Protected: When you want the new book AND the new coat
I mentor teen writers late on Fridays and warned this week’s student that things would be far from normal. He arrived early to a tranquil set and we edited line-by-line the new chapter of his trilogy. We work to a colour-coded mind map on butcher’s paper.
The crew started to pour in carrying lights, black sheets, boxes of kit into the studio. A big camera was placed in the centre of the room. Crew members introduced themselves on arrival, courteous at the frontline of a (pre-arranged) invasion. We moved furniture and soon every space in the rooms and corridors was packed with the paraphernalia and people of filmmaking.
It was unspeakably, unseasonally and stinkingly hot. Unhelpfully the air-conditioning unit had expired the day before.
Glass panels were concealed by black sheeting wedged with poles and were later taken down to allow light through the glass for takes from different angles. A Rachel Griffiths double sat in the star’s place on set as camera angles were lined up. Then Rachel Griffiths sat at the desk across from Kim Knuckey. Several rehearsals were run. As directed we were silent. In no time I knew the lines too but my untrained ear could discern little or no difference between takes. It’s the same as a reader not realising the dozens of big and small adjustments that a writer makes to every sentence.
The director quietly gave instructions and at one point Rachel Griffiths called out to everyone to quieten to listen to a crew member’s idea.
I said hello to Rachel and there was a quick handshake. I’d thought about asking for a photograph having been a big fan of Muriel’s Wedding, my hometown movie, and recalling the director P.J. Hogan from school days. I loved ‘Six Feet Under’ and watched it no matter how late the hour that networks in the UK and Australia pushed it back eventually resorting to DVD. Hilary and Jackie is still on my ‘to watch list’. And I followed Brothers And Sisters. Several friends are huge fans of Rachel Griffiths in all of those shows and I’d have loved a photo to share with them.
But I didn’t ask for a pic. I’ve never had a paparazzi mindset and the actors and crew were focusing on their clocks and their craft, and photography during a film shoot is not a big hit with directors so I’ve just these few phone shots.
I’ve met, and interviewed VIPs in business and show business, and never worried about snaps. For many years I enjoyed the luxury of working with photographers.
So what’s Rachel Griffiths like? She’s very slim and not quite as tall as I expected, and she’s very impressive to watch at her craft. What does she think of this role I wonder? Well I imagine she thinks it’s work and probably no different to how any of us feels about the job at hand.
Now, apart from fresh green walls and vacuumed carpet in the next room, and until Camp hits the TV screens, it’s like filming never happened, except for one thing. It was greatly inspiring to have an influx of people who work hard and care about that work and craft and about doing it well, the same way I care – non-famous people with whom you could get along famously.
Please get in touch for your writing needs whether you are famous or not.
Car park becomes film set. Image : © The Writing Business. For a feature article @writingbusiness
All is quiet in The Writing Business-Studio but in a few hours, where I am sitting right now will be a thoroughfare for film directors, producers and crew. People will be on the landing outside supervising lights, audio, cameras, actors will be in the room. With a background and credentials in feature journalism, I can’t resist writing a feature about what happens when a film crew hits a small town. TI always thought this building looked like a film set, even said so here, The Studio Story. I didn’t foresee that a few months later, Rachel Griffiths would be acting a scene in the next room, as the star of NBC ‘dramedy’ series. Camp is being made by BermanBraun and Australia’s Matchbox Productions, about the love and lives of teenagers and their adults, at a teenage summer camp. It is being filmed at the glorious Crams Farm.
“But won’t all that distract you from your work?” people said.
Yes, it has. Hugely. The location team have been calling in for weeks often bringing production designer Steven Jones-Evans, art directors, directors and set designers and I have assisted them in accessing the room, and finding the right people to obtain permission. TV! The glamour. The paperwork! The money! Well, let’s not get too excited.
The investment of time and meetings to first find a location then to get a set just right even for the smallest scene is enormous. Even for a name plate to sit on a desk. Clearance has to be obtained to use that name. Then the nameplate has to be made. People assume film companies have limitless budgets. They have budgets like any business.
Set for Camp: Weeks of work goes into preparing a set. Image : TheWriting Business © @marianedmunds
Two days ago the room was painted a light green for the shoot. Yesterday the set was dressed. Mahogany officer furniture, and accessories were hauled up the many stairs. Could they have found a location with more stairs? Office plants and photographs of children were placed in the room, signage was placed on the door and window, and the carpet was vacuumed. And amid it all my phone line and Internet was cut. Stuff happens, and it was sorted quickly.
Lisa who was dressing the set felt terrible about it but amid disconnection comes connection. Lisa has worked on Mad Max in Namibia, and Moulin Rouge and very many films in between. It is incredibly hard work, and the crew travel miles, lift furniture, start early, finish late and do it all over again, day after day.
Lisa told me that for her set dressing is character creation. As I have witnessed the set come together I too have started to picture the characters in the scene. It will be interesting to see how close my image is to the characters who appear here this afternoon.
Marian Edmunds
For features and writing services contact @writingbusiness or @marianedmunds or marian@thewritingbusiness.com
Flow tops ow: www.thewritingbusiness.com
By Marian Edmunds
An email arrived from an accountant friend a month or two ago proudly announcing their new website.
I clicked and it was true, the site looked great. Always curious about written content, I scanned the home page to find that my friend’s firm offers the usual accountancy services and another called cash ow management. Cash ow is a feeling that is probably familiar to many of us. A good accountant like my friend can help you to convert cash ow into cash flow. While reading the website another possibility for cash ow jumped out at me. Cash cow !
Do errors and typos really matter?
Our view at The Writing Business is that professional writing and editing will ensure your copy is clean and clear. This means the reader, your potential client, will not be distracted from your key message and will be focused entirely on your story.
How about you? Do errors and typos bother you? And do you write and edit your own content, or is there someone you call on who takes away the ow?
P.S. For more on cash flow here’s an article we wrote for Bite, the business magazine for dentists.