'I'm Gonna Build Me A Wall'

Set build, beginning, middle and end. Photo from Mirella

Is it wrong to be shocked when everything, well mostly everything, goes exactly the way you want it to?

For the majority of this project I feel like I've been pushing an uphill battle where everything and to some extent everyone has been against me. I guess that comes hand in hand with being a producer however sometimes it can't help but feel personal. That's exactly what I avoided for the majority of this project, I didn't want anyone to feel like anything I said to them was a personal attack but in making sure that didn't happen part of me just avoided the confrontation. I can handle things in formal situations such as production meetings but outside of that when someone Facebook messages me asking a question or texts me saying they're going to be late I feel like it's too much of an intimate situation to be blunt with them without sounding like I'm making things personal. Throughout the project, particularly in the beginning I pushed the use of email to avoid this type of thing but after a
while I just had to admit defeat to social media and texting. It came with it's own challenges but it was definitely the better way of communicating to everyone and getting a quick response.

I've done many things wrong during this production and I openly admit that, however I've recently realised that if I say anything with enough credence people will believe me. The same with if I act like nothings wrong people will also believe that nothing is wrong and continue with their work, even if that work is behind schedule.

I guess what I'm trying to say is acting like I knew what I was doing was the best decision I've made so far.

Out of me making decisions of pure instinct we got the script finalised, storyboards finished, set build approved, actors auditioned, set and props ordered, set built and dressed all in time for a tech rehearsal with camera and lights on Friday afternoon. That's the bit that still hasn't quite made sense in my head.

On Tuesday me, Emily and Tom went to buy the main building materials for the set - including a door that fit in Tom's car as long as me and Em were not also in the car so we called Lawrence to pick us up - although my dodgy calculations meant an extra 2 trips to Homebase (again thank you Tom and Lawrence!) we got everything done in 2 days. That's right, built, scraped, papered, 2 coats of paint and flooring down by 5pm Thursday. Come Friday all that was left to do was hang the doors and start dressing.

So yeah I'm still in a state of shock, the call sheets are now drawn up and ready to go all that's left to do is film and then it's over which is kind of insane. I'll have more of an insight into being a producer when everything has finished but now my main thought is this, I thought I was a good producer before I started this project and whilst the vast majority of this project has made me question those skills I'm back to thinking I'm not half bad at this. It's been a learning curve and it's been a hard one but I'm getting there.

Plus right now the budget stands at £99.56 - with only T-shirts left to buy (and possibly a bit of petrol money for the boys) I don't think that's bad going.