my teeth at the reference to “McCourt’s” idea.
“He wants to meet up tonight and go over it with him.”
I hear more typing in the background. I can tell Craig is distracted, which makes sense. He and Hogan must be going back and forth about how to make this episode fly, and what it means financially. I sign off with him quickly and head back to the production trailer to do some paperwork while the crew essentially starts the day over. A quick glance at my watch shows it’s 11:12 a.m. and we’re already three hours late. This does not bode well for the week.
Scene 010
Int.
Wrong Doctor
set—afternoon
When we see the first takes of the afternoon’s scenes, I am blown away by Rian McCourt’s unique and artistic interpretation of my basic idea of shooting from Adam’s character’s perspective. McCourt is clearly a gifted director, and the whole cast and crew is excited by how the shoot has evolved the last couple of days. The creativity, imagination and execution he employs definitely have the whole crew whispering “Emmy” by the end of the day. He may be a diva, like a lot of these creative types, but he’s a genius at what he does.
The Steadicam operator has probably lost five pounds in water weight alone, sweating through these action sequences. The Steadicam is attached to Jimmy, the operator, with a harness, so he can walk around with it. Its fancy technology makes it smooth, not jerky, and it can go places and move in a way that stationary cameras can’t. Rian has been using Jimmy’s skills and several innovative camera angles to shoot everything from Ahmed’s perspective. It’s so creepy and intimate watching the other actors react to the camera lens as if it is Adam. It feels like they are looking right at me. I know it is going to be so unsettling for the audience, in a good way. Our audience will go nuts for this, and knowing that is fueling us through these grueling fourteen-hour days.
In addition to being time-consuming, this high-concept, more complicated shoot is costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is why an anxious Craig has beenon set with us three evenings in a row now. When he’s not on set, he’s been calling and texting me practically every hour. Always the same question: “How’s progress?” So it’s no surprise to me when a PA brings up an extra director’s chair and slides it next to McCourt’s spot in video village. Soon Craig plops down, frantically pounding on his BlackBerry. It’s 7:30 p.m. and we just started the next-to-last scene of the day. Based on Frank’s initial call sheet, we should be on the last setup of the day and then wrap at 9:00 p.m. Now it’s looking more like 11:00, if we’re lucky.
Even as our eyes stay trained on the sequence on our screens, I imagine myself as Craig sees me right now. In my left hand, I am holding my notebook with all my notes scrawled everywhere. There was no time for my usual neat handwriting, so it looks like something a serial killer would have written. My script is spread out on my lap, a timer in my right hand, a pencil in my teeth, and a red pen sticking out of my ponytail. There was no time for makeup this morning, as I raced back to the set after grabbing five hours of sleep. I should have at least done something about the circles under my eyes.
There’s nothing I can do about my slightly insane appearance, so I focus on my script, darting my eyes away from the screen to check the line and then back again. One of the actors playing a terrorist inverted his lines of dialogue, but it still makes sense in context. It’s not worth stopping the take, especially given the snail’s pace we are moving at today. It is something Hogan can decide to fix in the edit and replace with a different approved take, or accept, as the meaning is essentially the same.
The same actor screams out the last line of dialogue in the script, signaling the dramatic end of the scene where the army of jihadists charges
“He wants to meet up tonight and go over it with him.”
I hear more typing in the background. I can tell Craig is distracted, which makes sense. He and Hogan must be going back and forth about how to make this episode fly, and what it means financially. I sign off with him quickly and head back to the production trailer to do some paperwork while the crew essentially starts the day over. A quick glance at my watch shows it’s 11:12 a.m. and we’re already three hours late. This does not bode well for the week.
Scene 010
Int.
Wrong Doctor
set—afternoon
When we see the first takes of the afternoon’s scenes, I am blown away by Rian McCourt’s unique and artistic interpretation of my basic idea of shooting from Adam’s character’s perspective. McCourt is clearly a gifted director, and the whole cast and crew is excited by how the shoot has evolved the last couple of days. The creativity, imagination and execution he employs definitely have the whole crew whispering “Emmy” by the end of the day. He may be a diva, like a lot of these creative types, but he’s a genius at what he does.
The Steadicam operator has probably lost five pounds in water weight alone, sweating through these action sequences. The Steadicam is attached to Jimmy, the operator, with a harness, so he can walk around with it. Its fancy technology makes it smooth, not jerky, and it can go places and move in a way that stationary cameras can’t. Rian has been using Jimmy’s skills and several innovative camera angles to shoot everything from Ahmed’s perspective. It’s so creepy and intimate watching the other actors react to the camera lens as if it is Adam. It feels like they are looking right at me. I know it is going to be so unsettling for the audience, in a good way. Our audience will go nuts for this, and knowing that is fueling us through these grueling fourteen-hour days.
In addition to being time-consuming, this high-concept, more complicated shoot is costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is why an anxious Craig has beenon set with us three evenings in a row now. When he’s not on set, he’s been calling and texting me practically every hour. Always the same question: “How’s progress?” So it’s no surprise to me when a PA brings up an extra director’s chair and slides it next to McCourt’s spot in video village. Soon Craig plops down, frantically pounding on his BlackBerry. It’s 7:30 p.m. and we just started the next-to-last scene of the day. Based on Frank’s initial call sheet, we should be on the last setup of the day and then wrap at 9:00 p.m. Now it’s looking more like 11:00, if we’re lucky.
Even as our eyes stay trained on the sequence on our screens, I imagine myself as Craig sees me right now. In my left hand, I am holding my notebook with all my notes scrawled everywhere. There was no time for my usual neat handwriting, so it looks like something a serial killer would have written. My script is spread out on my lap, a timer in my right hand, a pencil in my teeth, and a red pen sticking out of my ponytail. There was no time for makeup this morning, as I raced back to the set after grabbing five hours of sleep. I should have at least done something about the circles under my eyes.
There’s nothing I can do about my slightly insane appearance, so I focus on my script, darting my eyes away from the screen to check the line and then back again. One of the actors playing a terrorist inverted his lines of dialogue, but it still makes sense in context. It’s not worth stopping the take, especially given the snail’s pace we are moving at today. It is something Hogan can decide to fix in the edit and replace with a different approved take, or accept, as the meaning is essentially the same.
The same actor screams out the last line of dialogue in the script, signaling the dramatic end of the scene where the army of jihadists charges
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