shooting “alaskaLand”, the production meeting and day 1

TOUCH DOWN — March 24/25, 2011

I left at 4:30 in the morning with the principle cast for Fairbanks; we arrived at midnight the next day. Yes, we really did travel for almost 24 straight hours (which is longer than a trip to Nigeria and back, by the way). But everyone was so excited. Corey, the actor who plays David in the film, didn’t get a chance to have as many rehearsals with me as everyone else did (because he lives in North Carolina), so we rehearsed in the different airports, along with the other male principles, Alex and Leland. The trip became real once we arrived in Seattle and walked to the Alaska Airlines gate. SO many things were going through my mind on the plane ride: is everyone doing okay? what am I going to do about some of the smaller roles which I haven’t cast yet? did all the checks clear? are all the male characters’ dramatic arcs clear?

When we arrived in Fairbanks, I was so excited for everybody else to experience Alaska for the first time. I knew that it could get a lot colder, but almost everybody said it was freezing. I didn’t tell anybody much about the hotel, but wanted them to experience the giant moose and muskox heads on the walls for themselves. I chose Pike’s Lodge because I wanted the cast and crew to have an authentic Fairbanks experience, and boy did they have one at the hotel!

I, literally, didn’t sleep for the first 2 1/2 days. My mind was so focused on making sure that everybody else was well taken care of, and on the rest of the cast and crew that would be arriving the day after we did. There was so much preproduction work that needed to be done, so I worked with Maya, our Alaskan-based producer and Dave, our cinematographer, as much as possible, before the rest of the group came; when they did, it officially felt like we were making a movie.

About 17 of us flew out to Fairbanks, while the rest of the crew and cast came straight from Fairbanks; March 26th was the first day that everybody got to meet everybody and sit in the same room with one another in a production meeting.

The energy during the production meeting was electrifying. The room was filled with a dozen or so hungry undergraduate film students who were willing to help out in anyway possible, emerging talent that were ready to bring their respective roles to life, and crew members who were ready to knock this film out the park. We were ready to shoot an entire feature film in 2 weeks, and I was so excited and focused – I also had no idea what to expect from the first day.

PRODUCTION MEETING. Some people say Im a lil animated when I get excited...

PRODUCTION MEETING. The energy and positivity in the room was awesome!

DAY 1 OF PRODUCTION — March 27, 2011

Talk about nerves! I never know how the first day of any film shoot is going to go, because the working dynamics are always so different. Thankfully, the first day went pretty smoothly.

This entire film shoot was like a homecoming for me, but when we were at the University, I felt it was particularly special to be making this film. My dad taught at the University for 25 years, so I practically grew up on that campus.

It took us a little bit longer than anticipated to get through the scenes that we did, but they turned out great. There were still a lot of pieces that needed to be put in place, but I tried not to think about those things, and focus on completing shooting for this day and getting ready for Day 2.

DAY 1. Ill never get tired of seeing my name on the slate!