The Pig People

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve written.  Alas, that seems to be the way it goes these days…much has happened, of course, since October.  I’ve shot two student films, done an abridged production of Romeo and Juliet (actually, that’s still going on), been offered a contract by an agent whom I don’t trust and with whom I probably will not sign, hung out a lot with Elisabeth and Elizabeth when they were in town doing mostly wedding stuff, been to a funeral, been to a bris (well, actually that’s this afternoon, but the symmetry was better when written the other way), and various other things.  However, the most exciting thing by far has to be the movie I just shot.

That’s right!  A real movie!  With a budget and a distribution agreement and a producer and stuff!  To tell you about it, I’m actually going to secretly snag something that Wes, a guy I met on set, has written about it, and just edit out the stuff that I don’t need to include.  Then I’ll add in my own stuff.  But I like a lot of what he said, so here it is:

Day One

Well, I just finished working on my horror film, working title of "The Pig People." I will give you one guess as to what the creepy monsters in the film are!

I woke up at 6AM on Tuesday to make the hour or so trip North to our filming location. It was a rather small mountain community with a lodge and plenty of state park goodness nearby. They had given me a hotel room, as I would be filming for two straight days.

It was here that I began to finally realize the scope of this project. This wasn’t some small-time student film or shoe-string film I was working on. In my research of this "Master P" (the producer) I learned that he was once ranked as one of the 30 Richest Under 30. He has dabbled in just about every creative art form, and since his son (Romeo Miller, AKA ‘Lil Romeo) was the lead of this film of ours, you can get a decent idea of what he was putting into it. While hardly a multi-million dollar extravaganza, this had a pretty meaty budget, somewhere at least $50,000-$100,000 by my very inaccurate guesstimates. In any case, we actors (all 6 of us, the rest of the film having been shot all ready) were standing around the hotel lobby and meeting new people. I was particularly talking to a girl named Stephanie who was rather cool and would be my buddy for the rest of the filming.

"All right, actors. Your Escalade is ready!"

Well, ok, then. I’m unsure of whether they had bought or rented it, but we had a brand new Cadillac Escalade waiting to take us to the set. This was the first time anyone on the project had seen the location, so nothing was waiting for us there. As we drove to this little ranch in the mountains, our driver, Chris, told us about how the trucks were being slow. We all look back and notice we have a huge caravan following us. We’re talking two white production equipment trucks (think U-Haul without the art), one generator (also a large U-Haul-type, but with the energy of science to give us power on set), and around seven other assorted SUVs and cars, not including the one or two in front of. It was really awesome to realize that I was actually in one of the caravans that I have so often seen parked outside of WB Studios and the like.

We arrive to the set about 15 minutes later, a small ranch tucked within a valley. It was a cozy place, but the air was slightly frigid since our elevation was around 4000 ft. We all dismount and check out our home for the next two days. It’s a small ranch house with quite a few antiquities and, oddly enough, a new 35+ inch LG HDTV. Most of the filming would take place in the back, where we found quite a few stables. Our friends for the shoot would be three horses and one old warthog that were in the fenced stables right next to an empty pen area where the cameras would be allowed. You may or may not see these characters in the background of our shots! But, they were rather cool about it (the warthog just plopped down and slept wherever he wanted) and didn’t cause any trouble.

So, we were filming the intro to the film over the next two days. Our focus was largely on the origin of the "pig people" as it were. (Edit from Wes’s) My character is the little sister of the guy who causes the creation of the Pig People, a small part but a lot of fun.  I’ll write more about it later. (Back to Wes.)

Anyway, I sit down and talk with Stephanie quite a bit. It’s a little chilly but not unpleasant, and it takes the crew about 3 hours to get everything set up. Since this was our first day on this set, everything had to go up from scratch, from the lights, "Video Village" (aka the Director’s monitoring tent), our lovely fake slaughtered pigs, and so on. After a while, they were ready for us to get into costume and get ready for makeup. The makeup/wardrobe girls were really awesome and sweet, and they knew what they were doing. I finish getting my makeup on and the real fun begins.

Let me say this: filming is very, very repetitive. Our director was new to this as well, as he had mostly been a producer or writer previously. This was his first film, and horror films, for whatever reason, tend to attract directors who want shots to be perfect. He was generally a good guy to work with and certainly had a good vision, but he also required several takes of scenes. Our main scene was the dad and I slaughtering a pig in our little open barn area. This required lots of blood, which also required lots of hoses and rigging. The blood we used was basically a corn syrup mixture that washes out easily (and tastes like, well, corn syrup) and the pig was a vinyl mold using a rotweiler’s carcass or something. We did, however, have a real pig head (or half of one) for complete gory goodness! So, we film our scene several times. Like, we started around 12 or so and were not completely done by the time the sun was almost down ("chasing light" is a term meaning we’re on a time limit if we wanted to keep continuity). It was mostly just because there were several angles, cuts, and takes to this scene that he wanted. We would film the master (or the wide shots, as you would know them) and then go from there for our closeups and fine-tuning. We finish up with that just barely in time.

Now, to roll backwards a bit, we were provided lunch and dinner for filming. They do not generally skimp on these things. It was here I realized another aspect of filming: tech for filming is one of the hardest jobs out there and yet they still treat the actors who do nothing like royalty. First Team (Actors currently working on a scene. Second Team would be actors waiting for scenes) always went first for dinner, along with makeup and wardrobe. Crew waited. Now, I don’t know how that works out, but I really could not get over how much the crew and tech bent over backwards to make way for us actors, even though we were doing the least work. Our AD (Assistant Director) was really awesome, but barely had a voice and was practically passing out from sickness from yelling for two weeks. Yet, even he would step out for us. It was rather surreal and I honestly felt bad because filming etiquette placed priority on even small parts.

We finish my first scene and I’m wrapped for the day. Someone offered me a trip back to the hotel, but I declined to watch the film and see things in action. I mostly talked with Stephanie while the "dinner scene" was set up inside the very small and cramped house. Someone, I believe a techie’s mother, made some delicious chai tea for us, and we enjoyed seeing the first stars we’d seen in ages as the temperature began to drop. I had a decent change of shirts, as my first one had been covered in fake blood, and was rather snuggly in my leather jacket. David (or, DT as he was called. Our AD of the set) came out onto the porch with us and had to sniff on hydrogen peroxide mixed with baking soda to keep from passing out. Apparently they had been filming pretty hard, including a 20-hour day last week. His job was probably the hardest, being the one to organize, call, partially direct, and make sure everything was running smoothly. Once again, awesome guy who needs more recognition.

So, they film the dinner scene and all of us are ready to head back afterwards. Total time on set was 8:30AM to 10PM. We hit the bar across the street after some quick showers, and David Geuringer, our director, paid for the first round.

Day Two

The second day was considerably harder to do. For one thing, we had to go back and film inserts for scenes done the previous day. Inserts are the quick shots of actions or set pieces that involve minimal amount of actors (guy picking up a knife from a table, shots of driving, etc). Secondly, it was fucking cold. Unlike the first day, which only became cold at night, we had a torrent of wind for our second day. The wind chill was somewhere in the teens or low twenties, and the actual temperature was only in the 40’s. It was absolutely frigid out. Combine this with the fact that most of our characters were in summer farm wear (T-shirts and jeans), and you can imagine how absolutely horrible it was in those conditions. Everyone except the actors were bundled up, and even we weren’t allowed to go without warm gear when filming wasn’t going on. To put more emphasis on how much attention they gave the actors, I at one point had someone literally holding a blanket on my shoulders since I couldn’t hold onto it while my hands were covered in blood. (I didn’t, cuz I didn’t get bloody, but the rest applies to me.) When my hands weren’t covered, someone was always there to run back and forth with my leather coat so I could put it on between shots. Thank god for Production Assistants.

We finish up the inserts and whatnot. Meanwhile, our live pigs were brought onto the set. That’s right, we had real pigs. The largest of them was a 500-pound monstrosity named Bertha, and the other 4 or so were only slightly smaller. Overall, they weren’t all that bad…

So, we finally get to the big "birthing" scene were the pigs are born. Light’s almost out, and we have this huge rigged setup for our "dead pig." We have one try to do it… and we failed miserably. For whatever reason, the blood we needed didn’t shoot out quite right, instead coming out in a steady stream like a faucet. As the camera was behind the pig and unable to see all of this, it didn’t quite go as we wanted and light gave way. That meant we had to find a new location as well as make sure we had backup wardrobe that wasn’t bloody.

So, they instead switch for filming the scene with Tysen (my "brother", I’ll write more about him later) and the pigs in a barn. They also decided to switch to the barn for our birthing scene retakes since they could control the lighting and influences completely. It also didn’t have any wind. Meanwhile, Steph and I went inside with Allan (the dad) to watch TV and hang out. It was warm and we had around an hour and a half downtime. Finally, the time came for Allan and I to go out and film our scene again in a new environment. Once again, there were several takes. But, the wind had slowly died down and they kept a bucket of hot water on set for my hands since I had to wash them between takes for continuity. It was much more tolerable than the first time and made me really love and appreciate the makeup gals. The scene itself went well, and I got to learn the joy of pulling out blood-filled-and-soaked condoms from a fake pig’s stomach. The scene finished, we wrapped, and all was well.

And that, friends, is how I paid the rent with 28 straight hours of work.

*So that is Wes’s description of the shoot, with slight edits by me.  My experience on set was a lot less coloured by all this exciting technical stuff and a lot more coloured by the people and, of course, what was said to me — because we all know by now that I get very excited about compliments, particularly about my acting.  It was a big deal though to see that this is actually going to be a real film…it didn’t really click for me what sort of film this was until I was watching the last scene being shot through the monitors (they had wrapped me hours ago but neglected to tell me this, there was some kind of miscommunication, so I wound up on set for hours and hours after I was actually done, but that was OK).  Anyway, watching through the monitors I could see the scene as it appeared on camera instead of as a play, and it actually looked like a movie.  Like the kind of movie you see in theatres.  With close-ups at just the right moments, done perfectly, brilliant acting, excellent effects, creepy details.  I was very impressed.  And my goodness — this is a real movie!  WIth a distribution agreement with Wal-Mart already, with talks in progress with the Landmark Theatre chain…people will see this.  Oh my goodness.

(Side-note: I just got a phone-call from the agent I don’t trust and turned her down.  So I’ve burned that bridge.  I have an audition with another agency tomorrow, but still…there’s no guarantee that they’ll sign me.  Mistake?  Too late.)

So…other things from the shoot.  The people!  Our director, David Gueringer, was pretty awesome in general.  He also wrote the script, so he was making changes as we went.  And I don’t know exactly the difference between producer and executive producer, but he was producer as well; Master P was executive producer.  Anyway.  We got along well, mostly.  And he liked what I was doing!  He actually wrote me into extra scenes and is talking about putting me in the sequel!  Yay!  Always such a relief to hear I’m doing well.  And this is real life, this is the stuff that counts…I love Shakespeare at Play, but this is so different.  And I did well!  Hurray!  He also says I look great on camera, which is a blessing, because I have that or I don’t, it’s luck, I can’t change it really.  So.  Yay!

Then there was Wes.  You can probably gather from his account that we spent a fair amount of time together, particularly the first day.  I like him, he’s nice.  I think he might want a bit more than I do, but even that’s sort of nice…though I had more than my fair share of being hit on on set, so I could probably do without his extra attention.  Unless I decide to act on it.  We’ll see.  Let me tell you about Tysen first.</div>

I think I’ll start with…I like Tysen.  It’s a bit of a puzzlement to me that I didn’t notice how beautiful he is until Day 2, but I enjoyed his company from the start.  He’s kind of quiet, though — David spoke of him as having a "quiet intensity" — so we didn’t talk as much as I did with Wes.  I don’t think I really talked much with him outside of the Escalade until sometime on Day 2 when we were both inside the farmhouse (CREEPY CREEPY place, I don’t see how people can actually live there!!), and he was writing in a journal with an Om symbol on the cover.  And I thought, hey, this is a guy who brings a journal with an Om symbol to set.  Maybe I should talk to him more.  When he saw I’d come in the room, he put down the journal to talk to me, so I went over to him and saw that next to him was a book called 2012.  And I thought, this is a guy who has an Om symbol on his journal and is reading a book about Mayan astronomy.  We talked then, about real things, religion, the world, the nature of consciousness.  It wasn’t too long before someone came in and we stopped, but I think it was the only real conversation I had the whole time, except perhaps with one of the make-up girls, also named Stephanie.  I also strongly suspect Tysen of being straight and single, because of some things he said in a conversation we had a little later with a couple other people about getting married young.  "I don’t think I’m ready to get married…but I don’t know, if I met the love of my life, I might get married now…"  No guarantees, I know, but it sounded promising.   For straightness and singleness.

He was going to come out with us after we wrapped on Day 2, but somewhere between getting out of the Escalade at the hotel and leaving ten minutes later, he disappeared.  I think he probably fell asleep.  They were long days.  Anyway, I didn’t get to say goodbye to him.  More on Tysen later.

The first day, at the bar across the street after the shoot (this is how small this town was, the bar was just called "BAR" — it wasn’t even a town, it was just like a truck stop that had gotten out of control), I had an uncomfortable conversation with David.  He took me aside to answer any questions I may have about filming, because it was my first shoot…and told me he was crushing on me because of my work.  And I didn’t have any idea what to do.  This isn’t the sort of thing that happens to girls like me!  It happens to the hot girls with long skinny legs!  And in retrospect, it wasn’t all that bad.  He didn’t push it, he didn’t make any suggestions…but it was inappropriate and unprofessional and kinda freaked me out.  The next day we both just pretended it hadn’t happened.

I’ll probably remember more fun things to write about the shoot at another time.  Whether or not I’ll actually write them is anybody’s guess.  But about the rest of life:

Tomorrow I’m auditioning for a (good) agent, and for class at Anteaus, which is almost more scary.  We’ll see how it goes.  I am now working for a family with a 5-month-old boy called Ryder, who is awesome, and it’s the best day-job ever.  Andrea had her third child 8 days ago, a boy, almost certainly to be named Micah Shir, but I’ll know for sure this afternoon at the bris.  Hilary, Ryder’s mother, is wonderful and we’re getting to be friends, which is great.

Speaking of friends, I decided to stay in touch with Tysen and Wes.  I need more friends in LA.  So I wrote them both an email inviting them to see a play that another actor from the shoot was in this weekend.  Did I have ulterior motives?  Of course.  I want to see Tysen again.  Badly.  But here were the responses I got:  from Wes, I can’t make it this weekend, but let’s hang out!  Dinners!  Movies!  Date me!  (Not in those words, but not too far off.)  I wrote him back saying basically yes, let’s hang out!  Minus the dating!  We’ll see what happens.  From Tysen, I can’t make it because I’m going back to Ohio to visit my family this week.  But get in touch with me when you get back! Here’s my number!  Thanks for all your help with the make-up!

Ack.  He thought I was the other Stephanie!  I replied and explained who I actually was, and today finally heard back from him — "Oh Gosh, sorry Stephanie. I got a business card from her right before we left so I assumed it was her. Well I’ve got it straight now so we can get in touch when i get back. Thanks for clearing it up.
-Tysen"
So yay!  I could say some rather explicit and un-me-like things…  Which is good, really, because I don’t know if I’ve actually ever had this reaction to anyone before.  It’s the sort of reaction most girls start having at, oh, ten years younger than I am now.  So good.  Maybe there isn’t anything wrong with me after all.

And apparently I’m a good actor and look good on camera!  So hurrah!

My first movie!

~Stephanie