June 28, 1993

Well, I'm here at work, doing as close to nothing as one can do and still get paid for it. My boss, Chris Gifford, producer of "Clairissa Explains It All," is on vacation in France at the moment. Fortunately they've agreed to have me work for most of the summer break, which makes Dea extremely happy at the moment.

As far as THE DEMON FILES goes, things are slowly coming together. I still have no idea how I'm going to pay for any of this. I'm leaving that up to the Lord - he hasn't let me down yet. Of course, the biggest thing on my mind is that my wife has yet to give birth to my kid. Everyday we hope and everyday Dea gets more uncomfortable. Please let it happen today!

Chris Linn and I used his Dad's camcorder to record some of the locations yesterday. After scouting out the Orlando bus station for the Miles/Poole scene in the beginning of episode one, we decided to change it to the Winter Park train station. We recorded some different angles and I realized that I'm going to have to re-storyboard the entire scene to compensate for the new location. After the train station we mosied (sp?) over to Lake Ivanhoe. After reviewing with Chris what shots I wanted, he suggested we use another lake, down the road from where we live. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of this lake, only that it has a nice flat area where we can film the stabbing. It'll be weird, though, cause the lake's surrounded by these beautiful rich people's houses. So, we're gonna have to go in early, film it quick and get out as soon as we can. We'll probably shoot that Saturday morning. I really need a solid shadow for the shot, so I'm going to have to check out the sun's location. I just pray it'll fall into our shooting needs. If not, I'll think of something else, maybe reflecting the murder off of the rippling water on the shore. Something will work.

Last night, while Dea took a late afternoon nap, I went into the babies room and read the script and character of Poole out loud. It was the first time I started looking at the script as an actor. If there's one thing I learned from HOMESICK (actually, there were plenty) is that once you start acting out the script, you have to put the goals as a writer behind you and focus on what works as an actor. The character you wrote may not be the character you act. It seems when the words are spoken and the action starts to come alive, well, the entire script takes on a life of its own. Rehearsing made me want to work with the other actors, reshaping, sculpting the script into something that will work. I can't wait until we read through and discuss the scenes. It'll be quite exciting.

Here's a list of the things I either need to get or do:
Check out rental places for dollies that can made into doorway dollies.
Buy high quality Hi-8 video.
Get an anchor necklace (waterfront shops at Universal?)
Buy white and black sheets from Salvation Army.
Get three knives, two of which are identical.
Guard uniforms?
For Sale sign
Polaroid film (continuity)
Contact paper for Attic Scene
Flood lights
Chains for Eric in Prison (Home Depot?)
Handcuffs (toy shop?)
Teapot (Salvation Army)
Scar makeup
Tea cups
Need picture for pseudo newspaper article (from PB)

June 30, 1993

Well, on the home front, Dea and I thought last night was the night, but we were wrong. She went to her weekly appointment and was 4cm. Went to the triage, they wanted her to walk around. She walked EIGHT HOURS, but didn't efface or dialate anymore, so we had to go home. Dea was pretty depressed. I'm just agrivated. Anyway, as Dea and I were walking on top of the parking garage at Arnold Palmer Hospital, I came across a way to solve the Ed - Storage Unit scene.

Across from the garage is a bunch of small warehouses/loading docks. Well, I'm going to have Poole get dropped off there then walk over to one of the garages and knock. Then, from the inside of Chris' garage, I'll film him opening/closing the door (with overexposing or backlighting to hide that his front yard is in front of the garage) and use his garage as a whole, as opposed to building flats and only using half of the garage.

If the warehouse doors are much larger than Chris' garage, then I'll try shooting from an extreme angle at Chris' house where you don't really see any garage door, only him standing at one and banging. I'd have to use the extreme angle because his garage door is painted white and the ones at the warehouses are primer brown. My only problem with the extreme angle shot is that, more than likely, there will be background seen and it would be different from the one shot at the warehouse. So, Chris and I are going to fool around with maybe taking a picture of the warehouse that SHOULD be in the background and attaching it to the camera, lining it up with the side of his house. Then, if we shoot from a long shoot, but zoomed in, than the background would then be out of focus. Hopefully the picture attached in front of the lense would have the same looking 'out of focus' and we could basically mask the background that way.

My next concern is, since we are also using Chris' garage for the police station interegation room, that I'll have to light it much differently. I think, since Ed's storage unit is really just a garage, I'll light that fully. But, with the Police Station shots, I'll only use one or two light sources, creating dark shadows, and perhaps a little more mystery. It'll also hide the fact (we hope) that we're filming in a gargage (that also looks a hell of a lot like Ed's place). I especially want to take advantage of the decorative air holes that are in the side wall of the garage. If I can light that well enough and maybe get a little smoke it could add interesting shafts of light while, at the same time, hide the garage door in the background.

My next problem, how to I fill it with smoke? Can't afford a fogger. Oh, the life of the no-budget filmmaker.

I re-storyboarded the opening sequence that used to take place at a bus stop, but now takes place at a train station. I think it will work well.

I checked the sunlight situation at the lake and, unfortunately, the sun rises on the other side of the lake, so I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle that. I may have to find another lake to shoot it at. You know, it just occured to me that, perhaps Lake Concord, behind our apartments, may be able to be used. I think the sun will be in the right position for that. I'm just not sure if the buildings and/or trees will keep the sun from shining through. Also don't know if there's appropriate shore line to do the shot as I see it in my head. I may just need to rethink that too! My storyboards are just becoming suggestions at this point. Oh, well.

As I get closer to filming this thing I am studying movies, tv, etc, trying to see, in specific terms, what works and what doesn't. Even though I've always loved movie soundtracks with full orchestration, I am even more impressed as I study, just how much movies can add to a scene. Seemingly boring scenes silent become filled with tension with the steady sound of violins. I'm really looking forward to working on the music with Jack Sloss.

As far as post production goes, I'm not really thinking about that right now. My most important job is to get the damn thing on tape and transfer it to some higher format. What would be ideal (and also a miracle) is if I could some how get Shelly at CPN to let me use the equipment. But, the more I understand how Nickelodeon works the more I think that would be impossible. I mean, you need tape ops, editors, paintbox at times. Just too many people to scam. But, I also don't know CPN's exact set-up. Maybe they have an offline editing suite with lower formats or something. One can dream. I'll just have to see what the Lord provides.

Just talked to Chris on the phone. He suggested perhaps baby powder for smoke. I think I'll try that tonight. I'm going over to his house to check out the garage, maybe play with some lighting and bring along some baby powder. Jeanne Simon, here at Nick., said that renting a smoke machine is not that expensive. I'll have to look into it.

My next problem is the library. Don't know if I'll be able to pull it off here in Orlando. There's a library downtown that's close to home, but I've never been there. Don't know how receptive they'd be to me loading in a doorway dolly and such to film a few quick scenes. I'm going to try and stop by Saturday morning. If the microfiche is located in a back area, perhaps I can fake the dolly part and just sneak the camera in there, or, if they let me, do it in the back where no one would really see. Just have to wait and checkout the layout of the place.

Well, that's about it. Until next time. PFB

July 1, 1993

Last night was very profitable. But first, on the home front. No baby. The kid was way over on Dea's left side of her belly and you could feel it's butt. It was so cool. I can't wait until I can hold my child in my arms. Then, it will finally be a part of me. I can't wait.

Anyway, last night I went over to Chris' house and we practiced some different scenes using his Dad's camcorder. The first thing we did was to try a nylon over the lens. One layer was nice. Two layers was like a fog (good to remember for future look). Without a nylon it looked way to crisp - too "video" looking. So, we're going to go with the one layer.

As we practiced with the one layer of nylon over the lens, I noticed just how sensitive the lighting becomes, because at certain angels the light reflects off the nylon, giving it a nice glow. But, due to the reflecting and such it will be very important to match the lighting with each shot. Not an easy feat.

The first scene we practiced was Ed's Garage scene. We tried some different shots I re-storyboarded yesterday and they'll work really well. It was nice to block a scene and practice the shots on video. There are so many things I noticed when watching the video that I'll be able to correct or compensate for when we really shoot, so it'll be a great time saver.

After that scene we quickly placed the camera in the spots for the shots during the first police station scene. Again, this was helpful because I can see what I need to hide, what I need to light, etc.

The last scene we played with was the final attack scene where Nicole becomes possessed by the demon. We made some slight adjustments on some of the shots so they would better give the feel I was trying to get when I storyboarded. Chris liked the shots and thought they were well planned out. I was happy to see that they actually worked! Now, I can't wait to actually start filming this thing!

I still have a lot of things I need to do. Last night I realized that I have to buy at least 2 powerful flood lights to show through the garage air holes and I'll also need to get some diffusing material so there aren't any hot spots, but general light coming through the holes. With some baby powder and some powerful lighting, the shafts of light will nicely hide the garage door in the background.

Well, that's about it for now. During lunch I'm going to review the tape we made last night to see if there are any other things I need the take note of before the actual shooting begins.

Oh, one more thing. Rachel Tench (who'll play both Kasey and Caldwell) called to say that she couldn't actually come for the entire week as she had planned because she really needs to work Mon and Tues so she can pay some bills. The weird thing was that she actually felt bad telling me that she couldn't come for the whole week because she needed to work to pay bills! I was like, c'mon Rach, we've been friends forever. Whatever you need to do we'll work around. I mean, she's doing me a favor here. It was sweet for her to call.

Anyway, that's all for now. Maybe more after I view the tapes.

PFB

July 1 - continued Video Notes:

I looked at the video Chris and I shot last night, stopping on certain frames to study the background and lighting situations and here's what I got:

- Need white reflective boards, especially for the train location under the overhang.

- In the Police Station scene, when Eric enters the room and Poole stands into the frame, the lighting should basically be from here:

**add pic here**

It looked good on the video, giving shadows, etc. I liked it.

- When Rachel as Kasey sits in the back as Eric and Poole talk, and the shafts of light land at her feet, hiding her face in darkness, perhaps a little backlight from the back side like so:

**add pic here**

This would make her presence even more visible and we wouldn't lose the top of her body entirely.

- Need this shot:

**add pic here**

When Nicole gets possessed and Poole enters the kitchen, Poole should walk up to her and stop, but the camera would continue in slowly. I don't have a shot where he actually stops behind her and this would add to the tension as the audience would know that she's got the knife, etc.

July 2, 1993

Well, Paul and I talked at length yesterday over the phone discussing the way to build a cheap reusable crane. After faxing down a thumbnail sketch and explaining it over the phone, Paul decided to work on a more in depth plan and price the parts for it at Builders Square II. Well, he called me this morning and faxed me up a copy of his plans. They seem solid and the option to expand it even more, making it more versatile, is also possible. Unfortunately, the price tag was around $60, which is a lot more than I wanted to spend.

I know this sounds cheap as shit, but I was only hoping to spend $25. I'm going to see if they have any throw away wood that I can pull from the dumpsters here at Nickelodeon. The plywood alone was the most expensive part of the set-up. I really like the design though. I think it could really work.

Speaking of scamming, it seems everything happens for a reason. I had walked out to my car after work yesterday when I realized that I forgot to put some stuff in Chris Gifford's office for safe keeping. Well, when I came into the building Jeff Wilson was getting into the elevator. I asked him where I could get light diffusing material for the lighting, as Chris Linn and I had discussed earlier. He asked how much I would need, I said not that much, so he proceeded to give me three rolls, one of "spun" which is nylon fabric-type material. The next was similar, except more like a thin, white plastic, used for the same thing. The last was a thick red/amber gel material. He said, "cut off what you need and give the rolls back." So I did. It was another example of the Lord providing. Thanks, big guy.

This weekend is the 4th of July weekend (which is also Dea's due date) and I'd like to spend some nice time with the wife, enjoy and relax and maybe even get some sun. I'm so white it's scary.

Well, gotta go. Until next time.

P.S.- Need to go to Home Depot tomorrow and check out crane materials.

July 8, 1993

Well, it finally happened. On Tuesday, July 5 at 1:45 a.m. my little girl was born. Dorothea Catherine (aka DC) was born at Arnold Palmer Hospital, healthy as a horse, and as hungry as one too. She is the light of my life and I get excited just thinking about her now.

Now . . . back to the show. I'm creating a shot list based on the storyboards. It'll be extremely helpful as I make sure that everything gets shot. Last night as I laid in bed I thought, if I'm going to rent a doorway dolly for $100, then there has to be a way to build one for under that. I have some ideas. I'll talk to my brother Paul about it.

I have to get back to the shot list. Will write again later. PFB

July 12, 1993

The latest and greatest from the family front is that DC is really cute, sleeps a lot, is a real good baby, but can cry like the best of them.

On the TDF front, I'm having second thoughts about building my own dolly. I can't afford to NOT have it work if we build it. Unfortunately, I can't afford to rent it for all of the days I need it.

July 13, 1993

Well, sorry about yesterday's short entry. Had a lot of work to do.

Anyway, yesterday, as I was leaving Nick., I stopped by Chris Linn's office and after a good round of deserved Disney bashing/horror stories, I explained my concern about building a dolly and how if it didn't work I then wouldn't be able to afford to rent one for the days I need it. Well, Chris' new "office mate" said she had a good friend over at Disney who may be able to let me use one for nothing. If so, then the streak will continue. I have a good feeling about it, so I hope it all works out. I'll keep you informed.

I have set up the shooting schedule on Calender Creator Plus here at Nick. I have all of the shots spread out over about 10 days. If the weather cooperates, all shoud go quite well. I may even be able to squeeze in some other shots if we get ahead of schedule. I just keep praying and the Lord keeps providing.

I watched THE TERM PAPER this morning. It was a lot of fun. The music adds so much to the comedy. Especially at the end, when the Star Trek 3 music is screaming, accentuating the importance of his race to turn it in on time. I really liked it a lot.

Also, I called around for different editing prices. The offline I can probably do for $35/hour on VHS if I really feel as though I need to do it at a suite. I can probably swing that with some home ingenuity and a couple of VCR's. The 3/4" editing will be around 700/DAY!!!!!!! I just gotta keep looking. If I keep praying the Lord will keep providing.

That's it for now . . . PFB

July 19, 1993

Well, things continue to slowly come together. Met with John Bauer and Don Koehler, Sr. to discuss incorporations, articles of incorps, selling shares, etc. It was very helpful and gives me a plan to help make Bauer 8 Productions and Echo Filmworks real entities. It was nice to talk about the business aspect of this stuff. I work on the creative side so much that I never think I'll actually make any money at this. But, after talking with them I have a game plan, a structured path that I can take to start the process of actually making a living at this stuff.

Talked to Shelly Maxwell and found out she got the job approved for her assistant at CPN in Clearwater, Florida and now she is going to try to secure the position for me. It may be a hard fight, but Shelly's got more energy and will power than anyone else I know. If she can't pull it off, it can't be pulled off.

Dea and DC are spending the next few weeks down in Clearwater with her family, who just moved into a nice 3 bedroom house. For a rental house it's very nice and spacious. I miss my wife and child very much. I was supposed to be down with them, but Chris Gifford (my boss) started me work on getting time codes for scenes that they want to enter in the ACE awards. Unfortunately (kind of), he started me on this Thursday. Well, there was no way I could pull off getting it done in two days, so he had me work another week, which is a Godsend, cause Dea and I desperately need the money. But, I will miss them very much. Even the two days I didn't see DC last week were hard. I mean, she changed so much in those two days. It's strange being a father.

One last thing. Dad Koehler, after moving into the house, was able to take everything out of the storage unit he had. Well, lo and behold, he has an extremely powerful light. So, the bright light problem I thought I was going to have, especially when filming the Attic scene with silohetting Caldwell and the shafts of light in the garage police station scene. But, with this light, my problems may have been solved.

One more thing. I realized on the drive back to Orlando that there are some days that I may not have a cameraman. I know that sounds incredibly stupid, but with all of the other specifics I've had to deal with, I forgot about the obvious. It's just, that when ever I've done a project in the past, I've always had either Chris L. or Paul to camera for me. Well, they both have lives and jobs now and since the bulk of the filming takes during weekdays, that could be a problem. Chris Linn and I are meeting tomorrow night to make sure everything is scheduled correctly. Hopefully, that will include the cameraman. We'll see. But, even though I'm concerned about it, I know the Lord will provide. I mean, He wouldn't have everything fall into place EXCEPT the camereman! I just have to be patient and have faith.

Well, that's it for now. Paul is on vacation in NC, John is on vacation in PA and NC. I'm not.

PFB

July 20, 1993

Well, the days keep going by and I still have so much to do. I still don't know about the dolly thing. Lee Ann Larsen, who's working on "Legends" with Chris Linn, was going to check with her friend over at Disney, but I haven't heard anything back yet. How do you press someone to do you a favor? Well, that's my problem. I can't, really. I have to be patient, I guess.

Also, I made some additions to the script that I would like to state. I have two problems with the main character. First, his shame. It's mentioned in the first draft and since I haven't rewritten it yet, I have yet to address Poole's shame and such. So, a way I thought I could show what state of existence his "past" has put him in I decided to add a little bit to the Miles/Train Station scene. When Miles is sleeping as Poole writes in his diary, Poole will notice a couple bucks sticking partially out of Miles' pocket. Quietly and skillfully, Poole will reach over and steal the money. But, (as not to make Poole a total dick for stealing money from a bum) Poole ends up sticking one dollar back into MIles' pocket. I was worried that stealing from a bum would be too much, but it states clearly how bad this guy's life is and what he has to do to survive.

Another problem I had with Poole was his relationship with Nicole. Since the location and equipment won't allow me to shoot the scene as I want, I'll have to add another scene. The original idea was to show Nicole and Eric talking in the interrogation room. The camera would then pull back and show Poole looking through the window on the door, turning away in pain at seeing Nicole and Eric so close. Since Chris' garage won't allow me to shoot the scene that way, I've added another scene which also solves another minor problem I had. See, Nicole and Poole go up to Apopka to see Caldwell in the morning. They then go to a cafe at night and discuss it. The scene ends with Nicole saying they had to leave, because she needed to see Eric in the morning. Well, it makes no sense to have them at a cafe at night since it's only 1 1/2 - 2 hour drive max to Orlando from Tampa Bay. Also, the next scene was Nicole and Eric in the scene mentioned above. Well, that takes place in the morning also, and I thought the audience would have some cofusion determining the day change since the Caldwell scene and now cafe scene, and the Nicole/Eric scene all take place in the morning. So, I added a scene after the cafe scene. Poole will be reading a xeroxed article of the Caldwell stabbing when he looks up, noticing that Nicole has fallen asleep on the couch. He smiles, then stares at her face, his strong love for her overwhelming him. He'll then get up, cross over to her and slowly move his face within inches of hers, their lips almost touching. Just as he is about to kiss her, he stops himself and steps back. He wakes her up, she goes to bed and he sits alone, depressed, etc. This, I think, better establishes his relationship with her as well as solve the time/day change problem I mentioned earlier.

Well, it's pay day. I have to go to the bank and to Consumer Credit to drop off a money order. Talk again soon. PFB

July 21, 1993

Well, I've been filling my depressing times away from my beautiful wife and newborn child by working as hard as I can on TDF. Yesterday had it's good and bad points. The bad was that Matt Day is going to Florida State University today, not in a few weeks as he had originally planned, so he will be unable to help on the project. Chris Linn and I went out with Matt and a few of his friends to Julie's Lakeside and chatted and stuff. It was a lot of laughs. The good was that Steve Holland, a very funny guy who's working on Welcome Freshman here at Nick., is on hiatus during filming week and he will probably be the cameraman throughout. We're going to look over the schedule and make some decisions there. After we figure out which days he can do it (hopefully all of them), we're going to go over the storyboards and discuss the shots.

The next person I have to get in contact with is Mark Rickles, to see if he can do sound. I really want him to do it. I trust him very much, he's very competent. I know this sounds bad, but I hope he's not working that week. I'm also trying to get Ali Lyons to help me during the first part of the week, before Rachel Tench gets in town and can take her place. The prayers just keep going.

I got a call from PB this morning around 8:00 a.m. He had to call so early because he's working some really strange hours. He liked the first script and is going to read the rest now that he's back from vacation. He also said he'd send me a picture so I can make the fake newspaper article. He's planning on coming up Wednesday, August 4th so we can rehearse the day before we shoot all of his scenes. If all goes really well, he could be outta there by Thursday afternoon. He's not planning on leaving until Friday morning, however, just in case the gods of video are against us.

Got a letter from Jennifer Cook the other day (actually addressed to Chris Linn and I since she didn't have my address). She's in South Africa working on a show for the Family Channel, a voice coach for a german actor. She'll be there until December. It's weird how people just pop into your life every once and a while.

I'm going to call Shelly Maxwell today to see what's happening on the job front. Since I'm going to be in Clearwater next week, I want to set up an interview for the job during that time. After that it will be very difficult to fit it in as Clarissa starts up in late August. Like Dea said to me last night, she hopes that when she comes back to Orlando after vacation that its in order to pack. God, I sincerely hope so.

Also met with Chris Linn after going out with Matt and friends. We discussed the schedule and found out that he will be unavailable for almost the entire filming. How convenient. Unfortunately, the show Legends is filming that week and it's going to be hard for him to work less than 12 hours a day, let alone help out on our day shoots. The next big prayer? NO RAIN DURING FILMING. If it rains, I'm seriously screwed. You don't think the Lord has that bad of a sense of humor, do you? I hope not.

Well, that's it for now. Until later. I've got a big list of things to do today. Hope I get them all done. It's getting down to crunch time. Adios - PFB

July 22, 1993

Went to KMart and picked up the handcuffs for PB's role (Eric) and some clothes pins for lighting purposes. Talked to Paul in NC and he's said he should be available for the Sunday August 1 shoot of the Ed and Poole scenes.

Got a call from Pete Bailoff today re: my One View Only script. He was very excited about the idea and thought it was very marketable. He said that it needed some structure and dialogue work, but that the idea was very good. He is going to talk to an important person at New Line pictures, as well as a cable company and a movie of the week person. He's going to see if he "can get you an option" on the script. He said I should know something in the next few days. WOULDN'T THAT BE COOL, TO SEE A SCRIPT I WROTE ON THE SILVER SCREEN? Too weird.

Well, that's about all for now (isn't that enough?). Until tomorrow. PFB

July 23, 1993

Pete Bailoff called again re: One View Only. He said he liked a lot of the aspects of the script, especially Michelle's lure toward the video camera and the lure/danger relationship it has with her. He really liked all of the "red herrings" that I have out there (it could be Eric the club owner, Jack, the delivery man, the husband, the Pizza Man, etc.). He does think, however, that rewrites are in its future, but he doesn't want me to do that yet because he wants to see if someone will pay me to do it first.

He is also going to send me a form to sign which basically gives him the right as "producer" to pitch the idea for a year period, after which I can try to get someone else to pitch it for me. Basically, his agent is worried that Pete could be doing all this work for me and I could have some other producer try to pitch it too. So, he's just covering his ass. He said if I didn't understand any part of it, or if I wanted to omit some things, or add some things, just to call and we would hammer it out. He's doing a project with New LIne right now and is talking to them, as well as Universal Television, which did his "Quicksand" USA movie with Donald Sutherland and Tim Matheson. He's talking to them too. I should receive the form early next week. Don't worry, I'm going to read it very carefully.

Talked to Bob Swan, down at Aero Nova. He'll be playing "Miles" in TDF. I gave him his call time and costume/make-up notes. So, he's fine with coming in August 7th, at around 9 a.m. It's been a full few days. Now, I'll be off work for the next two weeks and will be putting this shit together. Come on Lord, keep things going, and KEEP THE RAIN AWAY DURING SHOOT WEEK! Thanks.

Until next time. PFB

August 9, 1993

Well, it's a WRAP! We finished shooting TDF on Sunday at around 3 p.m. The week was long and hard. So, sit right back and enjoy the tale, the tale of a...

It all started on Sunday, August 1st at around 8 a.m. My brother Paul Bauer (camera), Chris Linn (playing the character of Ed), Allison Lyons (audio) and myself (Poole/Director) moseyed our way down to the Arnold Palmer Hospital parking garage. We set the camera (provided by Karim Mitef) on the tripod (provided by Chris Linn) on the top floor of the garage and filmed Chris (as a anonymous driver) dropping me off and walking toward Ed's garage/home. After a few takes of that we used the $30.00 dolly I bought from Builder's Square 2 down in Brandon. We placed it on three pieced of 3 x 4 plywood and shot the close up of Poole's feet exiting the car, and dollying back to show Poole walking away.

After that we set up a shot with the camera's view through a bunch of strategically stacked loading flats and filmed Poole walking toward the garage. That shot turned out very nice. Then we again set up the plywood on the ground for a dolly shot of Poole actually walking up the ramp to Ed's garage. We put some more flats in the foreground to give the dolly shot an extra sense of movement. We ended the location shoot with some audio shots of the car arriving, dropping Poole off, and driving away, as well as just some ambient sound of the location to use to cover possible sound problems when editing.

We then went back to Chris Linn's garage where we filmed the interior of the garage scene. We started with the dolly shot of Ed telling Poole about his drug-sale-gone-bad story. It took quite some time to get it right. The rest of the day is mostly a blur, with the exception of the dolly shot closing out the scene of Poole saying "I need you to go to Apopka." We had to do that about a million times. We got done between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., exhausted from the intense heat felt all day. It wasn't the smartest thing to schedule a shoot during the first week of August, but it was the only time I could get the actors, so the suffering was worth it.

Monday turned out to be a day of rest. I went to the Orlando Public Library to shoot the library scenes, but it was amazingly busy for a Monday morning. There were a lot of school kids around and the library wasn't too keen on the idea, so it turned out to be a day of just resting.

Tuesday was a light day. Steve Holland (camera) and I filmed Poole arriving in his home town down at the train station right next to the location we used for Ed's garage Sunday morning. The shots turned out really well and I'm very pleased. Later that day Sarah Peacock arrived and we rehearsed, made some nice discoveries about the characters, and then had a very deep and lively discussion about religion and society.

Wednesday was a day in hell. We filmed the Caldwell house and attic scenes. We filmed the Attic scene first in Jym Buss' garage. Ali couldn't make it that day, so it was only Sarah Peacock (as Nicole), Maggie Rasnick (as Caldwell), Steve Holland (Camera) and myself. It was stiflingly hot in the garage and the shoot seemed to take forever. Jym forgot to leave me the key, so I was going to have to drive out to Nick and pick it up. Fortunately, the Lord was shining down on us, cause Jym's new roommate showed up and opened up the place for us. I have to tell you the heat in the garage was amazing. It was so draining. Even though we had spent a good 4 hours in 110 degree heat, we kept saying "Man, it's hot!" like it was a new discovery. It was amazing. After the Attic scene we filmed the interior of the Caldwell house using Jym's dining room. The shots turned out nice. Then, we finished the day filming Nicole and Poole arriving at the house. I'm really quite happy with the shots.

When I got home, around 3:00 p.m., I was absolutely exhausted. Sarah went to visit a friend in Daytona and I crashed on the couch. About an 1 1/2 hours later Rachel Tench arrived. When I woke up I felt like I could've slept another eight hours. It literally took me another three hours to "wake up." It turned out the Steve Holland had a similar experience. We later realized that we probably had mild heat exhaustion since we didn't really drink a lot of fluid while we were sweating to death in the garage. We didn't make that mistake again.

We expected PB to arrive in town around 4. Rachel and I waited until 8:30 and she went to sleep over Maggie Rasnick's. After a few agonizing hours and increasingly frantic calls to his home in Miami, PB arrived around 10:30 p.m. He got a late start and had to fight traffic all the way up. I was quite relieved he was okay. I went to bed as soon as I got off the phone and struggled to wake up the next morning.

Thursday went very well, even though the workload was quite heavy. Steve and I had gone over the shots the day before and came prepared. Since we were filming in Chris Linn's garage for the police station scenes, we were determined not to have the same experience we had the day before in Jym's garage. It was also a great help to have Ali there for the audio. It's amazing what one more body can do to speed up production.

Anyway, the day went very quick and very well. We got done around 4 p.m. The highlight of my day was when Dea, my wife, and DC, my one-month old, came up to see me. I was so excited. When they left that night I was incredibly depressed. Just when I was getting comfortable with my baby again, off they went, back to Clearwater. It was very hard on me. And I'm sure being totally exhausted at this point didn't help either. As far as the filming goes, we got some really good shots. I'm sure this won't turn into another HOMESICK. If all else fails, the shots will be interesting and intriguing. It was a good day and the garage didn't really get hot until around 4 that night.

Friday was reminiscent of THE TERM PAPER. We started around 6 p.m. inside Chris Linn's house. Steve was unable to make it and Ali had to work, so it was only Paul, Sarah and I. Things started off slowly. Sarah, being a morning person, started to fade quickly. Paul, not used to the efficiency Steve and I had developed, started off lackadaisical. I, on the other hand, realized the long night we had in front of us. After the first scene (the Cafe scene moved to Nicole's house at dinner), which should have taken only an hour to shoot, ended up taking about 3 1/2, I decided a little directorial sternness was in order. After Paul and Sarah started joking around while we were trying to get a scene shot my face filled with controlled anger and said "Look, we need to be a little more professional here! I don't want to be here all night!" then I quickly walked into the kitchen to get something to drink. When I returned their focus had changed and we worked hard and consistently through the night. We ended up finishing at 7 in the morning! It was long, tiring, and mentally exhausting. But, again, we got some really good shots.

We got back to the apartment and showered. Sarah drove home and Paul and I prepared for Bob Swan (Miles) to arrive. He got there at 8 a.m. and we went to the Winter Park train station to shoot the opening of the story. As Paul and I were entirely exhausted at this point, the filming went quickly and efficiently. Again, the Lord shined down on us, and we were lucky to have a train arrive as we were finishing up, so we have a nice shot of Poole waiting for the approaching train. Bob then treated us to a much needed breakfast at the IHOP and Paul and I went home and crashed. After about 5 hours we woke up and saw "DAVE" at the dollar theater. It was a tremendous movie. On the drive home we both felt bad because we weren't the best of company for Bob. We were just so exhausted.

Sunday, we ended our shooting! We started by getting the Lake shots for the Voice Overs. Then, after we concocted some blood from Karo Syrup, flour and red food coloring, we filmed the opening murder scene at the lake behind our apartment. That went surprisingly easy. We then went to the library and sneaked the shots before anyone could stop us. After that we came home and did the newspaper article close-ups and the close-up of the knife marks in the floor for the Attic scene. Paul then left around 3 p.m. After about a 2 hour nap I got up and did the voice-overs. I wanted to do something that night, but I was so tired, I really couldn't.

Today, I'm back at Nick and I'm dubbing the Hi-8's onto VHS on Chris Gifford's machine while he's up in New York. Then I'm going to make a rough cut on the editing equipment in Edit 3, if I can scam it. I hope to have the tapes dubbed to Beta this week, if things are slow in the tape room. I'll keep you informed.

Until next time. PFB

September 15, 1993

Well, a long time has passed and almost nothing has happened. Edit 3 has been out of commission since filming ended and won't be put back together for some time. I found a place (Video Production Center) that has an offline 1/2" straight-cut for $20/hour. That's not a real bad price. I'm pretty sure I could finish it up w/in 5 hours, or $100. Unfortunately, Dea and I have had absolutely no money. Things are so tight that we almost ran out of food. It sucks.

I talked to Shelly Maxwell about the CPN job down in Clearwater. Things look pretty good. I'm hoping that something will happen by the end of the week. Dea and I really need to get out of here. Even though Nickelodeon seems to be going in the right direction with the addition of Albie Hecht in charge, I just can't afford to work here anymore. Plus, Dea and I have no friends. I mean, I have a lot of friends here at Nick, but they're on a different level. They either gay, or single. Both of which don't lend itself to doing things that a couple with a 2 1/2 month old can do. I haven't told Chris Linn about my decision to move, if indeed the job becomes available, but at this point I don't really care. We have almost zero personal relationships with people in similar circumstances.

On the writing front, I decided that my next project will be a short I wrote called DREAM STATE, and will be filmed on Super 8. It's about 20ish pages long and I want to film it on color film, but I may have to do the B & W thing if I can't study up on color lighting/temperatures etc. I really need to get into the film arena. That's the only way I'm going to learn anything.

As far as TDF goes, I'm very frustrated. I really wanted it done by Christmas. Perhaps that's still within reach, but unless I get this offline done soon, then that day will come and go. I really need the offline cause I want to see many things: 1) if the storyboard, or the picture I see in my head, works when actually filmed. 2) What all of the sound problems are and how/if they can be corrected. I went to a seminar on the equipment in Audio 2 here at Nick and they can fix it, but it would be for a pretty hefty price. Only if the end product was really worth spending that much money on would I actually do it. 3) I need to give Jack Sloss a copy of the offline so that he can start working on the score so that the tweaking process will be easier. Since I've never had to work with a composer before, I would like to give myself as much padding with time/creative necessities as is possible.

So, until I get the damn thing offlined, nothing's happening. If only Bob Swan could donate another $100 to the cause. Can't really ask him though. That falls into the category of "WAY OUT OF LINE."

Well, I'll keep you informed if anything happens. Patience is not a real virtue with me. I should probably work on that.

PFB

November 4, 1993

Here ye, here ye. As of November third, in the year of our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety Three, the rough cut of The Demon Files was completed. After spending $80.00 at the Editworks to do the first four hours of the rough cut editing, I was fortunate to find out the Edit 3 here at Nickelodeon was put back together. After some strategically placed conversation, I was able to finagle the use of Edit 3 for absolutely NO MONEY!

Thank you Lord!

The first day of rough cut editing in Edit 3 happened October 29th. I found out that day that I could use it for free and asked if I could begin that night, during off hours. They said yes. So, that night I started at 7 p.m. and finished at approximately 12:30 a.m. The following Monday, November 1st, I edited from 7:30 p.m. until 3:00 a.m.!!!!! Dea was pretty upset. It was funny. At about 2:30 she beeped me. I call her back and she says "This is ridiculous!!!" Not Hello, Hi, How's it going! Fortunately I was on the last scene, so it only took me another 1/2 hour. Then, Tuesday, November 2nd, I went down to Edit 3 and placed the Voice Overs and the train noise.

What do I think about it? Well, I think, for the most part, it looks pretty good. It's nice to finally see all of these pieces of the puzzle put together in the correct order. Some of the sound is problematic and the visuals aren't top grade, but overall, I'm pretty happy. After the first two edit sessions I wasn't too happy. I told Dea that I wasn't sure if I was a good director. I thought I could tell a real good story, but I wasn't sure I could actually pull off directing it. But, once I laid down the VOs and edited the final action piece together, I felt better about myself. What I really need the next time is a lot more money and a lot more time. It was so hard getting everything packed into the few days. And the space, not to mention, the heat, made even the most efficient plans eventually waver in a pool of sweat.

I must admit I was pretty surprised at how long it took to edit the show together. Editing took about about 16 hours. That's about 2 minutes of finished product per hour of edit time. And that's a healthy chunk! Usually it falls into the 1 minute per hour area.

I'm going to "premiere" it at the next Starving Artists meeting, which is scheduled for November 16th at 7 p.m. over at Chris Linn's house. Steve Holland, who worked as cameraman for most of the shoot, is going to see the rough cut tonight after he gets done working for promos.

I was quite amazed how much the VOs really helped the beginning. Without them there's about 10 minutes of nothing, just images of a guy sitting at a train station. But now, with the VOs, the character's movements and actions have some sort of meaning. Music is the next step. I was going to use Jack Sloss, but he bagged me when I needed him to do some music for Fred Sommers of Sommersports (for the triathalon I filmed for him). The way he handled it was such unprofessional attitude, that I'm not sure if I want to work with him again. It was as if it was a huge hassle for him to do it in the first place, and when he didn't return my repeated calls when time was getting short, well, I think the actions speak for themselves. I'm going to call Randy Glass, an old college buddy who's working over at Epcot Center, and see if he can put something together. I'm not sure what his equipment limitations are, but I know for certain that he could do the job. With music, the piece should really come alive. Especially the transitory scenes.

My next step is to get the original footage transfered to 3/4" or Beta (depending on what I can afford) and work on finding some place to edit for nothing. After that I'll get the real music on, put the sound fx and fix the vocals, and then try and raise money to shoot a real pilot.

As far as ONE VIEW ONLY, Universal (basically for USA Network) passed on the script. A man there really liked it, but his boss didn't. It's now at a place called Wilshire Court Productions, which is some part of Paramount. Mike Fields (the guy at Universal) said they have similar tastes as his and that it should get a good read over there. Pete Bailoff said I should hear something back by the end of this week, but I probably won't here anything until after Thanksgiving. If it's bad news, I probably won't hear anything at all.

Dea, DC and I could really use the money. Clarissa ends in a few weeks and there are NO OTHER JOBS LINED UP AS OF NOW!! I hope the script sells before CHRISTmas. That would be the best present the Lord could give. Dea is so miserable up here in Orlando. I wish she would try to make it work here. She's just fighting it and fighting it, but I really think this is where the Lord wants me right now. I don't feel any pull away from here. And, unfortunately, there's nothing I can really do for her. I've offered, asked and begged, but I can't do things that she needs to do in order to make herself feel good inside. I just keep praying.

DC is a beautiful child. Yes, that's part the proud father speaking, but a lot of people have remarked on how pretty she is. Everyday she grows, the more love I have for her. She is so adorable.

Well, I have to get back to work. I will keep you informed of any further developments, exciting or not.

PFB

November 5, 1993

Well, tomorrow is Paul's birthday. He'll turn 32! Boy, we old get old quick (not that 32 is old, but that 18 doesn't seem that long ago). Steve Holland had a look at the rough TDF and he liked it a lot. He had minor problems with it, the biggest, which by comparison is pretty small, is that Poole shouldn't go back to the library for a second time. That should be cut as it is redundant. We should just move on to the next scene. After reviewing the tape again late last night (as we didn't get out of work until midnight! - ya gotta love when Mitchell, the Executive Producer, is in town) I thought he had a good point. It does seem a little redundant. It would actually work better, if I really wanted to keep the transitory scene, to have him going to the library after the Caldwell house scene (which is what I think I actually intended, but never really thought much about it - you know, it like works in your head, but it's not until you get another objective look at it that you see it the way you intended). Overall, I'm pretty happy with the directing. It's a competent Directing 1 attempt, but I've got a long way to go to become the master story teller in the same class as Hitchcock (which would fit around a Directing 10 class!). I think, for what I wrote, I told the story well, but as far as constructing the story as to best exploit the audiences feelings, well, I've still got a long way to go. I would need to set-up the audience better, by giving them more information.

I'm reading a great book called "Suspense Thrillers: Films in the Shadow of Alfred Hitchcock." It's tremendous (unfortunately I left it down in Clearwater when I visited last week - and it was just getting really good, too). I was at the point where the author was discussing the guilt factor in suspense thrillers. See, the director must manipulate the audience so that they 1) want the main character to do something (which eventually gets him/her into trouble) and then 2) makes them feel guilty when the main character, after doing what the audience wanted them to do, is put into danger. Like in Rear Window: We all want Jimmy Stewart to look out at his neighbors, we've all wanted to do that. But, when it gets him into trouble, we feel guilty because it's almost as if we forced him (or "willed him") into doing it, which led him to danger. And talk about feeling helpless. There's nothing more effective than basically placing the audience inside the helpless character of Jimmy Stewart - what a master Hitchcock was. TDF is more like a suspense-mystery, not so much like a suspense-thriller. Since I wanted to write a serial cliffhanger style series, I needed the audience to discover a little each scene. I'm not sure that if I gave the audience all the information (which you do in a thriller), they could wait 13 episodes for the character to finally realize what you've known for the entire season. So, in order to keep the audience in tow, and in the character's shoes, I wanted them to discover a little at a time, as the characters do. But, in debt to Hitchcock, I gave them a lot of clues that they could figure out before the characters do, which should produce that "thriller" aspect.

I still have to expand the seven episodes I have now into 13. Maybe, in doing so, I can turn it from a suspense-myster to a suspense-thriller. We'll see.

Also, as shooting went into the late hours last night, I was watching the rough TDF in Chris Gifford's office when Neena Beber (the head writer and co-producer, and a hell of a nice woman) came in and caught me watching it. She was intrigued, but I was embarassed. I told her it was just something shot on Hi-8 and she said "Oh, I have a lot of friends who do stuff like that" so I promised her she would see it before the Clarissa season ends. But, not to leave her empty handed, and perhaps help me in selling the script, I asked her, before she left, if she liked thrillers. She said it was her favorite genre. Well, I gave her my ONE VIEW ONLY script, told her it got fourth at the Houston/Worldfest, and that I'd like her opinion on it. So, after she reads that, and, hopefully, thinks I have some modicum of talent, then I'll show her TDF so she knows I'm not some uncredible wanna-be. If she likes it and has someone she thinks I should give it to, I'll call Pete Bailoff a call and tell him about it. She'll probably read it over the weekend.

Well, I gotta get to work (again). I'll write again soon.

PFB

March 21, 1994

Well, it seems like projects never end. I've been really busy over the past few months trying to get work and writing INDEPENDENCE DAY (Note: After the release of the Will Smith I-Day, the title was changed to Cold Storage). I really like I-DAY and it's a better written script than ONE VIEW ONLY. I entered I-DAY into the 94 Houston-Worldfest and I hope to hear some good news in a few weeks.

As far as TDF goes - I was talking with Pam Ginsburg, who is now the script supervisor on MY BROTHER AND ME. Well, she wants to get into post work, like editing. And she has talked to Karen Powell and to Operations about learning to edit. Well, if all goes well, and she is able to learn to edit, she's going to learn by editing TDF. Right now I'm trying to get the tapes transfered to Beta, in case we're able to use the Beta decks. I'll have to get the Lord's help on that.

DC's really cute. She said 'mama' for the first time this past weekend. She said 'dada' about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, she doesn't know what they mean or how much we loved those words coming out of her mouth.

Back to TDF. Paul was telling me that the man who created BABYLON 5 on tv has outlined the first 100 episodes! That's amazing. But, it makes the show so much better than STAR TREK TNG or STAR TREK DS9, because not everything is solved in the last five minutes of the show. On B-5, some questions are raised one week and answered four weeks later. There's a nice sense of mystery that TNG and DS9 really miss. Anyway, after hearing about the outline, I was like, hell, if he can outline 100 shows, I can expand TDF to 13 without much problem.

So, I went through the script and I was amazed at how little was covered in the seven episodes, and how much material there is to expand on for the new six. There were so many things about the characters and subtlties of the plot that were in my head, but never put down into the script, so expanding shouldn't be that much of a problem.

We're going to expand Ivan's involvement in the script by an episode. We're basically going to turn episode 4 into two seperate scripts. We're also going to add a episode where Poole and Nicole, while hunting the demon, stay in a hotel or something that held passionate events for them at one time in their life. I'm going to add an episode with a friend that Poole met on his travels that happens to come into town, revealing a lot of his hidden past. There's also stuff about the death of his parents and about Ed's underground network of friends that I want to work on. So, I'll keep you up to date as I find out.

Until next time...

PFB