The sun is going down. The tide is coming in. I’m sitting on my personal balcony at The Ommaroo Hotel, down by Havre des Pas, brilliantly located for St. Helier. I’ve just had a little takeaway meal and I’m gonna settle in for a hot bath and an early bed. A very early bed.
I’m knackered. I’m sure we all are. We’ve been working outside in a wood up near Bouley Bay. It’s private woodland but open to the public. We have the permits but we aren’t telling the dog walkers not to come by so occasionally someone walks through back of shot with a pooch. Normally though it is pretty peaceful, if a bit starved of shelter. There’s a gazebo for the camera. People can fit in too if they play sardines but largely we are at the mercy of the weather. And we are shooting on a Red. I’ve been on shoots before with these cameras when a single drop has fried the board. That’s ten grand down the whoopsie.
Will is a local DoP who comes with his own camera. In an oblique way, the Dalai Lama bought him that camera. He bought it ahead of a long shoot involving his holiness that was subsequently cancelled because of COVID. It became at that time a tricky cost to manage – they really aren’t cheap. It’s great he’s getting use out of it with us now. He never did shoot the Lama on it but we can bring a different type of wisdom.
There’s a wealth of artistic talent on this island. There are all sorts of makers and thinkers and artists who are used to selling their wares on the mainland. As I said yesterday even the new Bergerac was largely shot off island. To make things on the island you really need to have local makers, and to encourage them. I tried to get seen for Bergerac using the local actor ticket, and ended up with a form for SA work which I obviously didn’t fill in.
One of the best forms of encouragement for people in the arts is money. We’ve got families or rent or bills like everyone else. If we can’t find work at home we will travel for it. But work on the doorstep can be a great launchpoint.
This is why I really want to big up The Ommaroo Hotel here in St. Helier. They have been extremely generous with their rate for the production company to accommodate me. You need a lot of money to make film properly. These guys are pushing in the right direction without much cash so acts of generosity like that of this hotel – they send ripples down through the Jersey arts scene.
Today on set we had an actor in her first ever day on set, speaking in Jerrais which she’d learned specially for the shoot. She was framed with donated flowers and skulls. Her costume was made from an old bit of material and it looked fab from the front, which is all it needed. “I knew it was never gonna be seen from the back so I did all the bad-looking stuff at the back,” I was told by the woman who made it. “Film is wonderful,” she concluded. Knowing through Lou how very particular some people can get about costume on film, I don’t tell her she just got lucky. But she’s right, the dress looks great and will never be filmed from behind.
A young Jersey actor cut her teeth with a difficult scene on a happy set in Jersey. First day ever on set. She acquitted herself well. Who knows where that might lead? For sure she’ll have the images for the rest of her life.
Hats off to The Ommaroo Hotel for their part in making this all possible. I’m about to get into their wonderful big bath before an early night in their massive comfy bed. Luxury.
