GIRLTRASH Blog

GIRLTRASH: ALL NIGHT LONG by Angela Robinson
WRITING THE SCRIPT BLOG #7
… was kind of a blur. It happened really fast. And was really fun. But now that I’m writing about it I realize it is the story of how a webisode became an ensemble comedy and then a rock musical. In the span of about six weeks.

Okay… so… the script for GIRLTRASH: ALL NIGHT LONG started as part of the web series. In it’s original inception, the web series of Girltrash was going to be a series of 2-3 minute webisodes telling an open-ended story of a group of women involved in an unfolding crime story. Once the narrative was established, we were going to add buttons where viewers could see spin-off videos that gave context to the current action. So I wrote a bunch of mini-scripts one of which was – “CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW COLBY AND MISTY FIRST MET.” It was 30 pages and took place before the events of the webseries. The story involved the comic misadventures of Colby, a co-ed graduating from USC, who wanted her sister, Daisy, a low-level criminal and wannabe rock star, to take her to a gay-bar because she wanted to talk to a girl, Misty, who was WAY too cool for school for her.

Alex and I decided to re-purpose the 30 pages into an ensemble coming of age comedy that took place on one insane night like GO or SUPERBAD. It was tonally very different from the web-series, but doing a movie of the crime-story version of the web-series was going to be too expensive. Plus, I was interested in exploring what the characters in the web-series did on their time off from crime.

Next, I had to flesh out the stories of the other characters (Daisy, Tyler, Monique, etc.) and figure out where the night would take them. Then a funny thing happened. Lisa Rieffel who played Daisy in the web-series is actually in a rock band named Killola. And Alex and I had always thought it would be fun to do a Josie and the Pussycats type of thing and write Killola into the script. So, we came up with the idea that Daisy and Tyler were in a band and that they were trying to make it to a Battle of the Bands but would keep getting diverted by Colby/Misty/Monique, etc. So we asked Killola if we could use some of their songs so the rock band in the movie (Allota of Flame) could have something to play on-screen. I kept listening to all of Killola’s songs on a loop and then ONE DAY I was writing a scene where Daisy was pining away for her ex-girlfriend and I was listening to Killola’s song, “Traffic” and I had a vision of Daisy walking through this party and singing this song that reflected her emotional state, but nobody would notice her, like from “Hair” or a kind of “Hopelessly Devoted to You” type thing. I pitched the idea to Alex and she loved it. We were off to the races! Girltrash: All Night Long, our ensemble coming-of-age comedy, had just morphed into a rock-musical.

I’d send scenes to Killola and they would send me back the scene two days later as a song, with lyrics and a scratch track. It was frickin’ awesome. It was a really fantastic and very creative way to work. I pounded out the script in 6 weeks and by December they were shooting it. Alex and David the editor are madly cutting now – can’t wait to see how it all turns out! — Angela

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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.