When that day you thought would arrive many times before, and finally does … aahhh, the sweet taste of what the future could bring truly springs forth all the senses in their magnificent splendor. We were finally going to make a movie, a film, a piece of cinema, a creative work, that no one in the whole world, the whole universe, had ever seen before. Yes, we finally got that green light early this year, and it was time to start building those tracks to roll this locomotive down. Cause it was coming for sure now, and we had to get to work. For as much as hope springs eternal about what are poised to create, the real truth was that we had a lot of very hard work ahead of us. But bring it on, because we been ready …

Pre-production. A time to get all those ducks in a row. Well, maybe not exactly in a row, but at least let’s get those things organized and fired up. Do ducks actually move in a row, anyway? Anyway … getting people, places, and assets in place, so we can fire on all cylinders once production gets rolling. Our official prep went from March 5th through March 23rd, with production start looming at March 26th. When you start prep you usually think you have plenty of time, but in reality there never seems to be enough time … ever.

For me the first main piece of the puzzle to solve is casting, and I was well into that a month before prep. I have said it plenty times before, and it may even be a cliche, but without the right cast, the right chemistry within the cast, and a way for me to help that cast bring their characters to life, then there is no movie. Of course I know all the other pieces, cinematography, production design, etc. are all crucial, but without performance, there is no film. Period. Casting successfully means at least half my job is already done. So paying attention to that with laser focus is where I live in most of prep. But that also means hiring the right casting director I can work with. And once I hit town that was one of my first tasks. We met with some very quickly and hired one (actually a set of ones, a mother and daughter team; Karen and Ashley). Two for one sounded good to me and auditions got fired up. But we had quite a lot of submissions to wade through before we narrowed down to that; and from all over besides all over Texas, L.A., N.Y., Atlanta, New Orleans, and a mix of other places. It was a bit grueling, but very fascinating to watch the various ways actors could interpret your words. (One note here; I did meet with some name talent during this period, but the stars did not align for that to happen.)

Once we waded through all the submissions, we started auditions to first see who were the best candidates and then to do chemistry reads to see how well our best candidates fit together as an organic ensemble unit. That was a bit tricky, but we got there, sometimes in a round about way, but in a satisfying productive way. I do believe that we did put together an excellent harmonic dramatic troupe. Now I just had get the performances I needed out of them. We started with some of that during rehearsals but the rest of it gets us into production, which is for another day. Now we had to fill out our crew and get the locations we wanted, or least needed.

You always want the best crew you can put together. But obviously on a low budget production like ours, it could be a tight proposition. Plus, there were other productions going on in the Austin area. A couple big ones; TNT’s ‘The Son’ was still filming as we went into prep, and then ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ was getting ready to get geared up, as well as some other projects in the area. So getting a decent crew was paramount on our minds … but we were going to get there. First, we needed a production manager to bring our keys aboard, and help finalize the budget details. Which of course we did and everything during prep was always a moving target … about par for indie filmmaking, huh?

Locations and weather became two major moving targets. Texas was going through a very wet, cool spell during prep, and also as we went well into production. And obviously that is one thing you can never ever control. You just have to adjust and carry on. As far as locations, I did have some concerns. many of our locations were rural small town types of locations, as well as different periods. Most of the story took place in the spring of 1994 in small town Texas, with flashbacks in 1959, 1961, and 1965. I had already done some pre-pre-production location scouting of my own, and had come to the conclusion that we would probably be shooting somewhere on the corridor east of Austin, from Taylor to Lockhart. So that’s what I focused on, checking out Taylor, Hutto, Manor, Elgin, Bastrop, and Lockhart. I knew Smithville was a popular shooting destination for the area as well as being very filmmaker friendly, but it felt like that was just too far to travel. In the end, we wound up several days in Lockhart, one in San Marcos, a couple on a ranch between Lockhart and San Marcos, several on rural roads in the area, a couple out on the lake, one day at the coast, and the rest of the time at a house in Austin. All in all, it worked out pretty well, as it seemed we took it all in stride and wound up working those locations damn good.

Another area of concern was the production design and art direction, as well as our picture cars. Because the story wasn’t contemporary, we would have some challenges in those areas. All on a limited budget. But everyone worked it like the professionals they were, and I commend all the people who made that all possible. They filled in all the pieces to help make this story come alive.

Yes, in the end, I think the main concerns were that we had a lot of kids to cast, a lot of vehicle shots, and it was essentially a period piece. But we figured it out as we moved down the road to production …

JAD