This past weekend we completed days 5 and 6 on the set of About a Donkey. We skipped Sunday because we had a film festival screening for a past project (more on that in a future update). We're so proud of and excited about what we accomplished thanks to our hardworking team!
On Friday, we shot 6 pages only, but a scene that features 6 actors. So we had quite a bit of coverage to get. Thanks to The Local (where we hold IndieWorks) for loaning us their back hallway to convert into a hospital waiting room, we were able to work within our budget and make our day early (in 8 hours)! We got to experiment with the space and get some cool shots; and the performances were so on point (as I've come to expect from our talented cast). It was the first time we had Sarah Haruko (Cassie) on set and she was such a pleasure to work with. What comedic timing!
See behind the scenes of the day:
And check out these exclusive Stills from our raw footage.
On Saturday we had a huge challenge on our hands, trying to knock out 15 pages in a day. Part of making this film work on our budget means trying to wrap specific locations in a day and minimize certain actors' time on set; as well as making creative choices as much as possible in pre-production to really shoot for the edit (which I've learned every director should do regardless of budget). It was our first time having the wonderful Ellen Graff (Grandma Farrah) and lovely Elisha Mudly (Jordan) on set and they were just brilliant. The chemistry between them and Christina Shea-Wright (Cecilia) was palpable. Despite some setbacks before the shoot, like losing an equipment loan and needing to scramble for last minute rentals, my getting a cold and losing my voice, and unexpectedly having to schedule in an hour long company move into our already jam-packed Sunday, we still managed to make our day (pushing to 13 hours but still pulling it off) and create work we can all be proud of! I'm especially excited to see what we shot on Sunday cut together because there was such energy on screen. (Shout-out to AD Matt Gershowitz for loaning his apartment and my family friends Joan & Larry Berger for loaning us their office closet and hallway!)
See behind the scenes below:
And check out these exclusive stills.
Our crew overall is amazing, but it is rotating quite a bit aside from the core creative team/producers. The three other main staples we have on set are Will Graham, our sound guy who's wonderfully attentive and thorough, Lizzie Zambrano, our makeup artist who works wonders with so many faces to keep shine-free at once, and our production designer Nicole Solomon, who I especially want to give a shout-out to because she's doing a lot of work between the production days to stretch our budget and add production value all over the place!
We'll be back at it on Friday. We're currently halfway through production and right where we need to be. 6 days down, 6 to go. But we need the weather to cooperate moving forward because we start exteriors this weekend, and will have our donkey on set the following weekend! Hopefully now that it's officially Spring, the sunshine and rain will wash away this snow. Please cross your fingers and do a little dance for us!
-Christina
