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Day 14 was certainly the most eventful and dramatic day of our shoot so far.  Suffice to say our bad luck from the night before had not really ended, but just manifested into something much, much bigger.

We got an early start Saturday and some of us were a little grumpy.  Others of us mercilessly mocked the grumpy, which was not very nice, I'll admit.  And when I find out who was doing all the mocking there will be hell to pay!

We were riding high off our late-night brainstorming session that left us feeling so excited about the new ending of The Joneses (which will, tragically, be scorpion-free).  While Rajah was getting his piece to connect the camera to the tripod--bye bye duct tape!--we set up lights and were reunited with Amy, who was back on set after an absence for a few weeks.  It was a great vibe that morning, and we were excited to get going.

So, first, the sun.  The sunlight was changing about every five seconds (not an exaggeration), making shooting extremely difficult.  Rajah, Stacey, & I tried to work with the sun, but ultimately it was probably just bad planning on my part to start with the scene in the one room whose lighting fluctuated so very, very much.  We blocked the scene out with Jim & Amy, both of whom did a terrific job in a scene that was so important because it's the first in the movie where you get to spend time with Mitch & Ally.  Stacey looked smashing in her directing hat, and I worked with Frank, Max, Rajah, Mark, and Lou to help bring the shampoo scene to life. 

I should mention that this was one of those scenes which instead of tiring everybody out with each take, actually got better, sweeter, funnier, and more entertaining as it went along.  Some of the last bits were so good between Jim and Amy that Stacey & I were trying not to laugh, and we decided to reshoot the reverse shots on the spot because the lighting was finally perfect, the performances were great, and the Mitch & Ally marriage was coming off so strong.  The end result was superb, and a true team effort by all.  We're very happy with how it came out and I'm glad we took our time with it.

We also had a string of jokes, many unprintable, that every member of the cast and crew came up with to complete Mitch's line about the shampoo, "I just wanted to know why it's so expensive.  And now I know, it costs a fortune to make your hair smell like ________"  I believe we settled on "Grandma."  But Jim wins for the most repulsive suggestions.

So it was a little later in the day than we had hoped before beginning Scene 2, but we started setting up immediately.  And then...it happened.  We had to shut down for the day very suddenly.  I can't discuss all the ins and outs of what went down, but I will say that we sent Rajah, Max, Jim, Amy, and Frank to Centerfields for lunch, while Lou, Stacey, Mark and I tried to sort through some location issues.  It seemed like we were going to resume for the day, but then that fell through too.  We packed up our gear quickly and efficiently, and some of us migrated to Centerfields for some much needed drinking, billiards, and regrouping.

And that's where we are right now, as I write this, two days later.  Frantically rescheduling for this coming weekend.  Rejiggering the schedule in a way that makes sense.  Dealing with the unlucky onslaught of health issues that seem to be plaguing family members of our crew (including Stacey, who is at this moment going through her first bout with kidney stones in almost a decade).  Oh, and the rest of the state is in mourning because of the Patriots' defeat in the Superbowl last night. 

It has not been my favorite week. 

So here's the plan.  We move on from here.  Health comes first, obviously.  Lou and I are going to come up with an idea to still shoot this coming weekend, so we don't get even further behind.  And we just keep going forward, because that is what has gotten us as far as we've come.

And we have come so far.  This movie has been a dream of ours to make for a long time now, and every talk I have with the cast and crew seems to lead to someone saying how much they believe in and love this project.  Stacey & I watch the footage and we know we're doing such good work.  Lou and Mark and Stacey & I talk every few days and we're still so excited, committed more each day to making this movie better than perfect.  Jim makes himself available all the time.  Frank apologizes if he has to miss half a day.  Rajah has passed up a paid night's work to be with us.   Maura shows up for every shoot and then feels guilty that she's not doing enough.  Amy & Tony, who have not been there every week, are missed when they're not there, and seem to be having a ball playing these characters.  Mike and Max and Leila and Kevin T. and Kevin C. and Tom and so many other people have been integral to making The Joneses as great an experience as it has been thus far, with such potential to be a wonderful film.  I am so proud to be a part of this and I, like so many others in our cast and crew, will continue and will overcome our issues of late, and we are going to make this movie awesome.

That's it.  Now I have to sob into a pillow a little bit and then go to sleep.