May 22nd, 2006: DAY ONE

Stephanie Petagno turns Phillip Levine into Giggles The Clown.

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So here it is, the beginning of the actual FOC2 log. This was, hands down, the worst shooting day I have experienced in my years of shooting. I'm only glad it wasn't an omen...


And to qualify something--this is what I was typing at the time, so these are gut reactions. For instance, I kinda bash Stephanie Petagno, our Makeup Fx person and clown painter but we found out the lackluster performance of the paint was not her fault. We changed paints after the first day, and from then on it was great.


Clarence McNatt is Ogre The Clown

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May 22nd Day 1

Started rough—one of Mark’s contacts doesn’t fit right--the painter starts on Giggles first instead. We work on Mark’s contact, but it's a no go. I decide that we're gonna try to insert it on scene, then paint, then he'll take out the contact when we're done the scene, and we'll move on to the next scene.

This is the plan, at least.

We run very late—we're supposed to pick up Johnny Alonso at 12:30pm, but it ends up being 3pm—Johnny's very cool about it, but I'm already thinking this probably doesn't make us look very professional. This guy's worked on Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill...you know, actual productions.

So I'm a little nervous as it is.


P.A. Noah Schaftel and Grips Jared Noe and Jamie Bender
          


Stephanie got lost on the way to Six Flags and cost us a half hour waiting for her to show up to put Mark’s contact in and paint his eye.

Anyway, we pull into a service road next to Six Flags amusement park.

See, we're not actually allowed to shoot there. We are going with my back-up plan, which is to sneak in and get the shots. I found a portion of the fence that was down when I scouted it a few weeks earlier.

So, at the service road--within 10 minutes there are 2 security trucks watching us from the other side of the gate. That will make it tough to sneak in. We wait them out even though time's a ticking. We shoot some stuff from the service road.

Mark’s one-eyed. He cannot keep the contact in without his eye watering. It's turning red. We didn't have this problem even ONCE on the first FOC. I have no idea what to do. We’re shooting everything behind him and from the profile.

Jamie Bender, Jared Noe, and James Baldwin

The security guys leave, so we sneak the 1/8th of a mile up the field, into the woods, and through the fence. Phillip has decided his character wouldn't wear shoes. Not a problem for me, but now he has to walk through the woods with no shoes...

We start shooting, but every time a truck or car drives by we all hit the deck. Johnny's a sport, but I feel like a douche. I'm pretty sure they don't have to do this on One-Tree Hill.

Mark's not tired: He just can't open his eyes without them watering due to the contact lenses...

Meanwhile actors have come in to airport, so my phone rings constantly-—I’m moving away letting Mun direct. My wife calls about actors--where should they take them? Tom Proctor and Adam Ciesielski have come in from the airport.

Frank calls for updates and I tell him we’re running late. I don't have time to talk. In the back of my mind I know everything we're shooting now is total shit.

On the way to the "projects"

We don’t leave six flags until 5:30pm—saw a buzzard in a tree on the way out. I have a feeling he's circling my career.

Bad traffic going back. We grab script supervisor Luke Theriault and producer Rob Stull on the way to my house.

We get to my house so we can get a car that's in the scene. Two of the actors are there—Tom and Adam—I can only say a quick hi as I literally rush past them, and back out the door. They’re whisked off to a hotel on the Eastern shore.

We head out to the projects. We're losing light fast. It's windy as shit—the clowns' paint is flaking—they don’t look good. The difference between Steph and Paul is apparent.

 Shivers with Stephanie, Producer Rob Stull, actor Johnny Alonso, and Baldwin

Get to projects and we have two scenes to do in one hour—no way is it going to happen. We try it anyway.

A big crowd of gawkers comes out of their houses and gets in our shots. We ask them to move and they say okay if we give them autographs. Sure.

One woman cusses at a kid, the kid cusses back, and in five minutes a cop arrives. One cop drove by, saw our clowns, shook his head and drove off.

We totally half ass the shots—they’re not gonna cut together well. We don’t get Giggles’ shots done at all.

It’s clusterfuck city.

We head back and eat subs my wife got from Subway while I look at what we’ve done and try to reschedule pickups. Day 1 pickups are bullshit. Day 1 is supposed to be easy.

Everybody's inside so I go out on the porch and try to work while I eat. I'm pretty angry and a little scared of the rest of the schedule if this is what it's gonna be like. Demoralized.

We pack the van for the move to Easton, and we leave about 11:30pm. We were supposed to shoot a scene on the Eastern shore at like 9pm. Yeah right. Another pickup.

I get to Easton at 1am and about a mile away from Franks I’m pulled over by the police. 52 in a 35. For once I get a break—he gives me a warning. He even knows one of our local producers and wants me to tell the guy that Officer Tim stopped me.

At the house I look at the footage. I take some time to look over tomorrow's shots, type this up, and now I’m going to sleep. Total day: 8:30am – 2:55am. Good night.