By Brian Manis, Writer/Producer/Director
Producing and filming at a distant location can provide a unique set of challenges, so just make sure to plan ahead and be prepared for the unexpected, because “Murphy’s Law” always comes into play.
A recent production took us on the road to Florida for several weeks, to create a series of videos that were developed by the amazing creative team at Publicis Hawkeye for our valued client, Terminix. During pre-production, my first call was to the local film commission. They were very helpful in helping me understand the breadth of local talent (and where to find them), lodging options, and production resources like catering companies, electric companies and equipment rental companies, just to name a few.
Next up was finding and hiring a few local team members to assist our crew. Having an accomplished, connected local team member on the ground is vital to your production, because they are your local eyes and ears and a key to developing strong local resources. Since we knew our biggest challenge was finding the perfect location well in advance of our arrival, my first local hire was an experienced location manager, Holly Roark. Thanks to her contacts, research and keen eye, we developed a long list of possible locations and eventually settled on the perfect one. Holly handled all of the permits and payments, as well as countless other issues we needed to figure out from afar.
Casting was another challenge, because we were auditioning local actors without meeting with them in person. All of the local casting agencies we worked with, especially the Diamond Agency and Professionally Pretty, were very helpful and went out of their way to provide high-caliber talent to fill the various roles. Finding the right cast proved to be a lengthy process, but we landed on some pretty amazing actors.
But as I mentioned before, “Murphy’s Law” always comes into play, and when anything can go wrong, it will! Unfortunately, all the planning in the world could not help us avoid challenges created by Mother Nature. We went to South Florida to escape the cold winter for this shoot, but even this tropical oasis wasn’t immune to the crazy weather. Days before our shoot, a deep freeze hit the town. When we arrived at our beautiful location, we were shocked to find that a great deal of the local foliage that was so important to our shoot had withered from the freeze. So, after the shock wore off, I turned to another amazing local team member, Art Director Bob Hubbard, who assessed the situation, put on a new hat and turned into an expert greensman. Before I knew it, Bob brought in a small, portable forest of lush foliage to keep each and every shot beautiful and seamless.
So we were ready to go. Well, not so fast….because “Murphy’s Law” was not done with us. The day before production and 5 minutes before our full crew and client production walkthrough, our talent for our first day of production had a family emergency and couldn’t work that day. Now this was a blow, because our talented 1stAssistant Director Brad Ellis and I had spent weeks meticulously planning a schedule that juggled talent, locations, and weather to a harmonious balance, only to watch it all fall apart in one decisive moment. So, after a comically uncomfortable production meeting, we raced to pick up the pieces and create a brand-new schedule. This was only possible because of the valiant efforts of our local talent agencies and a crew that was up to the challenge.
Needless to say, despite all the obstacles (and there were plenty more) the production was an overwhelming success, and the end result was an amazing set of videos that we are proud of making!
