GIRLTRASH Blog

GIRLTRASH: All Night Long Blog # 4
El Niño or how an 18-day-shoot became 28 and counting… One ambulance drive to the hospital; one doctor visit to the set; one terrifying 5-ton truck tire blow-out on the freeway, with one generator jackknife; one honey-wagon bathroom overflowed; one gas shut-off at a location; one (almost) electricity shut-off at another location; shutting down production for the holidays; shutting down production for two (2!) sick actors; and shutting down production for rain, rain, rain, rain, rain & hail, rain and rain.

One might think we are making a disaster movie, but, wait … aren’t we making a musical? Principal Photography started December 1st, 2009. There is something increadibly excitng about the first day.

You have a crew who is looking forward to the work; a wonderful cast (Lisa Rieffel, Michelle Lombardo, Gabrielle Christian, Mandy Musgrave and Rose Rollins) that have all been excited to make this film for a while; a director with a grin from ear to ear; and a Mentee program filled with people who flew in from all over the world just dying to get their hands dirty. The best part about the first day is everyone is super excited, super awake and intent on discovering their next BFF! Sure, we are shooting from 4:00 pm to 4:00 am six days a week, but the food is amazing, the frigid weather is a rustic & quaint backdrop for our new “survival” adventure and we have all the time (and money) in the world! VIDEO: Behind-The-Scenes, The First Day on GIRLTRASH:All Night Long

”It never rains in California, but, girl, don’t they warn you, it pours, man, it pours…”
By end of Week One, we were scheduled to move from our cozy Interior Sorority House location to the Exterior Sorority House location. But, as the first of many storms that would come to be foretold by all the meteorologists — with the steadiness of Chicken Little -– so became location change number 1.

Typically, when you schedule a film you have what is called a “Cover Set.” A Cover Set is generally an interior set or location that you can substitute for one of your exterior locations in case of the occasional rain day. Occasional rain day. Occasional rain day! I just wanted to say that again -– occasional! Not a monsoon! Not in LA!

Well, yes, I might describe the weather from December through February as a GIRLTRASH: The Monsoon. The weather almost turned GIRLTRASH: All Night Long into GIRLTRASH: All Year Long! Our schedule called for us to shoot more than half of our days in Exterior Locations. Instead, we kept being forced to shoot all we could inside and dance around IN the rain with our exterior days.

So stopping and starting was the rhythm to be … it certainly was challenging, but like anything worth doing, it IS worth doing right!

We won our perpetual battle with Mother Nature! We officially wrapped on February 15, 2010 — a dry and dark night, in a downtown Los Angeles parking lot. The following Friday, February 19 was our wrap party and true to form, our Swim, Jacuzzi, Mariachi Fiesta was pelted with torrential rains, but also true to form for the GIRLTRASH: All Night Long cast and crew, we weathered the storm and partied like we just didn’t care.

Next week: The Mentees! or How many people traveled from all over the world to come hang, learn, participate in GIRLTRASH: All Night Long.

In March 2009, Lisa Thrasher and I decided to greenlight “GIRLTRASH: All Night Long — the movie.” Like we had done before with “ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE,” we started with an idea.  Angela Robinson called Lisa and me to a meeting at her office with her and her wife, Alex Kondracke, who was 5 months pregnant at the time. They pitched us the movie.

“We have all the same actors ready to go and we want to make it a musical that takes place in all one night,” Robinson spouted off.  “Ok, where is the script?” I asked. Robinson, who is one of the most prolific writers assured me that, when she wrote it, I would love it. Oh, and one more surprise, she wanted Alex to direct.  Robinson, by then, had become a major player in television and was a co-executive producer on HUNG – created by POWER UP filmmaker Colette Burson – and was therefore unavailable to direct the feature.  For many producers this would have been a deal breaker, but for me, the self-proclaimed “queen of the virgin” that was no big deal. In my professional career, prior to launching POWER UP, I was considered an expert in (or maybe crazy for) working with first time directors.  In my own defense, this was not done by choice but rather circumstance.

OK, so here we go: With our money in the bank and a script to be written from an idea based on characters created in a successful web series by Angela, we agreed to move forward.  Our original plan for production was to be late summer 2009. This would give Alex a chance to birth her baby and get back on her feet. It would also give Angela a chance to write the script. Of course it also meant we would have to do contracts, negotiations and a lot of pushing and explaining back and forth.  Over the next several months, we would hook up and discuss, negotiate and concede. More time would pass, again discuss, negotiate, and concede. Early November, Angela called with good news and bad. Good news: we had a script that she felt ready to share. Bad news: we would have to start production right away due to actors’ schedule conflicts in early January.

Ok so now, our obstacles are: agreement between parties, not signed; we had less than our needed 6 week pre-production; a first time director; and of course our biggest obstacle a tiny budget for an extremely ambitious production schedule.  OR, what the fuck, we are out of time!  A few days spend on the phone and in meetings with attorneys, and the four main players, Stacy, Lisa, Angela and Alex and the 8 months of negotiations finally comes to an end.  Contracts signed.

Pre-production in half the time we’d planned. With casting already in place, we did breathe a sigh of relief in the hopes that we’d be able to do the impossible: prep in 3 weeks.  Johnny and Lisa – of rock band Killola – had been writing music for the film since the summer and their awesome songs were pre-recorded and ready to go. Our script was ready, charming, funny and fun as expected. The director had been working on her shot lists and developing her vision. Our work was cut out for us. Crew, locations, design, style, rehearsal, equipment, insurance, permits, vehicles, hair cuts, catering and of course more negotiations, points, concessions, arguments with all parties concerned.

Principal Photography started December 1, 2009.

Next week:
El Niño – aka how an 18-day shoot became 28.