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Geoffrey Gould
Reports from the set/s...
Everything

Sunday June 16, 2013
On the radar
Sometime in mid 2010 when I'd first learned (the exact date of which I cannot recall), that later that year there had been an Interactive Movie titled Darkstar featuring most of the original cast from Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (Joel, Trace, Frank, and Mary Jo), how could I do anything but promote it, even if I could not afford it myself.
After a month or three or so, its creator Jeffery Allen Williams declared me fan of the month or such, and had me sent a package with a Darkstar t-shirt, as well as a copy of the game (though even after going over every pixel of the room, the first "level" of which [exiting the first room], [I could never achieve).
(At the Darkstar t-shirt photo at my Facebook profile profile, Jeffery inquired as to my playing "heavy" aka villianous roles, and inquired after my demo reel.)
Based on results, Jeffery kept his eye on me, as well as my acting. At his Facebook profile, I came across a pre-vis artwork for a project on which he was working, which I complimented, and to my surprise he replied I would be starring in this short-film project of his. Jeffery would be writer/director/producer and playing the enigmatic role of Dahl. I would be playing the somewhat unpleasant Victor Harland.
We remained in touch, by phone as well, discussing the treatment he emailed me, our agreeing it being similar to a Night Gallery episode. At one point whilst discussing travel and lodging, he conveyed what I thought was their putting me up across the state border at the Eureka Springs Crescent Hotel & Spa bed and breakfast in Arkansas. Being a B&B (and my natural curiosity about the paranormal in general), I half-jokingly asked if it was haunted.
He assured me it was very haunted, to his knowledge one of the most haunted B&Bs in the country. I quickly looked it up and, looking at its history, I "called dibs" on room 218, with room 419 as a second choice.
Jeffery continued to work on the treatment, each new version of which was slightly longer than its predecessor.
To re-assure some of his backers, Jeffery requested I do a screentest video, assuring me his was the final word (if he had to "convince" his backers, he would/could). A good friend of mine and I got together at her then-apartment to create a good screen test for me.
My friend read Jeffery's lines opposite me (as with proper screentests, the reader was offscreen, so the person being recorded would be facing forward).
At home I edited it on my computer and sent it along, Jeffery conveying accolates therefrom.
Noting the latest treatment was 157 pages, I couldn't help but point out this was now no longer a short subject but far more along the lines of a feature film, to which Jeffery mock-sheepishly concurred.
We stayed in touch, at Jeffery's behest he and I came up with a tentative amount as private-sector compensation for labour (most likely soft-balling it, knowing this would not be the highest of budgets), and Jeffery worked his tail off completing various projects so he could turn all his attention on the Everything project, both pre-production and raising funds. By spring 2013, it seemed a go for shooting possibly in the autumn. Jeffery had created a few more pre-vis artwork, a few for which he'd photoshopped my headshot into my character.

Tuesday June 18, 2013
Call
Jeffery and I discussed all manner of things regarding the film, including but not limited to wardrobe, accomodations (apparently the Crescent was a Good Visit idea, not where we'd be housed), suggestions for possible casting, plus the probability of his filming a commercial or three with me. While these would be very local spots (for a local doctors' practice), and I'd get some good payment out of them.
Plus, as the commercial/s project could be within four or six weeks, I might be flown out Just For That, giving me a chance to meet and get to know those with whom I'd be working on Everything.

Saturday June 29, 2013
DeSilva cast
Jeffery notified me that as of this afternoon, actor Phil Secca was officially cast as Detective Spencer DeSilva for Everything. Apparently what objections he had had to the tough-as-nails role had been overcome. Jeffery added his being really excited about Phil's involvement, and that Phil is a pro and one of the sweetest guys Jeffery knows.
Apart from his being involved with Darkstar, much of his work has been student film projects.

Wednesday, July 03, 2013
On Facebook
Jeffery created an Everything Facebook page on the feature. Then it turned out that initially this was meant to be a cast and crew page, not the project's Fan Page.
A social-media expert friend of mine clarified that that was too late: to have been for cast and crew only it should have been created as a Private Group page, and this one had been created as a Public Page, so should remain as the film's Fan Page. As a Grass Roots, pre-production fan-base isn't the worst thing to happen, I supported my friend's position. Before learning of the page's original intend, I'd shared it on my Career Progress Group, deleting the post moments later, and awaited clarification whether this would be the Fan Site, or whether Jeffery would delete it to create the Private Page aspect.

Tuesday July 09, 2013
Budget and costumes
A day or three earlier, Jeffery pointed out (as opposed to CGI smoke), I'd be using an electronic cigar, "thankfully" at least it'd be vanilla flavour.
Jeffery and I had been discussing the Phantom Quadcopter considering from the NAB Vegas page I'd seen some fantastic footage from it, shortly thereafter seeing it demonstrated live at CineGear at Paramount Studios.
For the feature he was acquiring three GoPro HERO3 Black Editions, as well as the Phantom Aerial Drone Quadcopter, a Phantom/GoPro Hard Carrying Case for the quadcopter, et al.
On his own Facebook wall, Jeffery posted a photo of a red/burgundy UK Smoking Jacket I'd be wearing for the role.

Wednesday July 09, 2013
Post updates
Having posted the Smoking Jacket photo, Jeffery added an on-order Coroner Jacket, indicating I'd be able to have it after the shoot.

Thursday July 11, 2013
Role casting
Jeffery announced on the group page that he was getting ready to set up an open casting call for some of the characters, working on the descriptions of the characters and their demographics, hoping to have that by the weekend.

Friday July 12, 2013
Site
Jeffery reported to the group that the project now had a minimal internet presence, mostly for copyright reasons: the site being everythingfilm.co (and yes that's dot co not dot com).
Jeffery also published a casting breakdown; I let him know how to streamline it to avoid overly conveying storyline spoilers that people auditioning for "quick" Day Player spots didn't even need to know.

Sunday July 14, 2013
Health concerns
Jeffery and I had discussed using an e-cigar (vanilla flavoured), in leiu of a real one, which at first seemed fine, but one of the Facebook pages I follow that provides Face That Will Blow Your Mind (as they call themselves), posted a link to an article about e-cigarette health risks, http://positivemed.com/2013/07/12/benefits-and-drawbacks-of-e-cigarettes listing specifically: "Electronic cigarettes are not 100% healthy to use, since reports have indicated that too much inhaling of the flavored vapor can lead to poisoning. Electronic Cigarettes are found to contain an anti-freeze component known as Diethylene Glycol. It is toxic to humans and can cause health worries on inhalation. This is one of the major Electronic Cigarette side effects. Other than Diethylene Glycol, e-cigarettes also contain cancer-causing compounds like nitrosamines. If the cigarette accidentally breaks, humans may be exposed to such harmful components"
I addressed these concerns in the group page,
Jeffery later posted that he had posted the link on Veppo's FB page (the company that manufactured the particular e-cigar he had purchased), with the query that as he was planning to use their cigar product in a film (due to [my] aversion to real ones, and he had purchased a Vanilla flavored version with NO nicotine content, and that I had found the positivemed.com article about such products' health risks (and that he could find no reference to ANY health risks on their own website, positing one would think that would be an FDA requirement if there are any health risks), specifying the inclusion of the anti-freeze component Diethylene Glycol and cancer-causing compounds such as nitrosamines, Jeffery requested they confirm or deny the information in the article, or any health risks regarding the use of their particular product.

Thursday July 18, 2013
Droning
Jeffery posted a video of quadcopter footage, conveying his looking forward to getting for production the drone and new cameras ordered.

Wednesday July 24, 2013
Cigar Smoking
I bused up to my friend William's Altadena home, where I'd stayed for a year due to a former friend losing her mind, as William is a cigar aficionado. I had to learn if this was Something I Could Do, otherwise I'd be delegated the role of Dr. Gideon.
I brought my li'l video camera to record it, as documentation as well as Evidence it was done.
Unscripted, and not really trying to be comical, as he methodically discussed the Hows and Whys of cigar smoking I (and possibly many), in retrospect I suspected William and I sounded like we were doing an infomercial.
We chatted off-topic stuff as well, such as his new business (which has its own Facebook page page as well), while ironically enough not touching on my own business venture.
We discussed his father lineage: his director grandfather, after whom he was named, and Columbo producer father, etc.
As William had started his Working With William Vlog, he had his camera going as well, though the heat of the day tended to have it spontaneously shut it off now and then.
I was able to handle having the cigar in my mouth, do slight draws (somewhat tricky for me as my mouth interior is very small due to a birth defect), and puff to prove it was lit and working and such.
After about an hour or so, William copied my video files to see what he could do editing back and forth between his footage and mine with which to create a vlog entry that could double as proof to the Everything production that live on-set cigar smoking was do-able.
Waiting for the vlog entry launch, I notified Jeffery what had been accomplish, to which he posted in the group:
"The 'EVERYTHING' dedication award of the month goes out to cast member Geoffrey Gould. We now have a 'Cigar Smoking Tech' to add to our credits, a guy named William. William has now shown Geoffrey the ropes on how to suavely fool our audience that he is a Thurson Howell, stogey-chomping, Humidor loitering member of the 'hoo-ahhh, Charlie are you f--king with me' cigar simulating actor's club. Kudos to Geoff for going method actor on us and risking stinking horribly just to get the scene on film the way I wrote it, I love you man!"
While checking the links, I found characteristically-arbitrary Facebook had decided to flag William's actual off-FB site, as "reported as abusive." I conveyed this to William so he could address the issue.

Wednesday July 31, 2013
Cigar video
William posted his blog entry about my smoking with him, on the 27th... I was about to email him to ask whether he'd finished the video editing, but just went to his site to find it.
Being possibly his first experience editing between two camera angles, his software did not account for the volume shifts. My camera on my comes in blaringly loud, whilst his camera's two-shot audio is far more pleasant. He also made a slight footage-choice error, ending with my saying something in the one-shot that'd already been said in the two-shot.


William and Badger Smoke a Cigar

Friday August 16, 2013
Updated screentest
William came again to my aid; I went up to his place and we recorded my updated screentest. Sandra had provided me with the script page numbers to do, and I printed those out. This time I wore my black suit, smoked the cigar at the proper spot in the script, and later back at my place edited together the best takes/deliveries.
I'd also brought with me my doctor lab coat and stethoscope, and as a near-quasi joke (having printed out and brought with my that copy as well), I recorded the two doctor spots for Jeff to see.

Tuesday September 03, 2013
Screentests complete/d
Jeffery posted still photos from my second, emailed screentest.
Jeffery later clarified the difficulty he was facing for he and Sandy and all, considering their having had "seven amazing, beautiful and talented actresses test for the role of Isabelle," and that all gave very individual and outstanding takes on the character. Jeffery had never made so many lovely women cry before, all of whom did. They each wiped away what tears for the screen they'd shed, and gave him another take if he wanted it. He felt they were all true professionals.

Friday September 06, 2013
Comparison shopping
The passport came in the day before; I retrieved it this morning as they opened. On arriving home later, I noted that Jeffery had posted that it was the evening they would be screening all the screentests, where they would "finally know who is cast in our primary roles and have a better idea of where any holes are where we still need actors."

Saturday September 07, 2013
Cast
During a call with my brother Alan, whose birthday it was, Jeffery called. Alan was aware of the waiting for the call, so he smartly ducked out of the call. Jeffery congratulated me on winning the role of Victor Harland, and we discussed various scenarios of the London trip. We had previous discussed his and my flying out there for some footage "of Harland" flying to England, walking through Heathrow, and catching a cab to SoHo.
As apparently flights don't go to Newark or New York from Missouri, I'd be flown out to Nixa for fittings and such, and Jeffery and I would head up to Chicago, out from which we'd go direct to London.
Jeffery has a Photo Release app on his phone, so if he enrolls someone to Help Out, he can hand them some money and they sign over their rights to their imagery/audio used (such an app would explain how many locals are shown on The Amazing Race, while others' faces are blurred out). Jeff knew he had to find a Co-operative Cabbie willing to do a line or three, accept a few hundred dollars US as well as sign the release form.
I pointed out while over there, we (at least certainly I), had to visit Doctor Who Experience. I also remembered we should visit Highgate Cemetery, which I knew Jeffery would love.
Jeffery pointed out that one of his thoughts was a cemetery mongage at the film's opening. I posited that for such as film there would be no better cemetery from which to get footage as Highgate.
As I went to notify Jeffery how to contact Highgate well in advance, as their site clarifies no video, but they offer Group Tours (which I guess could be considered a Private Tour, and Two People could constitute a group), maybe they would accept a "donation" in exchange for some montage footage.
I also sadly learned that the Doctor Who Experience had left London and was in Cardiff, Wales (as much as I'd love to there as well notwithstanding).

Wednesday September 11, 2013
Cast Lock mostly
Jeffery posted on the site what he called the Final Cast List, mostly meaning 99% of the principal roles having been cast and confirmed. He clarified a few holes still existed, but such were minimal issues, such as a few non-speaking roles.
Later in the day he posted how he realized how some writers/actors find it important to build a back-story to their character, even though most (or all) of that origin may not be revealed in the story. At the end of the new script, there is the revelation that Isabelle and Dahl have been linked for hundreds of years in some weird way.
"I decided to write out the full disclosure of this as a letter to Spencer DeSilva from Dahl. At the end of the film, there is only an inscription on a century-old photograph on the deck of the Titanic depicting Dahl and Isabelle there together. This letter is the whole story, if Dahl had chosen to share it."

Monday December 09, 2013
Overdue update: Missouri and London, et al
I have been remiss in keeping updated this report.
From Los Angeles via Denver I flew out to Springfield, Missouri on 11 November.
To my surprise, and possibly as the day before I'd gone to LAX and printed out my boarding passes, for some reason both boarding passes for LAX and DEN came up as TSA Pre-Check, meaning I was ushered right through without [much] inconvenience, at least not the full gamut of inconvenience. This was only for the two eastbound flights; to Chicago and to London we had the full spectrum. The RFID sleeves I'd bought, one for myself and one for Jeffery, set off the metal detectors in Chicago, and we got frisked, which was not as intrusive as I'd anticipated.
I'd thought the United 777 to Denver was a bit small, but the CRJ200 puddle-jumper from Denver to Springield made the first plane look like the space shuttle. I was greeted at the cozily small Springfield airport by Jeffery and Brad Ross and we went to lunch, meeting Rese Hall and Sandy.
At the Wearhouse suit store, I met DP Roger Jared's girlfriend Tiffany Sterling, who was playing the store clerk who waits on me.
Jeffery had permission from Wearhouse corporate to film that eveninng, and we were expected. As we progressed, Jeffery had a few workers there help out as background. One of them, a pleasant fellow named Alex Stompoly, helped out most as it turned out he was an actor (it also turned out he is a fellow Doctor Who fan).
The scene essentially was a montage, and by morning, Jeffery already had cut it together, showing it to me.
At first I thought the music had been done as a satire aspect, his having added Stayin' Alive to it, but while that was the initial idea, he decided he would see if he could acquire the rights to it as he felt it worked with the scene.
With what time we had we filmed my walking about at O'Hare Airport (with a cool, neon-ceiling walkway), and later when we arrived at Heathrow. Aboard the plane, Jeffery almost had a run-in with the flight staff, but he had researched the laws regarding filming and they let him be. It is Rese who hands me the newspaper and provides me my meal.
In the dark of night, they filmed Jeffery walking down the airplane aisle, entering the loo from which he vanishes. Roger cameos as the next fellow entering the Now Empty restroom.

Understandably, the Chicago to London flight was considerable. We arrived at Heathrow at around 8am, and filmed my going through the airport, and out to the waiting cabs.
We stayed at the Radisson Blue a block from Oxford Street, near Marble Arch.
My room was about as big as the one in which I stayed in 1984. We were not clustered together, in fact, none of us were on the same floor.
The hotel staff was exemplary, treating us as though they might treat royalty. The concierge/s were also extremely helpful; Jeffery had requested a trustful black-cab driver. They found one fellow who turned out to have a more modern conveyance, however, the same driver had a brother-in-law who had the classic Black Cab, so we were met by John Secker, who rather resembled my friend Gary Helm. John was very pleasant and did his part quite well, for one who's never officially acted.
Just as we were about to finish with the last shot, we spied a small Police Box, and while not regulation size (I'd left home my print-out of actual Police Boxes, so while I was aware of one in London, I did not know that it was at Earl's Court, that one even specifically referenced in a Doctor Who episode), we quickly pulled over for a photo of me next to it.
When we had as much footage as was needed, John signed the released form and got paid (above the meter rate), and the rest of us went out to dinner, finding a fantastic fish-and-chips shop that was utterly delicious. We also quickly disovered that everything in Britain (particularly the meals), is desperately expensive.
A pair of police came by and were nice enough to let a photo be taken of them by we silly usA tourists. Later Jeffery jokingly photoshopped them to look as though they were arresting him. An hour or so later while hiking around the somewhat nearby theater district, we came across a police station, so Roger took photos of the police van, and of Jeffery, so that Jeff would be photoshopping "inside" the van.
I was trying to locate Forbidden Planet without success, due to the labrythal layout of the streets.
The next day I had to myself; with an all-day Bus and Tube Pass, I knew I lacked the time to do everthing I wanted. I found Forbidden Planet, then scooted over to Parliment in view of the London Eye. Shortly thereafter as I walked to the other side of Big Ben, where I came across Rese, Jeffery and Roger filming.
Not surprisingly, Jeffery's elaborate outfit made for quite some crowd-gathering and photo-taking by passers-by.
From there I visited Buckingham Palace (as did they, after I'd left), and the famous King's Cross Station, rather aghast, based on a recent upgrading of the station in general, that students to Hogwarts might find getting to Platform 9 3/4 a bit more challenging.
When I got back to the hotel, Jeffery arrived a few minutes later, indicating they were about to head out in about an hour for more b-roll footage. I asked him to call me as I went to my room and relaxed, eventually realizing he'd forgotten to call.
While it never really rained during our stay, that Friday evening came close, as drizzle struck as I tried to make it to Sherlock Holmes' domicile at Baker Street. I made it, but the unmoving queue made it clear I was not about to get in any time soon.
On the Red Line, this time I had to stop at each and get photos at Sloane Square and South Kensington stations, due to their reference within my favourite Gilbert and Sullivan patter song.
We rose bright... well, we got up early, and headed back to Heathrow by Mickey, whose brother-in-law John was in our film. As John was not available, Jeffery had asked for Mickey to keep it in the family, as it were.
As their 10am flight was called, I saw them off, my direct 10:30am to Los Angeles flight took off a little late, but caught good tail-wind and got to LA barely over eleven hours later. The small screen notwithstanding (and I seem always to get the armrest with the bad headset-jack), I was able to see a few films, including but not limited to both JJ Abrams Star Trek films.

Wednesday May 13, 2014
Funded
Initially dragged along kicking and screaming, Jeffery succumbed to his close friends and advisors and allowed to have set up a Kickstarter campaign with which to fund the rest of the feature. Setting the goal at $12,500, with less than a full month's time, for a time towards the end, it appeared as though as late as the last day the goal would fall short by about a thousand dollars. Then within the last two or three hours, the goal was reached with a $585 "surplus."
I suspect some of the last to contribute were those attending a local Star Trek Con at which Jeffery had appeared at which to promote the project.
Jeffery set up a substantial set of perks packages, for varied amounts Backers would receive props from the film: possibly the most perks packages for any such campaign, doubling also as a way not to have to discard and/or store props at the end of the shoot. My friend Nyla contributed and would be receiving my Smoking Jacket, which (my coming across it on the campaign page), I deduced I would not be receiving at the end of the shoot. (Thankfully my promised suit and such was not amongst the perks packages.)
Jeffery stressed to me that the funding "wasn't 'necessary'," but would help substantially. Understandably, we were all elated that it reached its goal in time so that the project could go forward more smoothly.

Monday June 29, 2015
Car go boom
with Ron Hanners and Mike Strain, Lily Strain shared a video of a behind the scenes look at the setting up of, and the car explosion.

Wednesday October 14, 2015
Long overdue update
Jeffery and company had been shooting around me for many months, and the time had come for "Hell Week," as it's been called, in which I would be flown out Saturday the 17th, then pummeling out my scenes in seven consecutive days, returning me Sunday the 25th to LAX late (around midnight), so I'd get home around 1-2am Monday morning). Unfortunately, this clearly would seem to preclude any wrap party, if any, and/or my previously promised visit of haunted Pythian Castle at which Tim Piland gives tours.
As to social Media, Jeffery had created a Facebook page and an official website for the film, but as yet, no Twitter account, and I had become very active on Twitter, in the previous months average about a hundred new Followers per week, without buying any fake accounts. I had falled in with Hashtag Gaming, initially via the Chris Hardwick show @midnight, then learning of the extensive and continually growing Hashtag Game community.
Attending a live meet-up, hosted by two of the higher end Hashtag Gamers, I met Breezy who gave me some pointers, including but not limited to #FF-ing (Follow Friday), in which one suggests and recommends others to Follow; also Faving and Retweeting, interacting at large, and of course, Hashtag Gaming. It has gotten to the point actual name working-actors had begun following me.
As so many films and film projects were creating grass-roots fan bases, and as within twelve months my own Follower count had steadily risen from around 950 to 7200+, I suggested to Jeffery he create a Twitter account (for the film if not for himself), but with the production, he'd been Busy.
Jeffery had called a few days earlier, and we discussed various aspects. I'd been "concerned" with an F-word usage, but I'd emailed him about that, asking whether it might be either a regional usage, or, as I place Easter Eggs in my own scripts, a reference I wasn't getting. Jeffery indicated it was an homage to a classic film, so I assured him that this made the line perfectly fine for me.
Locally, I had become a member of the film collective group We Make Movies, and a few of my scripts had been table-read, as of this entry, four of my scripts had been read: Book Cover Art, which was super well received, and at the urging/suggestion of the audience feedback, I have been working at enlarging into a feature; True Love Lies, which two friends who had read it, Kelly and Sean Micheal had enjoyed the script to such an extent that we began working towards making it, for film festivals submission, et al; Bucky (written at the same time as Man-Away and Daddy's Girl), which was also greatly enjoyed (after 8+ years I fine-tuned it before submitting it); and the fast-paced Plus One, the reading of which was so slow-paced, that the audience began to lose and miss the overall humour, so I "finally" got raked over the coals with the audience feedback after the reading, which I actually expected with my first script that'd been read, to the fact I was astonished that Book Cover Art was so highly enjoyed.
Meanwhile, Jeffery called again, asking about what cigar brand to obtain. I'd contacted William but he wasn't precisely sure. I rechecked the cigar smoking video but the brand was not mentioned there either: d'oh. Jeffery indicated if the specific brand could not be found, he'd request at the store the Mildest cigar brand they had.

Saturday October 17, 2015
Hell Week: Day 1
Jeffery realized too late the flawed itinerary; I'd get in too late for my hair cut. It also took out Saturday; we should have gone with coming in via a Friday red-eye, to arrive Saturday morning (as it was, I'd been rush-call booked on another Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule episode Friday afternoon for a few hours, back home by 5pm).
I awoke Saturday morning at 2am, knowing the excitement would not let me sleep another hour. So, thinking of lines and TSA hassles, I took an earlier bus to downtown, where my should've-been-easy connecting bus was 20+ minutes late (so I was waiting there for about 40 minutes).
I had to walk from the closest bus-stop point into LAX, and one curb surprised me, catching my foot, causing me to headlong onto the pavement. Fortunately, while I was more annoyed than hurt, I continued on, a few barely minor scrapes on my knees for a few days to show for it.
While I had technically arrived later than I'd planned, I was still hours early for my 8am+ flight, on which for the 90 minute flight had a full-on in-seat entertainment system, so I watched as much of Ant-Man as I could, considering now that I was safely on my way, I drowsed in and out.
At Denver airport, my first time there, I had a nearly four hour layover, another itinerary glitch, though I spent much of the time going over my script pages.
The Denver to Springfield flight was a puddle-jumper, without so much as audio (music, et al). Much of the nearby conversation nearby gave humourous rise that it was a field trip for farmersonly.com membership.
I arrived in Springfield at 6pm local time (25 minutes early, actually), pretty beat from the the day's traveling.
Rese Ross had texted me, received now that my phone was off airplane mode, and I let her know I'd arrived. Jeffery's son Chance was already on his way, and Rese was astonished at how early I was. She was able to let Chance know he didn't have to park when retrieving me. Chance soon arrived in Jeffery's car and after snagging some Wendy's we headed back to the house.
I was set up in the same guest bedroom as last time. Jeffery pulled my smoking jacket wardrobe, and was digging for the pajama pants. As I began to mentioned it would have been practice to keep the outfit's hangers together, I lifted the white undershirt hanger to find the pajama bottoms were within the t-shirt, much to our mutual relief, as Jeffery didn't have to dig for several hours and ransack the house when it had been sitting Right There.

Sunday October 18, 2015
Hell Week: Day 2
Calltime was 7:15, and we headed to the Historic Firehouse where I finally met Jennifer Eiffert playing Lizbeth, for scenes of her driving me to Dahl's shop, and my departure therefrom. My haircut was nice and short for the shoot. I also met Nathan Shelton (of Shadowbound web series), who played Marcus.
Super pleasant Jennifer and I worked well together; she's into the paranormal, MST3k, et al. The location had industrial train tracks, a couple of mega-long compartment car trains passing by making for good background.
David Greathouse played the guitarist, who was also making a music video not only of his original song, but b-roll footage would be utilized so the music video would be Everything themed.
After our scene, Jennifer was free until 4pm, but stayed for lunch which was brought in.

Monday October 19, 2015
Hell Week: Day 3
Assistant Director Brad Ross and I managed to locate the seemingly elusive Barley Wheat and Rye cocktail bar location, the gentleman social club at which Harlan meets with Dr. Gideon, being played by George Cron. George was very pleasant and fun with whom to work. Due to the staccato dialogue we had a few challenges, but the scene was broken into sectors both for easier filming and easier for our respective and combined performances.
Once our segment was done and George was released (actually picture wrapped), Jennifer had her scene, with Ben Young and Shawn Sullivan playing douchy types that (predictably failing), attempt to pick up Lizbeth.
Unfortunately we didn't wrap the location until almost 2am, giving us all about four hours sleep before the next day's shooting.

Tuesday October 20, 2015
Hell Week: Day 4
We drove way out into the woods for the home being used as Harlan's home. The wooden home was both spectacular and a bit unsettling, considering the museum level of animal taxidermy motif throughout. With my inexorable urge for exploration, I had to see what sort of bird was making the cry, turning out to be some poultry, a breed of which I was unfamiliar. In the garage/guest house was a very vocal calico cat.
We began with Dahl's entrance, and mostly filmed in chronological order. Jeffery and I had studied the scene's lines as best we could. Jeffery had had the foresight to create cue cards for some of his monologues.
I say my opening line descending some stairs. Without my glasses and the way the lights were riggged, I took a misstep, missing the last step and falling like a tree. Thanksfully, as with the fall at LAX, I was not hurt and just knew to remember the lights were causing an optical illusion, "hiding" in plain sight the bottom step.
We ran quite late, not just that house, but later at director of photography Roger Jared's http://imdb.com/name/nm0418665 parent's home, which had a large iron gate, which also opens/closes. Jeff and I did our scene there, at the end of which I had a bit on my own which apparently was so Nailed I didn't have to do a second take. We played it back, to make sure, and it came across looking like an Amicus film. Jeff said I did everything perfectly; Jeff would think of what he'd want me to do, and on my own I'd do it. In character I "kind of" ad libbed at the tail end of one of my lines, which Jeff loved.

Wednesday October 20, 2015
Hell Week: Day 5
We started out a bit delayed, mostly as late the previous night some rather important props that thankfully was found.
Arriving at the mansion-like home of Tina & Nick Sibley, we filmed what would be the interior of Harlan's UK estate. Time ran away from us, until well past midnight. It was Jennifer's final day, but as originally she's a local, she changed her return flight to remain a few more days. Meanwhile it seemed we might not get to her final segment as it was. As Jeffery still needed her around, production paid for her changed flight plans, which would have had to have been changed anyway.
One of the last things we did before we headed out, was with special FX Mike Strain creating and firing off a little squib for a lamp.

Thursday October 22, 2015
Hell Week: Day 6 missing
I had been keeping notes on my phone as to what we were doing when as, just as I'd predicted, the days would blur together. Somehow I did not enter what we did this day; I'll have to ask Jeffery. Once I know on what scene/s we worked, my memory will be refreshed.
I am certain, based on its absence in my other Hell Week entries, is we filmed my mansion departure.
This was shot at the automatic iron gate of Roger's parent's home. Brad ran the gate to open and close when we needed it. When Dahl departs and I end the scene, Jeffery was astounded at how on the mark I was with my performance. Just as he was considering vocalizing a direction or suggestion, I did it on my own.
One of the only times I saw playback, I was impressed that the framing the lighting made it look like an Amicus film.

Friday October 23, 2015
Hell Week: Day 7
We returned to the Sibley home to film my half of a few few phone conversations, both US and UK based. We concluded the evening with Jennifer's return, and one of my more intense confrontations with Jeffery as Dahl. Jeffery was impressed with how deep I went with it.
Tina and Nick's very cool teenage son Captain (his actual birth name), had assisted during our time there. As the Dahl cane Jeffery had been using was fragile enough that they had four of them, Jeffery bestowed one of them to Captain as thanks, even dubbing Captain with it as he presented it to him.

Saturday October 24, 2015
Hell Week: Day 8
We returned to the Historic Firehouse where, as Dahl, he and I did our first meeting scene, in his store Fateful Curiosities. This also entailed his cat "Wilfred Brimley," who was far more interested in going the opposite way they wanted him to go. We got a shot or two that was usable, even away from the camera instead of towards it.
This was also the Cigar Scene. William had been unable to recall what miss brand he'd used with which to train me. Jeffery acquired the "mildest" brand in the store (he was told).
I suspect they were lying to him. This was the nastiest, rancid level of cigar. I was still able to pull off that segment of the scene as I could; I just wish it could have been the correct brand with which I'd have had no problem.
Bozana Cavar and Phillip Secca came for their scene, but technical issues caused the decision to be made to postpone it a few days. While they were still trying to get their scene, I walked over a few blocks and traversed the Jefferson Street Footbridge.
Jeffery and I concluded our aspect of the scene and the location was picture wrapped.
We headed over to the local Yellow Cab company where I met Ramon Ramirez playing Sammy the fence, and radio DJ and book author Woody P. Snow as the cab driver. As an easter egg in-joke, a shot or two shows Woody reading his book Depraved. We filmed Ramon's scene, then Woody and my dialogue scenes. Brad at one point lay down in the cab's back boot where he could monitor the audio as Woody simply drove about, a GoPro camera filming us, a la the London cab ride. Woody and I had some quick dialogue, but Jeffery had also encouraged us to experiment and improv. While most of the time we stuck to the script, a few times we got really weird, and humorously dark. More than once I could hear Brad just behind me stifling chuckles at our improvisations.
And once back at where Jeffery and Roger awaited our return, we were picture wrapped.

Sunday October 25, 2015
Return
With the day free before my late afternoon return to Springfield Airport, Chance drove me to Wilson's Creek Battlefield Park. The night before I'd asked Woody of what of interest might be, and he'd recommended it. I checked and indeed the area was reputedly haunted. Chance and I hiked the trails near Bloody Hill. and I did a few brief EVP sessions.
We also checked the Ray House, though there were no Sunday volunteers available for it to be open.
Back at Jeffery's place, I voice-overed a couple of lines for the cab ride to explain why the bank was opened well before its regular hours.
When the time came, Jeffery drove me to the airport; we had just enough tune for a pleasant goodbye chat, mostly mutual thanks and congratulations to each other, and our mutual amazement at talented Jennifer Eiffert's acting abilities.
I went through TSA with the full sexual accost experience as I opted out of the cancer cabinet scanner. It was slightly amusing the TSA agent thought at first I was doing it voluntarily as opposed to under coercion and under threat; I was only doing it to get I doing it to get on the plane. Being a tactile person anyway, such a pat down literally has no issue with me; to me it's the constitutional principal (the initial guy asked a coworker if he wanted to do it, to which the other one declined, saying he'd heard what I'd said).
I arrived in Denver at 7:30pm local time. I had a three hour layover; annoyingly, there were several earlier flights to LAX, to which I would have had no problem making. Had I suspected such a tight but doable connection during check-in in Springfield, I might have seen whether from there I could have been put on a standby list. As it was, the flight boarding across which I came seven people on standby, so I just went to my own gate and waited it out.
At least my own scheduled flight (with a very public standby list of 25+ displayed on the gate area monitor), wasn't delayed, and I knew once at LAX whether it'd the 90 or 120+ minutes, I'd get home. Doing its best to annoy me regarding the late flight and my late-time arrival, the plane was a step above the Denver-Springfield/Springfield-Denver puddle jumper planes. It was slightly bigger, but zero entertainment. No video, movie, or even audio.
While we arrived on time just before midnight, deplaning was so slow, I missed a bus I'd really wanted to catch, forcing me wait for the next one, the run on which slowed when a punk threw something and broke the passenger side window. This delay had me miss my connecting bus; another hour wait.
I got home at 3am.
Next time I'm out that way, I make sure I "read the clue," and make sure the itinerary has my flight out either in the very early morning a la 6-7am, or around midnight dearture, for a dawn-esque arrival time.

Monday August 08, 2016
Rating submission
Jeffery posted:

I don't know if I said it officially, but all Filming and Production is wrapped for the film EVERYTHING. We have a small amount of post-production before us, the editing is all but finished at this point. Bill Bruce has taken the multi-tracked sound and score and is at this moment creating our final 5:1 Surround mix.
We expect to have a final film to send off to the MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION of AMERICA by the end of the month for our rating and approval.

January 27. 2018
Copy and shoes; Film Festival honours

In November 2017, Jeff notified the cast and crew that Blu-rays were available. This was well early enough to buy as stocking stuffers.
Except, Jeff notified the cast and crew via the Facebook group, not with an email blast, so those who don't check the Group every single day had/has no idea they could have had the discs long before the holidays.
I found out sometime mid or late December, when a single post of David Greathouse mentioning receiving the copy. I asked Jeff about it, and he requested my mailing location, the current one I provided. He also did point out he still had the Harland shoes, asking if I wanted them. I told him how I had literally thought I had brought them back with me, and thought to my frustration that I'd somehow mislaid them. Jeff assured me he would send out the Blu-Ray and the shoes.

In January 2018, Jeff posted on the Facebook group:

"We received an Honourable Mention at the Silver Scream Festival, and our film will be exhibited in their online theater on their website, YouTube channel, and affiliates alongside the other Honorable Mentions, which will be viewed and voted on by fans and professionals for a chance to win the Screamer’s Choice Award."

As of this entry date I have not received the Blu-ray and shoes package...

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