It's All Downhill, Where's The Brakes?

I remember on my third movie, Striking Range, we were a few days out from principle photography and I remembered Scorpion Hill as a kid. It was a hill in our subdivision with a road and cul de sac, but had not had any houses yet built. We took a powerless go cart to the top and rode the thing to glory down the hill. About half way down, I realized we had a serious design flaw-- no brake.

THat's what it felt like a few days before shoot. Why? Because we were cutting more corners than I had on the first two and I just knew some things were falling through the cracks. And they were. But that's okay.

So what do I feel now, four weeks out from principle photography on Rising Stars? The dreams have picked up-- just like they always do at this point. Dreams of being on the set. Some just work-type dreams, maybe a few nightmares here and there.

Usually we have an official prep that is five or six weeks. So I'm feeling uneasy about that. Spent some time on the phone today with Stewart Young, the Line Producer. I asked him point blank, are we okay with an official three week prep? He said he thinks so. Because of all the work I'm doing. Scary.

So what work am I doing? Well, we've been casting and have a significant chunk of that done. And that's a big part of prep. Thanks to Cindi Rush, Michelle, Andrew, Bill, Robert, Jeff Rodgers, Tracie Morgan... we've taken a big bite out of this.

Next is locations. I wrote the script to be mostly shot on a college campus. Today I got word that the one I wanted is a "no." Wasn't meant to be. So now I'm chasing the others we had been looking at. This is the biggest piece of the puzzle right now. I can't do housing and some other things until we know where we're going to be.

So that's the story from the director's chair on this, four weeks out and counting.