STEAMER'S BLOG

Steamer

I'll be speakin' atcha from a big-ass movie screen....
Monday, May 19, 2008

....come CSTS movie night at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Boston!

The third weekend in June is no doubt going to rank up there with one of the top five weekends of my life to date (as long as I survive till then). Not only will it be Uncle Joss's birthday (which of course means Can't Stop the Serenity), but my birthday is the day before, and the two nights before that....well, if you find yourself at the Coolidge Corner Theater to see Serenity, on the big screen is where I'll be!!!

We shot our fan film yesterday and had more fun than we had any right to. Our photographer/producer found a lovely big sand pit in northern Rhode Island, since as things turned out the Desert of Maine didn't work out after all. But this place, I conjure, was even bigger and more deserty - in fact, as we were getting the lay of the land, I ended up quoting the entire scene from the pilot where Mal and Zoe guess Patience's move. And as we walked further into the pit I kept waiting for the old bat to ride out on a horse from behind a thicket in front of us.

Anyway. We found the PERFECT rock to start out on - right at the edge of a slope, just right for me to sit on (fully clothed in Malwear) and go Hyeah....that went well. (That's the only line I'm going to give away. Best you come to the screening if you want to hear the rest. ) Of course the sun chose that precise moment to go inside for the day, but we made out with what we had. The wind though, that was another story. Kept having to wait for minutes on end so I could speak into my mic without any wind interference! Then the aircraft started flying overhead....bah. One of the bastards actually circled and set us back about five minutes waiting for the noise to dissipate. Finally I gave in and hollered GET OUTTA THE WAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!! and You wanna fly, fuckin' fly!!!! amongst others.

Took us about four hours to shoot a three-minute film. By no means am I griping - the more takes the better, long as it's the closest thing to cinematic perfection man has yet achieved. Of course I blew more than a few of my lines and had to go back and take it from the top, BUT, it ain't like our BDHs have dealt with anything different. We weren't far from a local shooting range, and I couldn't help but facetiously remark how fun it would be if a stray bullet zipped by and grazed my left arm....yeah, our director wasn't as amused as I hoped she'd be. But we ended up with what we all hoped would be a blindin' shiny finished product - and how exquisite was our timing? We were just dismantling the camera equipment when we felt the first drops of rain! Bwaha! No power in the 'verse could stop us.

No, seriously.

Despite one car breaking down on the way out of Boston, and the other car (which was not entirely road-ready though I'm non-specific as to how) getting into a fender-bender on the way back into Boston, our sunshine giving way to increasing clouds and then overcast just as we began shooting, and the wind and the aircraft and my occasional inability to breathe properly - WE DID IT. We had the job, it got done. We lined out a damned important message that'll first be seen by them as can make it to the CSTS screenings, and more'n likely the Equality Now folk, and who knows, maybe even Joss himself eventually....And I will tell you right now - 'surreal' is the only word I can think of to describe how it feels to be the one delivering that message. But by no means was it done by me alone. Our photographer knows his trade for damned sure and I can't wait to see how he makes out with the post-production. The director and her assistant, both of 'em core members of the NEBCs, did a hell of a job keeping the whole thing in line and in perspective and sticking to the vision.

I survived to do the shoot, now can only hope I survive to see the finished product. Also can but hope some of you northeasterners can come to see it for yourselves, though. Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA, June 20-21 at midnight. Just be there early, dong ma? We roll Serenity at midnight sharp so come early if you want to watch me talk about the NEBCs and our involvement with CSTS. C'mon - you know you wanna. ;D

I'll post pics if and when they become available. But GAAAAHHHHHHH, am I GIDDY!!!!!! Now it's time to hunker down and figure out what we're gonna do for CSTS next year. If all goes well with work et al, I'll be in the audience as well as on the screen on both nights, greetin' all manner of shiny new folk and doing other captainy things. In the meanwhile - y'all keep flyin'.

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