2:51pm, Friday, March 1.
It’s freakin’ 8 degrees outside. That’s straight up Chi-town temperature. Wind chills will approach -20 tonight. Snowy dust blows into thin air.Why did I have to say something pithy about global warming a week ago? About how it’s so warm Chicago may never go back to the bad old days of sub-zero winter wind chills. Almost to the day we’ve been in the teens with, yeah, sub-zero wind chills.
No idea what this has to do with screenwriting, Good Readers. Those of you who have lived here understand the whole weather-mania thing. You basically accept dressing up like the kids in Christmas Story, or beat it out of town.
What any of that has to do with Chat, I know not. Maybe just the chronological continuum of where we left off—which I believe was Christmas-time. So what’s happened since then?
Let me just say first, my days of being “just the writer”are pretty much over. I’ve always been just the writer, even when I masqueraded as director with Calista Flockhart on Jane Doe. I’d done some directing for some of my plays. Here with Chat I’m producing, sure, but even if I wasn’t holding that title, micro-budget pretty much ends all that. You’ve got to wear more hats. If you don’t know a job then learn it. There isn’t enough money on a $50,000 dollar production to pay for anything less than essentials. You’ll be forced into jobs into situation outside your comfort zone and three cheers for that. This is DIY, hit-and-run, guerrilla filmmaking.
The leader of your micro-budget team better be organized. The sheer number of departments that have to be supervised 24/7—even on a tiny budget, and maybe because of that– boggles the mind. That’s why it’s so difficult to be lead producer AND director. By the time you’ve taken care of Location Scouting, Art Department, Sound, Editing, DP, Casting and Actors, Fundraising, Legal aspects, Screenplay issues, Logistics…..how much time is left to actually think about not just the look of the film—but what the hell you actually want to say?
Enter Boris Wexler—our director and lead producer. How Boris compartmentalizes all this is an absolutely mystery to me. Start with boundless energy, add the experience of knowing not just what must get done but when it must happen. Sprinkle in the teaching it takes to work with folks with limited or no experience—because if you can’t pay anyone up front, who do you think you’ll be working with?—and you’ve got a snapshot of what Boris has been up to these snowy Chicago days.
My email account is slower with Chat business these days. That’s because I hit my deadline and got the Final White Pages Draft into Boris first week of January. This, finally, is the script we go to war with. The concept a final ANY COLOR draft is, of course, a misnomer. This is a screenplay, not a poem, not a sculpture. The thing is never done. In the month since there have already been changes discussed. Great Latina actress auditioned but no part for her? No problem, tweak some dialogue for a small role and cast her. Lead actor has plausibility concerns about a certain scene? OK, write in a couple lines that closes that hole. Rehearsals bring out some interesting improvs that improve a scene? I love it, let’s write it in. Long as the essential story and dialogue is not fucked with on a whim or a power play…because should that happen…well, I’m an New York City, Southern Italian, Type A, deferred-paymented screenwriter…you’d have a better chance wrestling down the animal I most resemble, the California Golden seal, resplendent with its fine layer of blubber…
So, with script 99% in the can, what’s the latest with Chat?
- SCHEDULE & LOCATIONS
19 day shooting schedule. Late March to early May. Weekend nights primarily. Back to back to back all-nighters? Pretty much guarantee this old geezer won’t be on set for the full shoot. I’m guessing I make half of it, which Boris is probably quite happy about. Last thing he wants is a WRITER-ON-SET questioning camera angles or an actress not “getting it.” Boris would rather sleep in like any of us but if we want to shoot this movie it’s the only way it can happen. The main location, the office space of the Adult Chat studios will actually be Boris’ work office. These is a beautiful Loop location, Board Of Trade business. We have access during non-business hours. That means weekend nights. Put up the sets Friday night, don’t have to tear them down until Sunday night. That location alone is worth five figures. The plastic surgeon’s office has been the tough one to nail down. If necessary we’ll use Boris’ dentist’s office. Beggars can’t be choosers. I wrote the script with micro-budget in mind, thus we have minimal location needs. A bar, a diner, some sidewalk scenes, a pair of apartments. Keep it simple in the screenplay, it’ll pay off on the back end.
- CASTING
Boris and I argue. Constantly. About everything. That’s why it’s amazing I can tell you we are pretty much in agreement on the cast. I say pretty much because we agreed 100% on our top 2 actors for every role. That in itself was exhaustive. Tape the auditions. Put the reels on Vimeo. Have our producers and casting guy give us input. I give input. We send out to an “inner circle’ for some quick impressions—of these actors, how would you rank them? Get all feedback. Boris then goes off into some relaxation tank to make the final decision. Ultimately, that decision is a dictatorship, not a democracy.It has to be. There’s only so much feedback to get. Sooner or later somebody has to choose. That usually is the lead financier—lead producer—director…all of whom are Boris. I’m good with that because he’s got a good compass, deliberate, almost to the point of mathematical calculation. Even though a couple of actor choices were too close to call, he made the right choices here.
- BUDGETING
Another part of the process I—as “just the writer”—never bothered myself with. Incredibly, it’s $44,000. There are signs we’ll have more come the end of the March, possibly up to $50,000, but it’s fascinating to look at this document and see who gets paid, up front, and who does not. The hardest department to nail down thus far, by far, has been sound. The entire production could be screwed if you compromise here. Ex-students of mine, now pros in the field, are giving me a hometown discount of $300 per day. Our budget is more like $100 per day. Sure, we could grab a Columbia student for that, but we’d put our movie at risk. Simply some things you can’t compromise on. Boris keeps looking for middle-ground. Meanwhile, might be a good idea to take note, film students….you might want the skills of those people who must get paid. In that number is certainly not the California Golden Seal-assed writer who thought up the whole idea. Not the director either…Boris is getting zero up front. Crew will get fed but nobody will ever confuse our lunch spreads with the Kraft Services buffet for Shrek 2. In short, this is the Robert Rodriquez school all the way—PAY FOR NOTHING…unless you have to.
- TIMETABLE
Try to lock down all locations mid-February. Get the actors together for a reading mid-February. Meetings with the DP on the look of the film, the Art Department on the look of the chat rooms. Rehearsals—What, I’m not invited?—mid-March. All costume and prop needs located and purchased. Final production meeting two days before we start shooting the thing, over 30 people in the room.
It’s all happening…
I”ll keep you posted.
