Production Diary - Fortunate Ones: Forever

Once a month I’m going to talk about a specific production, what it was like to film it, and what was involved in making it happen.  This month I’m going to talk about Fortunate Ones: Forever.

Fortunate Ones is a series of short films with one common theme – the main characters wishes for or wants something, then suddenly they get it and realize it’s not what they really wanted after all, which usually results in a dramatic twist in their life.  

Usually I can tell you exactly how and when I thought up the idea for the script, but honestly I don’t remember for this one.  I was trying to think up ideas for stories that worked with the premise of Fortunate Ones and the script just sort of…happened.  The only thing I remember about writing it was giggling over the interactions of the two people tied up.  I think the story emerged from the idea of what two strangers tied up together who don’t seem to care about their situation would do. Then I had to have a reason for them to be so calm, which is why one is hung-over and the other is still high.

I knew that I would have Drew Thomas and Kate Weber available to film and I wanted to give them leading roles.  While I was writing the script I kept picturing the two of them saying the lines as Ray and Samantha.  I was not disappointed in their performance since it pretty much matched the image in my head while I was writing. 

I didn’t have anyone specific in mind when I was writing the dialogue between Devon and Kiera. However, I did want to see Morgan Thomas play Kiera because Morgan rarely gets the chance to play a villain.  Devon was originally supposed to be a guy.  Male actors are often in short supply and the only one available was Drew who already had a part. At some point, possibly the day we filmed it, we decided to have Brittany Ann Whalen play Devon and make them lesbian vampires.  It worked out so much better that way in my opinion. Brittany and Morgan have known each other and acted together for well over a decade and they have great chemistry on screen so they were a natural choice to play the pair.

This movie was shot during a weekend of filming multiple productions, so it was sort of sandwiched in between two other film shoots.  In the morning we filmed another Fortunate Ones script (Faerie Tale) and in the late afternoon and evening we filmed more of The Gift Bearer: Time After Time. 

After lunch at Taco Bell we read through the script at the Weber Residence then set up in the basement.  It was a ridiculously hot weekend, so the two-three hours we spent filming in Kate’s parents air-conditioned basement was almost heavenly.  I was originally going to film it in the cellar at the MacLeod Farm, but that didn’t work out – and everyone was glad it didn’t!  Sweet and wonderful air-conditioning, oh how we love thee!

We also had something rare on the set – an audio engineer!  We very rarely have a boom mic, let alone a boom operator, on set.  Bill Chrapcynski specializes in audio engineering and was willing to record sound for us for this movie and other productions.  He’s also a very talented musician who allows us to use his music copyright free, so this is a shameless plug to go listen to (and maybe buy) his music – Binary Souls/Other Dimensions.

The assistant director, Christine Komiskey, had fun tying up Kate and Drew and I think that took almost as long as filming their lines. Fun fact: tying people up is not as easy as it looks – especially when you’re tying more than one person together and trying make it look like they can’t possibly escape. They only had to be firmly tied up on the side that faced the camera, however, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

“I didn't know how lenses work,” Kate remembers, “and didn't know I was in frame and kept picking up my supposedly-tied hand to scratch my nose.”  I probably should have told her when she was in frame and when she wasn’t. My bad. I’m clearly an experienced director.

We mostly filmed in order, since there is only one scene really it makes sense. The only things we filmed out of sequence were the lines and action by the door since we had to have a different set up for that.  The filming went fairly quickly because Drew and Kate are awesome. “Kate and I did most of our lines in one take,” Drew remembers. “I screwed up a few times.”  Kate actually reprimanded me at one point for trying to feed her the lines, reminding me that she already knew them.  I never know what to do when people actually memorize their lines. I’m just not used to it.

Brittany and Morgan took a few more takes, but that’s because we were having too much fun joking around about how the two characters needed to communicate better before taking their relationship to this whole new level, and coming up with new possible shows like Lesbian Vampire Pirates VS Gay Zombie Ninjas. 

What really slowed down filming and resulted in multiple takes were all the technical problems. Brittany had two pairs of vampire teeth (or was it only one?). We didn't have any of the stuff to hold the teeth in place though, so Morgan tried to shove them in and hold them there long enough to get a shot of her showing them off.  It wasn't easy.  Other things happened on the set too. Drew recalls one such incident, “I do remember my phone went off while we were tied up and Kate says to me ‘dude! Your pants are vibrating!’”

A phone ringing while filming is not unheard of, or even unexpected, and props act up all the time.  The real problem was the background noises.  The acoustics in the basement was like an echo chamber for the noises upstairs.  We could loudly hear every footstep, which sounded both creepy and ominous. We could also hear everything flowing through the pipes, so whenever someone flushed the toilet or turned on a faucet we could hear it and the water rushing through the pipes loud and clear. This resulted in many giggles and comments about how often vampires use the bathroom.

Despite the laughter and good times there were some serious moments, particularly for filming the last shot of the movie. Morgan was incredibly dynamic and creepy as hell and Brittany had the innocent being seduced act down pat.  When Kiera leads Devon over to the victims and they kneel down together to slaughter the strangers I could feel the tension in the room. “I remember when Morgan grabbed me I started shaking uncontrollably,” remembers Drew. “Dunno how that happened but it did.”

After we filmed all the lines in the main room, we untied Kate and Drew and then set up to shoot the lines by the door.  Again, Morgan and Brittany’s performances were amazing.  Brittany’s screaming for help was especially realistic, and Drew recalls. “I went upstairs for a phone call and I heard Brittany screaming “HELP!!” I ran downstairs not realizing “oh crap they’re shooting...”.

The filming itself was over in less than two hours, which might just be a record for fasted shoot.  It’s a good thing it didn’t last much longer because poor Kate and Drew were not comfortable being tied up on the floor for so long, and I know the effects lasted longer then the two hours of filming. “I remember my back was stiff afterwards,” says Drew, “but it was worth it.”

Thank you to everyone who helped make this movie possible!  It was a blast and a half (and it was a good excuse to be in air-conditioning for awhile!)