won't even mention the difficulty of hiding lights). So John decided to do his shots from the end of the hall, and then just punch in for coverage. It made for an interesting look.
The other part of the scene was a little easier to shoot because the actors are basically standing at a coffee station. But lighting the scene was difficult, with the walls so close to the actors, and no practical lights.
DAY 3: THE POST GROUP, HOLLYWOOD
This scene takes place in a conference room, with most of the actors sitting around a long conference table. John Asher, who's father was a director for 100 episodes of I Love Lucy, quoted his father about this situation. "Never do a poker film. The coverage will kill you!" And yet, here he was stuck in virtually the poker film situation, having to cover the entire table.
The lighting setups took quite a while on this day, because we wanted a moody look-and the walls were closing in on us....shadows become your worst enemy sometimes! Also, it is hard to get the most out of your shallow depth of field with the Redrock when you have so little depth in the set. But I think there were some fun shots, plus, this room gave Elvis Strange a lot of room to play.
DAY 4: SILVERA'S STEAKHOUSE, HUNTINGTON BEACH
Through a good friend of mine, we were able to use Dave Silvera's Steakhouse (Dave is the drummer for KORN) for free, on a day that they were closed. It's a gorgeous restaurant, and really brought up the production value of the show. This was going to be a tough day because we had to shoot a scene at the dinner table, as well as a fight scene in the kitchen. Fight scenes, for those of you that don't know, are tough to film properly, and take a lot of setups. We could have spent a whole day on the kitchen scene alone, but we didn't have that kind of time.
I'll tell you this...we were extremely lucky to have such a great location…and location contact. The manager of the restaurant, also named Dave, was so helpful all day long...and NEVER asked what time we would be done. We ended up having an 18 hour day...and he never got upset! This episode looks so great because of the time we were able to take...I should also mention that our crew never complained, either. In fact, our DP had to light a big photographic shoot on our day off, and when we were apologizing for keeping him so late, he said, "No...this is more important." That made me feel really good.... and if you are ever in Huntington and want a great meal, go to Silvera's....They are awesome, and the food is amazing.
