When Life Gives You Lemons...

...Make a movie about it!
I am inestimably pleased to let everyone (who doesn't already know - who didn't hear me "Wheeeing" all the way from the APB last night!) know that I am now a member of an AWARD-WINNING film crew!!! :D
(I offer a small apology because this is also the reason that I haven't posted in 3 weeks, though I am sure that all of you, realizing the scope of this project and how it fits into my life, can forgive me. :)
Chris and I started this off "officially" on July 4th. We'd already been signed into the competition and Chris had decided on his core crew, but that was all up to that point. The holiday fell on a Monday, which meant I had to run the delivery (it was ok, traffic was light and it was a nice, pleasant day), so Chris went with me so we could spend the traffic time planning, and he could make calls and plot the next set of logistics while I was in the stores. We had decided to do a bake sale to raise a budget, so we set dates and made a list of all the people we'd ask for goodies and their numbers. We decided where we'd like to have the sales, and Chris made notes on who to call for that. We made a list of probable crew and possible cast so that we'd know how much food we'd need to feed them all, then made a list of the snacks and meals we'd be serving, who might donate what, and what we'd have to buy and cook ourselves. We knew from that what our projected budget goal needed to be, and so we had a good idea of what we'd really need by the end of the day. It was a good day, being together, making plans, getting important things done, and it had the lovely side effect of bringing "S&X" even closer together.
When Chris and I had been together about a year, we had one of those "couple clashes" over the whole issue of making lists. I live by lists - I have to. I have a ridiculously busy life, I take on way more than I ought to always (but in the cause of my sanity, so "eh". I'm not complaining.), so lists are the only thing that keep me from unwinding like -
- well, like three normally well-behaved, composed, level-headed little girls trying to learn to play Yahtzee after a whole summer of sibling rivalry and generally just being together 24/7. *sigh* Sorry, post was temporarily interrupted by a crying 8-year old who was clashing with sister and friend over the explanation & understanding of the rules. *sigh* I have extremely rare little midriff-high tear stains on my t-shirt, but all is now well. I hear the cup rattling away downstairs - and the 8 year old just screamed "YAHTZEE!" followed closely by "FIVE! FULL HOUSE! WOO!" It sounds like Sesame Street Casino down there. (*sigh* again, but happy this time.) :D
- anyhoo - Chris was having a hard time keeping all of his ducks in a row. He, like me (thank goddess) has a lot of ducks, and in his biz, a lot of other people are depending on him to keep things together. I tried to stress the importance of making lists and he got miffed and said that he didn't like his life 'being controlled by a list'. *sigh* I said that he may not like it, but he really didn't have much choice, because if he forgot something that was important to me just because he has authority issues (unlike me... HAHAHAHAHA!!!) then he'd be wishing he'd made a list, etc., and I'm sure that the other people depending on him - people with way more to lose than me - would feel the same way. I have learned to understand that Chris has SERIOUS control issues - not in the 'classic' sense, of needing to control people, but of desperately hating to be controlled, but I explained to him that making lists was simply a way of managing ones' own control. I said "Chris, ya' gotta' learn to love the list." He didn't say much about it after that, but I noticed that he started making lists and feeling better about how much he was getting done. This weekend (yes, I'm FINALLY getting to my point ;) was the sweet clincher though. In the midst of the tightly controlled madness, Chris looked pointedly at me and announced to the group - who were bragging about the overall efficiency of our team - that he had "learned to love the list". :) *Moo.*

The next three weeks were a blur of phone calls, planning and plain old hard work. Chris said that all of it was a pleasure for him though - even the late-night, long hours of bake sale prep and hours in the hot sun selling the stuff. We are incredibly lucky to have so many people willing to pitch in their own hard work to help make this happen. We had friends, moms, neighbors and businesses contributing goodies (Thank you, thank you! Bless you, bless you!). I'm not much of a baker, but even I made about 100 "Luna Biscuits" - all natural peanut butter/oatmeal/garlic (with eggs and bone meal and brewers' yeast, etc.) in the shapes of Bad Kitties, bones and Mailmen (the "Butch" mix) and moons, trees and hearts (the "Fifi" mix :); 1oo or so classic peanut butter cookies; and about 150 sugar cookies that I spent an afternoon decorating with two of the kids I keep. Whee! Icing, sugar and sprinkle-fest, yeah! Then we had a couple of nights of bagging and wrapping baked goods, decorating flats to hold the stuff, making signs and price tags, packing things to be easily and carefully moved, setting up coolers for the meltables, getting tables and chairs and umbrellas, arranging pickups and drop-offs, and organizing it so that we had enough for all three days of the sale. I'd sent a press release to all of our local papers, but Stewart went the extra mile and gave us a fat ad, plus printed us out a bunch of pretty flyers (not to mention making a HUGE tub of Chex Mix and coming down on Friday to pick up 25$ worth of goodies for all of the staff at the 'Leader. THANKS GUYS!!! Jody - those Snickerdoodles were the bomb, but I bought all the Rice Krispy treats! Mmm!) that Chris and Clint humped around for days. We also got volunteers to help us sell and to cover for us on Saturday so we could attend the EXTREMELY helpful 48-Hour Film Project Digital Cinema Boot Camp that MAP hosted at UNCA. (Our screenwriting teacher lived next door to Ray Bradbury -!!!- and taught (or, as he said "tried to teach") George Lucas -!!!-) We sold all day Friday and Sunday in front of the Coffee Shop in Tryon, and Chris' mom and long-time best friend Erin shook 'em down all day in Saluda on Saturday in front of Wards' Grill and the Wildflour Bakery.
Chris also took care of lining up equipment, securing HQ (thank you AGAIN, Jen! xoxox), making sure that all paperwork was in line, keeping the crew appraised of everything vital, prodding our "first AD" into actually securing the !@#$ locations (this guy turned out to be a real !@#$, which didn't surprise me, but really let Chris down. We only had two problems during the project - which is a kind of miracle in itself - and they were both people problems. Live and learn, right?), making millions of phone calls, paying the 100$ entry fee, and generally making sure that we were technically ready. I was in charge of shopping for all the groceries, cooking the things that weren't donated (tea, iced coffee, and our big mexican dinner for the whole cast and crew sat. night), making sure we had vegetarian options for all meals, making sure we had enough water and other cold drinks, lining up the donated goods (Wildflour bread; Persimmons' Bistro & TeaRooms' chicken salads, coldcuts tray and delicious brownies and cookies; Chris' dads - David - famous ham-biscuits; Chris' moms' - Peggy -muffins, my favorite broccoli salad, and momcentric bag of dark and milk Hershy Kisses - thank you all so much!!!) and making sure that we had a good first aid kit, sunscreen, bugspray, etc. - and all that BEFORE the extreme intensity that was the 48-Hour Film Project itself!

Friday was a blur, but we made good time. Traffic on 26 was terrible, and we JUST made it to Jen's in time to get the coolers and food boxes out of Esme's bed and pile into Jen's car and zip over to the APB. The place was packed and everyone was incredibly happy and stoked. When the time came for Chris to draw our genre, I realized that I'd cursed us by saying (repeatedly, for WEEKS) "God, I hope we don't get Musical/Western!" 'cause we darned sure did! Thank GODDESS there was a Wild Card option (for the first time in the Festivals' history! Whew!), and after hearing our prop (Popcorn), our character (E. Hayes, Conflict Mediator) and our line of dialogue ("I'm on medication.") the team talked it out and decided to take a chance on the wild card - and we got DARK COMEDY!!! :D :D :D
We left buzzing, and by the time we got to HQ, Chris had decided that he wanted to use homeless people as our central theme. The writing team (Chris, Debra, Jay and I) starting hashing out ideas, and within a few hours had come up with a script that we could love. Thus "Making Lemonade" was born. (I am happy to say that I am responsible for the worst joke in the movie, thankyouverymuch! ;) While we were cleaning up the script, Chris started making calls, directing crew, deciding on locations and trying to find out how many actors we ACTUALLY had (!@#$%^&@#!!!). Then he had to set about the task of making a shot list and planning out the day of shooting around locales and light while Jen and I prepped stuff for breakfast and moving out the crew so that the next morning wouldn't have to be any more hectic than necessary. We were all in bed by midnight, but we were so wired that none of us got more than an hour or so of sleep. We rested though, and used the time to plan ahead, and so when 5:30 rolled around, we hit the ground running. Chris went and met people so they could find Jen's place easily, and we fed them as they came in. Then we loaded up and headed to our first location.
Liz went ahead and started building our homeless camp, and everyone else was close behind, doing their various jobs. The musicians came down to the set at that point to talk to Chris and get an idea of where to head with their writing (they - Jesse and Patrick - *mwah*! were in contact with him throughout the shoot and worked on the soundtrack for 12 hours straight). We had it set up and looking good just as Chris had his crew and actors ready to roll. We were there for about 3 hours when the camera battery ran out, with just a couple of minor shots to go, so we dismantled the camp and took everyone back to the house to begin the lunch/cool-off/and nap wave while the batteries were charging. Chris and his crew got more batteries (thanks Mikey!) and set out to pick up those shots and go onto the next scene, which only needed his core crew and one of the two main actors. We spent that time refreshing our crew and cast and Jen organized the re-sorting of the props, costumes and equipment for the next phase. Around 2:30, everyone had re-grouped and we headed on to our next location at the Mediterranean diner downtown. Pete and Paula (Mr. and Mrs. Apostopolous) were gracious hosts and the filming there - with one or two minor and ridiculous exceptions - went great. In less than 3 hours, we moved on to our next few locations, which were luckily right outside on College St. We were able to finish the rest of the film - except for one shot that we didn't know we needed yet - without moving more than a block down the street. This is where I got to do most of my acting too. Yay! We wrapped just as the light was starting to fade, giving us a beautiful golden bounce into our final scene. Hallelujah!
We got everyone back to the house, and thanks to careful planning, we had dinner on the table within 10 minutes of the cast and crews' arrival. After dinner, we had one horrible moment where we realized that we were missing something VITAL to qualifying for the competition. They had forgotten to get release forms from the folks at the med, Pete and Paula's acting releases and the location release for the Med. It's closed on Sunday, and no one knew Pete and Paula's last name. Someone (!@#$%^&*!!) suggested that we just forge the releases, but I pointed out that it was a 25 year old business in the heart of downtown and someone would surely KNOW Pete and Paula. Besides, faking a Greek name is just not as easy as your average Anglican moniker. I thought for a minute and remembered a moment of dialogue between Jane, the Med's waitress and Liz about a prop that we needed. She told her to go to a specific restaurant, ask for a specific person, and say "Jane sent you." I called that restaurant, asked for that person, explained the situation, and within an hour the Apostopolous' had called and agreed to meet us at ten a.m. the next morning, just as Chris was leaving to go find a valuable piece of equipment that got left at the last location - which just HAPPENED to be there, right on a main street, when they got there. All this was happening while our AMAZING editing crew (Chris and Mike! Yo, yo! ;) was capturing all the footage into the computer to start the non-stop, 17-hour editing process. After we took care of all the million major and minor details, Chris and I finally got to lie down at about 11. He was hoping to grab a few hours of sleep before he had to go and join the editors for the final push. We lay there talking, and that's when he realized that there was still a big plot hole in the story (Jen said she heard his muffled "!@#$!" all the way in the living room.) I had thought to find out earlier who would be available for any emergency "pick-ups" the next morning, just in case. Chris was extra frustrated because it seemed that we were going to have to write another whole scene, call in several actors and crew members. I said "Let me think a minute..." and soon I'd come up with a way to fill the hole and only use myself and Blaque (one of the other two main actors), and Chris and Mike for camera and well, mike - huhhuh... and only three lines of dialogue for a total of about only 10 more seconds of footage, PLUS I managed to sew up one more minor plot hole AND it could be filmed right outside the Med after we met with the Apostopolous'. Chris treated us to coffee and danish (out of the last 17$ of our bakesale $ :) and then he left with Mike to go finish the edit, and I headed off to Jen's to pack up. Burt had the new Harry Potter on tape, so I picked up where I'd left off reading (luckily it was the beginning of tape 8 - it was a lucky weekend over all! :) and listened while I sorted and packed all the costumes and props, packed all of Chris' equipment, divided up and packed the leftovers and cleaned up our giant mess. I was just getting into the shower when Chris called and said he was at the APB, and that they'd turned in the film with an hour to spare - and at 6 minutes and 55 seconds, 5 seconds short of the time limit! Woo! APB donated a free pizza and pitcher of soda to each finishing team, so he said to come on down and celebrate.
I got to sit there, watching the other teams rush in, saturated in the luxurious, wired, exhausted glow of Job Well Done. I felt bad for (all but one of) the teams who didn't make it in on time, and pleased at Chris' accolades. We got to spend some time with a young producer from LA who was as anti-LA seeming as they come, and just generally pat ourselves on the back and breathe. Then we went back to Jen's and screened the film for the die-hards who were still around, plus D. & Kaysha, as D. was just moving into Jen's when we drove up. Of course Chris and Clint were hard on themselves (I suggested that they needed to watch it with this in mind: "Look what we did in just 48 hours." and they gave themselves a little break), but everyone else was totally impressed and laughed their butts off. YAY! There was a little bit of EXTREMELY un-gentlemany/unsportsmanly behavior from one former member of the crew after the screening, which left Chris angrier and more hurt than I have ever seen him, but I am happy to say that that had faded by yesterday, along with the other relatively small chunks of cast/crew nastiness, leaving only the high of... A Job Well Done, which was driven home by the conclusion of the award ceremony last night (which poor Chris did not get to attend, because he was covering for the co-worker who covered for him while he was making the movie... moo!). I dressed up nicely, and went early, just to hobnob and hear the buzz on Chris' behalf. Sweet Katie from MAP got me into the sold-out first screening, so I got to hear everyone's laughter and comments - and see all those other incredible Jobs Well Done twice. After the screening I met Emerald (our lovely leading lady) and Clint in the lobby, and we went to the awards ceremony together. There were only 11 awards, for the 25 movies, and two movies in particular (one of which was the CLEAR best film winner - wow!) took several each. I knew we wouldn't get special effects, and the team who did totally deserved it, and after hearing the majority of the other awards going to two teams, I didn't expect to win anything - especially after 10 awards had been handed out - and I was prepared for that, and totally ok with it. The real award was the experience itself, the incredible satisfaction of (all but two of) our team (psh.) - and seeing Chris so happy in his element, and doing such a spectacular job. Hearing everyone laugh, and all the congratulations and compliments of the other teams was as good as any judges' decision... and then they got to "Best Use of Line" - the only other writing award (besides Best Script) and called out "This Is Our Team Name: MAKING LEMONADE!" :D :D :D
I looked around to see who was getting up - and then I realized that it was supposed to be ME and nearly fell out my seat! Emerald had to push me a little to snap me out of my daze, and I probably lit up the theatre with my grin while I was walking to accept the award. As soon as the awards were over, I called Chris to tell him the happyhappy news and stuck around a little longer to hobnob with our new "contacts, congratulate the other winners, compliment my favorites and soak up the accolades. We all mingled while we waited for the 10 o'clock showing. I so enjoyed watching Emerald take all her compliments so gracefully, and Clint's handsome grin as he accepted his congrats from the other cinematographers, but the best thing of all, for the whole night was during the second screening - which was mostly winning teams - hearing those folks laugh and appreciate the nuances of our little movie - hearing those other directors and hardcore techies - especially the ones from the Best Picture (and several other awards) team - cheer so hard for Chris. That was the ultimate payoff for me, knowing that he is supported and respected by those who really matter in the local fim industry. The hardworking, the devoted, the creative, the ones who are living and loving this crazy dream. This is the foreshadowing of his future, and it's a good one.Blessed be!

We'll be screening the film around for anyone who wants to see it - tonight is at Brett and Buffy's. The DVD of all of the films will be available through MAP mid-next-week, so we can see the other groups' films too - and anyone can order that via APB, MAP and Orbit (the local cool video store.) If anyone wants a copy of "Making Lemonade", we can do a free VHS copy, or we'll charge you the price of a DVD to make you a DVD copy.

Oh - and speaking of "Making Lemonade" - there was a really sweet post-script to the story. On Sunday night, we were too exhausted to drive back to Tryon so late, so we decided to spend the night at Jen's and just drive straight to the bakery to run the route. Chris agreed to ride along to help keep me awake (we didn't get much sleep Sunday night either, just due to exhaustion and environment) and I said that he could nap while I was at stops. We had spent the last of our bake sale budget the day before, and that was just fine - until we got to my last Greenville stop and saw a tiny little guy - only 7 or so - with his lemonade stand** set up outside a store near the EarthFare. I told Chris I'd look through my backpack for change, and when I did I found my checkbook that I thought I'd left at Jens' - with the last two dollars from our budget, the change from the last ice run - stuck in with my drivers' license! We bought two cups of lemonade and 4 cookies from Jacob the Young Entrepreneur for 1$, and tipped him the other $ just for moxy, fellow-feeling and sitting in that blazing heat. We told him and his mom about our movie and asked if we could take his picture, and I took a Polaroid of him selling Chris some fine lemonade, and Chris and I left with the feeling that we had really achieved something, something more than just making a movie in 48 hours, and that Someone really had been looking out for us the whole time.

Follow your hearts, people. They lead you into the most amazing places.
Much love,
-Sam

p.s. we're missing the music and editing crew from the group photo, but we are going to treat them to a nice dinner and we'll get a shot of them to post then!


*Wetrats and X - and anyone who has ever tried to explain ANY rules/instructions to me more complicated than "Roll the dice and move that number of times" or "Draw one, play one" - know that I was EXACTLY the right person to deal with this conflict. The !@#$ "Hokey Pokey" makes me a little nervous...

**You can't get the full irony of this until you've seen our movie...