So guess what? Remember when I went out to LA to meet with Paula Wagner as the first step on a long path towards producing films? Remember how she said I needed some experience on real live movie set (among other things)? Well as fate would have it, that's exactly what I got these past 2 weeks, when 20th Century Fox's film adaptation of John Green's novel "The Fault in Our Stars" produced by Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, directed by Josh Boone, and starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort filmed on location ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY HOUSE. Seriously. Boom, Hollywood in the front yard. There is literally no easier way to experience a movie set than walking out your front door and being on one.
So these delightful people started filming on Monday August 26 at the very crack of dawn, and quite appropriately they just wrapped filming here about 40 minutes ago very nearly at the crack of dawn, providing some nice symmetry. It should come as no surprise to you that I spent about as much time outside on set as I possibly could, and when I wasn't out that I was usually looking through my window keeping an eye on things. Hearing the PAs yelling "Rolling!", "Action!", and "Cut!" gave me such a rush every time, I was like a kid in a candy store. I probably looked like a grinning idiot the whole time, but my enthusiasm seemed to be at the very least endearing.
I won't spoil the book here, but suffice it to say that it's well worth a read. I hadn't even heard of it before these guys showed up to scout our house as a possible location, and I finally got around to reading it last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's poignantly sad and at times hilariously funny, with beautiful language and a really strong voice. You'll like it, I promise.
I find myself feeling a bit sad right now, actually. It's all over. I mean, not really, because they film in Pittsburgh for another 2 or 3 weeks and then they go to Amsterdam to film, but it's all over for me. That's 2 films shot on my block in as many years (the first being a day of filming for Tom Cruise's "Jack Reacher"), so I think the odds of them coming back to film here again any time soon are slim to say the least. The filming has become a part of my existence, and a part of my routine. I've come to really like the cast and crew, and have learned a lot about the whole process of making a movie just by chatting with them. But since they wrapped at 3:30am on a Saturday and want to get the heck out of here (and who could blame them) there really wasn't a chance to say goodbye or anything (that and there are over 100 of them, so kind of hard to get to everyone). I like closure when it comes to stuff like this, and I'm not going to get it, and that makes me feel funny. The only upside here is that most of the crew, at least, are Pittsburghers, so there's a chance I'll run into them around town, particularly if I manage to get more plugged into the local film industry. The cast and producers (who I actually got to know reasonably well for just talking on the street occasionally - the producers that is, not the cast) will have to wait until I'm a big shot, I guess. Or at least a bigger shot than I am now, which is to say no shot at all.
Anyway, this is all to say that it's been a really fun experience, I'm thrilled to have had this opportunity to get to know all of these fine people and watch them expertly work their craft. I can't wait to see the movie when it comes out!
In other news I just killed the mother of all spiders in my room when I came in to go to bed after standing out in the cold watching them film. I'm kind of proud of overcoming my debilitating arachnaphobia (sort of).
Spackle, signing off!
Keep calm and carry on, my friends.
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