Goodness me. It’s my birthday already. Midnight just happened.
It’s long hours. Too long when it keeps happening, particularly when I only slept an hour or two on the drive up. I’m not kicking off yet, but I’ve started standing in myself again.
Today was tight in terms of production. We overran but nothing to do with inefficiency. Just art. Art cares not for we nor time. Art be art. Alexis could just do it again forever but here, thankfully, we have multiple producers on set to tell him to hurry up.
I’ve been on some sets where a producer shows up just occasionally and everyone stands up straight. The day is slower and interrupted with ancient things that have been considered and pointed. Their individual taste might dominate an interpretation on a line or scene that happens to be underway. Then they leave and everything feels a little wider.
We have an abundance of producers on this shoot. It’s weird as we all have to be on our best behaviour. But… This evening one of them was with me after a long shoot where the location manager held up a short bit of wire and said, at half nine in the evening; “This is the length of the piano frame.” The keyboard is three times the length of it. “Nah mate you’ve measured the width,” I tell him. But the doubt is sewn. Suddenly I’m having to carry the piano frame with Tom, out of the van and into the office, where we build it and of course it’s fine. But it means I’m writing to you from the bath at half twelve, and because the hotel won’t reserve parking, we have to unload everything precious at the end of the day when their lot is full, and then load it all up again earlier than we want.
It’s my birthday. All I have to think about is logistics and production. There’s so much to do.
Last year I was pretending to be a bent town councillor. This time I’m ops. Next time? Who knows.
I’m knackered. This is all you’ll get from me. But it was beautiful today and efficient. If only I had the head to record it. We had to use a stately home to build a convincing tenement flat. With all the kit, and interiors only, we needed the space…
AlBarclay 