Ravi and Janina

The next actors to film for "Men, Interrupted" were Ravi Patel and Janina Gavankar. Ravi and Janina are both really funny and like to improvise. We had a relaxed shooting schedule, so we took our time and had fun - letting the actors do as many as seven takes on a setup. When Ravi and Janina improvised, they kept the whole crew laughing. The crew should maintain absolute silence during shooting, so the poor AC had to leave the room during one take because he was laughing so hard. I had to keep hiding my face behind my binder. And during one take, the boom kept swinging into the shot because the sound mixer was cracking up. Eventually, Ravi and Janina would crack each other up and I'd just have to call the cut.

All in all it was a longer shoot than I planned on, but a ton of fun. This is when a set is at its best. When the shooting schedule is relaxed and the crew is not under time-pressure, the actors have time to stretch out and get creative.

Below, our AC and Gaffer serve as stand-ins during lighting. These guys were hilarious and I should probably shoot a movie just about them...

Final touches on lighting...

Then the actors take the place of the standins while final adjustments are made to the set, the placement of the actors, the camera, the lighting, and makeup.

And we're off and running. The most amazing thing about film actors is how they can act so naturally while placed on a petri dish...

Actors Ravi Patel and Janina Gavankar hard at work...

Men, Interrupted

Today we began shooting a comedy short I wrote, "Men, Interrupted." It follows the twisted relationships of three couples through the course of one challenging night. The first couple we filmed are two wonderful actors David Wachs and Kate Albrecht. We shot "day for night" which means blocking sunlight from the windows with huge flags.

David, Kate, and I practiced every beat in rehearsal last week. This makes for a relaxed and easy shoot. It was amazing how consistent the actors were in filming. Their continuity will make the editor's job (Jay Trautman) much smoother.

The filming location is in a "transitional neighborhood" covered in rival Crip and MS13 gang tags. After wrapping, we had grips escort the actors back to their cars!

All in all, a fun shoot, and nobody got knifed! I'd call that a success.