Brown-nosing

Ah... the life of a big director/producer...

I would love to tell you that like all the big guys - I come to the set, sit back, relax at the monitor with a cup of coffee and watch the action unfold in front of me whilst giving orders that are followed to the T.

In truth - I spend my day a lot more like that hippo.

I find that people are at their worst when acting out of insecurity.

I am not immune to this syndrome.

I don't want to say I was a raging idiot yesterday - but I did have a couple moments.

When you are the guy in charge - it really means you serve everyone else. And on a film set - even the lowliest position can ruin an entire day by forgetting one tiny thing.

You take what you do to another culture and you run into a whole slew of other issues as well. I spend all my time trying to speak two languages, interpret for others, keep my star happy, think about schedule, convince my SF producer that this is how things work in China... blah blah blah.

We had four set ups yesterday.

The first one went OK. We had to get some distance on the background because we had a pretty bold print on the wall. I tried to break it up - but the only pictures we had were from a 70's rec room. They weren't Dog's playing poker - but they would have fit in fine right next to that. So we had to rearrange the the whole thing - and by that time - we were sort of lit into a corner.

By the time Annie came out - it wasn't where I wanted it- but we were already getting a bit behind schedule. Oh yeah - another problem. No AD. Just me. So I get to do both jobs.

And my art director Bill makes a bunch of lists of what to get - and inevitably - they don't get anything on his list - which makes him sad - and me sadder - so that adds up.

We somehow make it through the first set up - and get to the second.

And the second almost kills us.

For some reason - my SF producer doesn't like the background. At the time - she was killing me - cause she knew something was wrong - but she just didn't know what. John, my DP was killing me - cause I kept warning him about this set and that it would be tough - but he wasn't figuring it out. The wardrobe was killing me - because, despite what I asked for- there were no outfits that worked on this set.

It all conspired to kill me. And you all know that it's all about me.

We fell further and further behind - until we were almost an hour and a half back.

I was five minutes from killiing the set entirely.

And then - suddenly it worked. And the sun came back out and the birds starting singing - and I had to kiss a lot of butt and we all settled down and got into a groove.

The last two sets moved along swimmingly and suddenly - all was right with the world.

We are shooting in a giant soundstage that we have 7 standing sets in - taking up a lot of space. It is a ton of work and I spend a lot of time running back and forth between places - trying to make sure we keep everyone going.

I go get Annie when its time to shoot.

I go get the producer when I need something.

I go get my computer when there is a script problem...

Anyways. Somehow I tweaked my knee yesterday - and I'm in a lot of pain. Last night it was getting pretty bad. Today - Its still no good. But we have a big day.

Lots of action.

We need to kick some butt and make it go well.

Here's hoping....

Watch me while I do the hippo.....