publicity and respect

The mayor jumped. Press crews arrived, took picturees, rolled tape, interviewed Kat, interviewed me of all people, and interviewed the mayor. When they left we still had much work to do and impending thunderstorms.

The kids, all of them jumped off the Zilker Pedestrian bridge just as it began sprinkling. When we started moving to a new location, the sprinkles turned into a downpour that lasted from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Kat, Nathan, Stutter, Jody, Ryan, Adam, Jim and I sat up on our scaffolding (for a later stunt) and talked for about an hour. It was a nice moment there in the rain, with those people, starry, rainy sky.


Oh, and big fun, when I had a new crew person tell me they wanted a day rate of $75.00 to work on the set and if I didn't pay them that, well, I didn't respect them. I started to reason with this person, then I realized that there was real work to do and so I told them I'd get back to them. The person was sent away.

Having a $250,000 budget listed in the paper has been painful. Not only do we not have that budget, we are stretched very tight right now. It seems, however, that poeple still think we have it. Maybe that is where the demanding person got the idea to ask me for $75. It's kind of funny...however, even if we had a 250,000 budget, I wouldn't spend it on this person.

Truth is, money has very little to do with respect. On our set, respect is given and assumed, you don't even have to earn it.

While the incident was slightly disturbing, it's kind of funny that this person thought it was a good idea to get all demanding with the production manager when people are working all around us to get things going, and the Mayor is headed over to give me the details of his jump.

Back to the jumps. I was so proud of the actors and our stunt coordinator and stunt helpers. They were all brilliant. I have much respect for their athleticism, their bravery and their professionalism.

Leaps off bridges, leaps of faith

The jumps off the bridge take place to night.

There is scaffolding in the grip truck, Helium in our super star P.A.'s truck, and tables in our sound guys truck, all scheduled to arrive at the site byb 5:30 p.m.
Police officers and rescue divers will be ready to catch us as needed.

We've had struggles and hurdles and our crew arrives at the beginning of our fifth week happy, ready, a group of friends creating something bigger than any of us could do alone. We are a happy band, a tired, underpaid, hardworking happy band.

They took a leap of faith to work with us, each of them made that choice. We are indebted to them. They are our heroes.


Will the mayor jump? Who knows?

Once again Kat proves herself to be a treasure. She wrote a nice press release for Rescue Me, my simple little DoGumentary that plays in Dallas next week. I've not had time to think much past scaffolding and helium and stunts and mayors.

Off we all go...with prayers for sunny skies!

Week 4: Wherein Stacy falls ill, plays bad cop

Perhaps it's the lack of sleep, the starchy, fatty food, a lack of exercise, or communal sweating with a large group of people, but Saturday a.m. I woke with a bad feeling in my tummy. I ended up spending the entire day in bed, sleeping, and occasionally getting up to well...it doesn't matter what I did when I got up.

I've only been sick once in the past year or two. I have a cast iron immunity that is now showing signs of rust. The sleep did me good. The kindness of Karen Browning and Steve Canner did me even better; soup and juices were delivered to my door.

The day went off just fine without me, thanks to a kick ass crew. They say the sign of good leadership is being able to leave and have things go just fine. So, that is a good thing. Still, being a troubled control freak, something Kat and I have both admitted to and accepted about ourselves and each other, not being there causes a few niggling sensations that I'm starting to get used to.

While I like being Production Manager in general, the sad truth is, it's just not always as much fun to be in charge as it is to say, run sound or be an A.D. or work with the camera crew. I'm in the position, cause that's where I fit best here and I'm happy to do it. Still, it means I have to do two things that I'm still not used to doing: a) Math and b) being the "heavy" or "bad cop".

• On the math: Our new production accountant is coming aboard and helping with that a lot. Most production managers don't have to do all of the math on any given production. I'm just a freak about wasted time and money and I want to keep my commitment to the crew to pay everyone as promised and to provide them what they need to do their best work.


• On being the "bad cop": While Kat and I and Lorie share sensibilities, and discuss all the big issues, I am the one who generally has to tell people the hard stuff. Things like: "don't be late", "here's what I need from you", "this is your primary responsibility, I need you to focus on it", "please make sure you X, Y, or Z" and of course, "We won't be needing you again."
  

My standards for this crew are high, despite the low pay and indeed because of it. If someone doesn't do their job, someone else has to. If there is a negative or bad attitude, we all feel it. If someone feels something isn't fair, the teamwork suffers.

This crew is given freedom to do their best work, a small stipend, good food, heartfelt thanks and a fun, positive working environment. They know this is as much their film as anyone's. Its not just a "Kat Candler" film, or a "Storie Productions" film. It's everyone's film.

Kat says I am "the foundation" of this film. To me, that means I'm in the background, pulling lots of levers and trying to keep the machine full of gas and money, the crew happy and fulfilled and the schedule on track. It's a different kind of creative than running camera or directing. It's mostly fun, except for the math and the badcop part, I'm getting used to those.

Mistakes and Midpoints

Jumping off Bridges is halfway through production.
I'm a bit amazed by it all. Three weeks ago, I was up late scurrying through notes and emails finding any forgotten bits of things I was supposed to do, or things I'd put on the back burner and forgotten.
In the past 12 days, everyone on our crew has had at least one humbing moment, a mistake that happened and cost us time and/or money. They have also shone brilliantly, caught a foul ball or two, buckled down and come up smiling. This equalizes all of us, and by allowing each other room to fail, we also allow room for ourselves to rise up and become more than we knew possible.
This keeps egos in check and make everything more fun.

So, at the party I dragged Kat to that Suzanen and Mari dragged me too, I found Mayor Will Wynn, told him about us and the fees for jumping off the bridges, etc...and he said, 'what if the Mayor jumped?" I said, "well that would be pretty wonderful" and then I told him to follow me and led him to KAt, Suzanne and Mari and he told them the same thing.
Now, I'm working wiht the Mayor's office to get everything all ready.

wish us luck!

Static E

my nickname for the shoot is Static E
Kat's is SuperK and K-Rock
Tracy is Super T
Nathan is N Control.
they are all "rapper" names. I guess that's okay...

Week 3: Tolls

Our shooting is 1/3 complete.
This week begins Week 3.
Since we began, I've learned many things...many new things.
I'm sort of the "heavy". I don't like being the "heavy", or "bad cop". I prefer democratic, diplomacy, and I use it when I can. I've been told I'm "too nice" sometimes, the balance is hard.
So many people show up every time we shoot, just to work with us. I want their time to be fun, positive, an exploration of their own talents.
And, in the recesses are other worries: the homeless doc, my daughter, my sweetheart, and the homeless friends that are moving about their world at night.
My daughter is safe in Michigan learning Carmina Burana. My sweetheart is less than 2 miles away preserving his own sanity and being supportive and caring. I miss him.
The homeless are going about their days and nights, patching their lives together. Some are getting arrested, evicted, addicted. Others are sleeping under the stars and counting their blessings.

Me? I'm looking for an extra mag for this week to replace the one in repair. I'm talking to stuntmen and city officials about jumping off high bridges. I'm moving money around, stretching it like I did when I was a paying for rent and daycare on 17K a year. I'm trying to patch this film together one day at a time, thankful for all who have helped and asking more and more from everyone. I'm a CEO without the deep pockets or the cynical nature or the hottub.
.
I'll just bring what I have to the picture, I'll do my best.
When all is said and done, that's what I want all of us to do, I hope it is enough.

Time takes it's toll and offers us all these gifts along the way. As we move into another week, I'll practice creative preparation, prolific problem solving and patience.

I'm happy...Bobby McFerrin

Imposter syndrome is when you think you're totally incapable for what's in front of you. It's a situation where you expect at any moment for people to figure out that you really don't know what you're doing at all. I feel sometimes like everyone is looking to me to have an answer on the film, on the set, about this or that. Sometimes I do, sometimes, I just don't have a clue. It's so weird though when they look at me like they expect me to just "know".

It's a happy summer....I'm happy that our crew is so hard working and friendly. It's a fun group of people. We have support from the film community and from Austin businesses. We have actors that continue to work to bring the characters to life. I'm working 14 hour days, I'm exhausted, the lines around my eyes are deepening, I've seen more gray hairs lately, most of the time we're hot and sweaty and tired, still I'm also happy.

Meanwhile at Interlochen, Annalise is singing with Bobby McFerrin, taking voice classes, piano, choral music, and hanging around with a bunch of kids who love music. I just want her to have fun and be safe.

When the summer is over, we'll get to tell each other lots of good stories.