Oh man, for the last 24 hours, this film almost ground to a shrieking halt. Anne and I were watching some of the footage last night (which, by the way, was spectacular! The party scenes were just perfect.) and when I went to put in another tape, the one with sunrise over the monuments was missing. Needless to say, I flipped! Luckilly, it was exactly where I thought it would be, under the couch at Elizabeth and Karen's place. Friday we'll be shooting the big fight scene at sunset from the roof of this building with a view of the entire city. It's going to ROCK!

The Troma Messageboard Please drop by this message board, register as a user, and get into the Advertise your shit forum where you can help hype this film.

Well, right now it's raining and that is really pissing me off because at the end of this day we need to shoot on a rooftop at sunset and it cannot be fucking raining for that. We sort of knew this was going to happen, and we don't have a contingency plan as of yet, but being the resourcefull film guerillas that we are, this shouldn't be a problem. Yesterday's party scenes went off fabulously. We pulled a dolly shot out of our asses by attaching the tripod to a bike with gaffers tape and walking the bike in front of our actors. We also let the party be completely improvised and there was some amazing stuff. Our republican couple was hysterical, and there were several great conversations all going at once. But today is a whole other story. This fight scene is the last one we need to shoot with Elizabeth before she moves and we really have to get it done today. I'll continue to post updates as we figure out this situation.

Another weekend is here and you know what that means! Yes, it's another two days of moviemaking insanity. We're going to Elizabeth and Karen's place in about an hour to do some final pickups scenes with Liz, then we'll be staging a party for the party scenes. Tomorrow, we do our fight, and the weather better hold up for it. I'll try to post throughout the day.

OK, it's 9am and I've been up since 4. Liz and I went down to the Lincoln Memorial to shoot the sunrise over the reflecting pool and it was just spectacular. Honest Abe looked on as Liz jogged up the steps, throwing punches in the air Stallone-style. Then we drove around and got some incredible morning commute footage driving past monuments, museums, the Capitol and the White House, as well as a secret service guy having his dog sniff some truck for who knows what. Now we're sitting around Liz's house watching the dailies from last weekend in the office and just grinning ear to ear at how great it all looks and how well acted it all is. Plus, there are some clips on there that are just prime for a hysterical outtake reel. The rest of the day should be pretty low key. I'll probably work on the production company website, touch base with John, go pick up some tapes and maybe start extracting some footage for the trailers, all after a nice nap.

Is it me, or is there something almost pornographic about this picture?

Sorry about the lack of updates lately. This is the home stretch week to shoot all of the scenes with Liz and Adam before they move. Adam is leaving for Pittsburg on Tues and will sure be missed, but he'll be back to shoot two more scenes during a weekend in May. Liz is leaving a week after that. So we've been shooting all of the nights this week and I'm going to be ready to drop dead by Monday morning, but it will be so worth it because at that point we will have the majority of the footage (and all of the most difficult shots) in the bag. Then we decided to give ourselves a whole week off from shooting!!! Of course, some of that week will be spent editing trailers, getting the website up and working on business end stuff, but I'm looking forward to a much slower May. Also, I forgot to mention that TWO of our cast members were in the Washington Post, and I'll have that scanned and posted soon.

Oh man, it's a quarter to 11 and I'm still feeling like shit. It was a fabulous weekend of moviemaking fun and excitement, but it sure is rough dragging my tired ass back to my day job. So I've been searching all over the place for any mention of our little staged wedding, but it still didn't wind up in the Post or anywhere else that I can find. But no biggie. We will be plotting our media strategy soon, something like the Blair Witch on crack. Until then, we're just going to keep on shooting. We're picking up a few scenes on some nights this week, then another full weekend of shooting, and then the pace gets to come down a few notches since the people who we've been rushing to shoot their scenes will be done and moved away. We also are expecting to release a trailer very soon, though I'm not sure when we'll have time to cut that what with the crazy shooting schedule this week. But we recorded some great voiceovers and have a few things in mind. Aaaahhhhh, the coffee is kicking in finally, and before I know it, it'll be lunch time. I may check out the Sharon protest today, but more than likely I'll just go on home and lounge with my sweetie and avoid the phone like the plague.

Bummer

Video from yesterday's protests. No footage of our shoot, but still quite interesting viewing. The interviewer askes several people which of the Three Stooges that Bush would be. I think he'd be Curly, and Dick Cheney would be Moe.

Well, I still haven't found a mention of our film in the Post. Apparently 75,000 people protesting against the really bad shit going on in the Middle East is more newsworthy than a no budget political comedy. Well duh! But still, I sure was hoping to see our pictures at least wind up on the Post's website. My mom also watched CNN all day and there was no mention of us. But that's OK. At least we made it onto Indymedia

Oh, and by the way, HAPPY 4/20!!!!!

Oh my god, the wedding scene was incredible!!! As soon as we got into the protest, the first person we saw was Reverend Billy from the Chuch of Stop Shopping. Two days ago, his manager told me that he wouldn't be able to shoot this scene, but we grabbed him, told him it would only take a few minutes, and he gave one hell of a service. People flocked around us and as soon as we shot it, the press swooped in and we all started giving interviews. I'm still completely high from the adrenaline rush. The protest itself looked pretty awsome, and the cops looked like a bunch of stormtroopers with city buses lined up 17th street to hold arrestees. A woman from the legal team came up and bfiefed us on what to do in case of mass arrests, but we had to get back to the office to keep shooting. I think this morning got us extra pumped and the rest of this weekend is going to be wonderful. Shoutouts and mad props to the Mobilization for Global Justice, all of the indymedia folks, David Montgomery from the post, my wonderful cast and crew and of course the good Reverend! More details later.

OK, it's the first morning of another shoot and after a bit of a stressed out night where Karen, Matt and I had to scramble to put together our own basic lighting rig and I thought that I had lost some footage (I actually was looking at the wrong tape) and not being able to move stuff around my office as I had originally promised our set designer I would do, but it's bright and early and I think I'm ready to do this today. I still haven't heard back from some people, like our crossdressing cheerleader and the reporter from the Post, but I'm confidant that it'll all come together. Things have a way of doing that somehow.

This might explain why I've been such a spaz lately.

Just got a call from Reverend Billy's manager. The bad news is that the good reverened of the Church of Stop Shopping will not be able to make it to shoot our wedding scene. The good news is that it's because he just got married and is still on his honeymoon. Big thanks to him for even considering being in this crazy low budget thing. It looks like the wedding will be performed by our own drag radical cheerleader, Ken Roseman.

So I was taking a dump this morning (gotta love a blog entry that starts with that line, huh?) and reading Anne's Jane magazine when I came across a little blurb for 2-pop - The Digital Filmmaker's Resource Site. It seems pretty cool. Aparently a bunch of digital filmmakers have hooked up through this site and worked on projects together.

Sacre Bleu! The French are into lefty political movies, too. I can't wait for this one to come out here. If only we could get some wanky politician here to try to block this film. You couldn't ask for better publicity to attract this thing's audience!

Poor dead Robert Urich. Let's hope for a Vega$ marathon sometime soon.

OK, I like the Smiths and all, but this is ridiculous!

GlobalizeThis.org - Mobilize for Global Justice April 19-22 This is the site for the protests we're shooting at. Yippie!

Washington Interns Gone Bad's Very own Elizabeth Croydon was Mistress of Ceremonies of this event. Adam and I also played, but we didn't get in the video. Moya sure did, and I spoke with their singer/songwriter, Matthew, who is into putting a song on the soundtrack.

More good news on the business front... our production company, Slack Fist Productions, is now legal to do business in the District of Columbia. Let the paperwork and red tape flow, baby!

Well, the bad news is that we lost our whole day of shooting today because one of our main cast members had no voice. So we had to tear down the whole set and we'll have to build it again next weekend. The good news is that it was a beautiful day and it was nice to get out and just hang with Anne by ourselves. Our super producer, Karen, is back in town and things are looking up towards next weekend and shooting at the protests!

So today is a wrap and we just got done looking at the dailies and it's absolutely fucking hot!!! Getting the set put together and everyone into wardrobe and makeup took a little longer than I had expected, plus a little run to CTL for more tapes and a roll of gaffers tape took a little more time out of the morning. It was worth it though. Gaffers tape is good to have for anything. I'm completely full of adrenaline right now, but poor Anne is wiped because she didn't get much sleep last night due to the old mind racing from excitement thing. But once we got going, we cranked! And tomorrow we should be able to just cruise through the rest of the office scenes and get the place all put back to normal before folks get back into the office on Monday. One of my coworkers might be in the office tomorrow which is going to be a trip! While I have a healthy degree of confidence in this project, I am still absolutely amazed at the incredible performances that my cast is giving, the beautiful shots, the levels of enthusiasm from folks outside of the production for this project and just how well everything is coming together. I'm learning a great deal and I'm already looking ahead to future projects where I have the experience I'm getting now under my belt.

Just shot our big sexual harassment scene and holy shit, we've got some good stuff on tape today! I think it was porno giant Jack Horner who put it best: "We're making film history tonight here on videotape." More in a bit. Now I have to whip up some convincing looking congressional stationary.

3pm on the set and we're almost ready to start shooting, and only 4 hours after I had planned! Only a few minor catastophes including mixups with parking and one actress with no voice, but other than that, the set looks great and we think we'll be able to do everything we need to over the course of the weekend. I'll try to post some pictures tonight, and I'll post more after we shoot this next scene.

Still waiting to get out of the house. Drinking some coffee and watching the Today show where they just reviewed that new Samuel L. Jackson/Ben Affleck movie which sounds pretty good. It reminded me of a funny conversation that I had with one of my web clients yesterday. I was getting on the bus after going to Matt's office and he was already on and we started talking about the movie. He gave one hell of a groan when I told him the name of this thing. When I mentioned that we'd be shooting at the protests next weekend he groaned a bit more, wondering how it was going to mess with his commute to his office in the National Press Building which is right down by Freedom Plaza where all of the marches are going to merge. I think that might have been a good sign. The more people who we can get to groan about this project, preferably in public, the better. Groan away, babies!

Wakie wakie, time to go make movies. I'm having some tasty coffee while Anne is doing her thing in the bathroom and we're going to drag our tired asses to the set in a little bit. We were both a little excited about today so neither of us got a great night's sleep. I'm guessing that adrenaline and caffeine will get us through the day and a good night sleep tonight will be in order for tonight. Oh yeah, if anyone is reading this thing and knows where to get a roll of gaffers tape in downtown DC on a weekend, post a freakin' comment, would ya? OTherwise I have to schlep to silver spring. OK, more later.

Bar/None Records: The Langley Schools Music Project Innocence and Dispair Oh my god, go search for this now. A 60 voice Canadian high school chorus singing classic rock hits, circa 1977.

Holy shit, we're going into a full weekend of shooting early tomorrow and there could not have been a better night than tonight to kick it off. Liz put on an event at HR57 Society for Preservation of Jazz and Blues to kick off Adam Eidinger's campaign for DC Shadow Representitive. I got to meet a bunch of very cool people, from the latest addition to our crew, Kelly Patterson, who will be doing a little bit of everything, to a reporter from the Washington Post who might be covering the shooting of the wedding scene that we're shooting at the A20 protests, plus a whole bunch of great people who I haven't seen in ages. And I got to rock out with Captain Paradox once again which is always fun. I'm psyched as hell for the shoot tomorrow. We're turning a frumpy nonprofit office into a congressional office. We have campaign posters and a plethora of funky washingtonia on loan from the king of public relations, not to mention Adam's dad, George Kroloff. Also, the cast and crew mailing list was too much fun today! A discussion on props turned into a discussion of Starbucks' business practices and large corporations in general. I couldn't be happier to have such a great group of people involved in this project and I have a feeling that by the time we've got this sucker in the bag, we're going to have some experiences together that we'll be telling our grandkids about over and over again. Oh yeah, I've enabled commenting on this thing, so go ahead and use it. I'm curious to see who's reading this thing. That's it for tonight. I'll try to fire off some posts during the shoot tomorrow.

I'm sitting here in Matt's (our lawyer/producer) office, going through some of the business end of things and showing him some of the new internet end of things like this blog.

OK, as promised, here’s the back story on Washington Interns Gone Bad. I’ll start with the Seattle WTO protests when I first became aware of the independent media movement. I was working at the Democratic National Committee on the web team because I had pretty much given up on the idea that there was any organized progressive movement, but when I heard about what was going on in Seattle, I turned to the web and found indymedia.org to which I sat glued for an entire week. Then along came the World Bank/IMF protests here in DC and I got to see the indymedia in action. About a month later I bought a Sony digital 8 camcorder so that in Jello Biafra’s words, I could become the media. With inexpensive desktop editing systems, media had been brought back into the hands of the people where it belongs. So I went to some protests and put together some short pieces on those. That was fun and all, but my true passion has always been for works of fiction, and screwball comedy in particular, though still with a social conscience. Jump back to Feb of 2001. Adam Kroloff and I found ourselves working in a cellphone store in Hyattsville, MD. It was a lame McJob that we were taking until we could get some better work. We were pretty much left to our own devices in the store, so we planned our first short film, Captain Paradox vs the District Manager (as well as the trailer for Captain Paradox vs Scotland) that we were going to shoot with our friends in the store and distribute online. I was about half through the script when we quit that job. Jump ahead a year: Feb 2002. I’d been still kicking around the notion of doing a movie. The band I was in with Adam had played our last two gigs this one night and we were taping for posterity. For kicks, I decided that we should shoot it in 16:9 widescreen mode. Sarah Link shot the first show and Ryan Liepe shot the second show and they looked like real movies with that aspect ratio. That was what got the ball rolling, but I still didn’t have an idea. Then one night we were at the Common Share (a great dive bar in Adams Morgan where all beers are $2) for Russ’ birthday when I saw some very drunk girls dancing on the bar who just reeked of being republican staffers. So the initial idea was Republican Hill Staff Girls Gone Bad. It was going to be afterschool special meets Girls Gone Wild video about these two midwestern bible college students who come to intern for the republicans and get involved in sex, drugs and murder (and maybe Satan, too). I started developing the story in Dramatica, a program for story development that guided you through all of the literary devices, but I found that not to really work too well for me. What did work was sitting at coffeehouses and restaurants with my Handspring and folding stowaway keyboard (thanks again for that great toy, Anne!) and just writing and then dumping it into Final Draft Pro, a word processor specifically for screenwriting. What I came out with was much different from what I originally intended, but the story practically wrote itself. I had a few ideas about casting, but the only one that I was firm on from the getgo was Liz Croydon for the part of Elizabeth. I imagined her speaking the lines as I was writing them, and I had mentioned it to her as I was still writing it. When I showed it to her, she cancelled the rest of her plans for the day to read the whole thing and we made rounds of phone calls to get other people involved. At that point, it went from being an idea into full on pre-production. OK, that’s it for now. I’ll try to cover some more of the pre-production in a later post.

Dammit dammit son of a bitch!!!! I just typed in about a page worth of backstory on the evolution of this project and Blogger.com choked on it and lost it all. So I'll get back to the backstory later today. Back to the present, we're two weeks into production now. Last weekend we shot some outdoor montage footage on the Mall in the freezing cold Saturday while my sister and her fiance were in town visiting, and then on beautiful and warm Sunday, we shot some excellent scenes in my apartment. The dailies are already looking fabulous, much in part to our last minute discovery of high end tape and some consultation with the fine folks at CTL Communications in Silver Spring, MD. Last night was our one and only rehearsal on the office set which went very well once we got through some rough spots and interpersonal issues. I realize that as a first time director, I have a lot to learn and I've brought in Anne as my assistant director since she's so much better at dealing with people than I am. So this weekend we do a full on shoot of all of the office scenes, which is a significant chunk of the movie. I'll try to post some reports during the actual shoot. And as I've said, backstory is coming soon.

Just setting this thing up now. I'll post more later.