An old friend Els Withers and I decided to write a story and script together last spring. The title is Love, Spy, Kill. Els and I came up with the story together. I took a script writing workshop taught by Randy Baker over the summer of 2014. During that class I wrote a draft of one of the scenes (the one with Tam and Chance in the storage room). Except for that scene, and the opening scene, which Els and I co-wrote, I wrote the script on my own.
Roughly, the theme is about a college aged daughter, Tam, and her strained relationship with her father, Ray. The plot is about the theft of a valuable state-of-the-art computer-chip which hackers and spies are after. The chip is hidden in an art museum, so it can be smuggled out of the country disguised as a work of art in a cultural exchange. Of course, the police are looking for the stolen computer chip, but a gang of hackers, led by Grekov, have discovered it's hiding location first. Grekov and her gang kidnap everyone in the museum in an effort to find the chip. Tam and Ray must work together to capture the hacker gang and free the hostages.
I hope to shoot at the Maryland Hall in Annapolis. Other possible locations are the AACTV studios in Glen Burnie and Jeffrey Gangwisch's studios at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore.
Cast of actors:
- Jarrett Ervin: Chance,
- Dan Kavanaugh: Ray
- Liza Skinner: Grekov, hacker gang leader
- Tyris Lee: Eyo, hacker gang member
- Andrew Nichols: Wolff, assassin for the Russian mafia
- Pajvak Kiumarsi: Freydoon, a museum guard
- Alicia Sweeney: Sigrid, a museum guide
- Katrina Atsinger: police dispatcher
- Nick Beschen: police officer Nick Brion
- ??: Tam
- A black box (which contains the quad-copter)
- a quad-copter (possibly broken)
- Name-tags for Freydoon (museum guard) and Sigrid (museum guide)
- matching uniforms/blazers for Freydoon and Sigrid,
- Fake pistols with silencers (at least 1 and no more than 3)
- A mini make-up case that looks like a quantum computer chip.
- A mini make-up case.
- Police car light, radio mic, badge, and cap.
- small bandages
- ace bandages with fake blood
- men's tie
- a box-like machine that looks like a cell-phone jammer (use the BeachTek audio mixer, with glued-on antenna)
- device that look like hand-held scanner (use a temperature meter "gun"),
- Electrical van with repairman sign on it (from Nick Beschen),
- Sign near front door "Closed for repairs"
- Large backpack for Eyo
- Black jackets for Grekov and Eyo
- Grekov's gun
- Wolff's gun
- security camera monitors
- computer
- ropes or duct tape
- wire cutter or large knife
- chair for Chance to be tied to
- fake blood for Freydoon, Ray, Chance, and for Grekov (in the last scene)
- Make-up for bruises to Chance and Ray
- bandages for Freydoon
- police uniform
- police badge
- police gun
- police car flashing light
- Sigrid's lipstick
- green-screen
- zip-ties
Crew:
- Mark Hildebrand: sound, AD, production planning,
- Julien Jacques: shooter, AD, sound, production planning,
- Marcus Wolf: shooter, production planning, editing assisting
- Laurie Kinner: make-up, sound assistant, production assistant,
- Jarrett Ervin: sound assistant,
- David Joyner: writer/director/shooter
- Els Withers: story co-writer
During the 2nd week of September, I drove up to the Anne Arundel County County Public Access studios in Glen Burnie and spoke with Mike, the head of the facilities. Because of the rules in how they work, the only way to shoot there would be to break the shots into 10-15 minute episodes, produced in the order written in the script. Each episode would have to be completed before the next studio reservations could be made. All this is free, so I'm really grateful. Here are some cell-phone pics of the studio:
I spoke with the gallery manager Sigrid Trumpy at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts at the opening of a new art exhibit. I also met the artist, who kindly gave me permission to use incidental shots of his art in the shoot. Sigrid has also very generously let us use the Martino Gallery during the shoot for free.
My wife Elva and I went shopping for props during the 2nd week of September. I bought what I hope will be the quantum chip. I also met the very kind Laurie Kinner, who agreed to be the make-up person.
Photo of quantum chip prop:
Around mid-September, the gallery artist withdrew his offer, so now his gallery cannot be used as a backdrop. Sudden change of heart, I guess. Possibly the Maryland Hall location will be impossible to shoot at, or possibly I will simply have to wait. I will try to have another face-to-face meeting soon to see what the problem is, in case I misunderstood something.
Late September, the actress playing the part of Tam has withdrawn, due to job commitments and scheduling conflicts with other performances. That was very sad news, of course, but ultimately turned out to be best all around. Looking for a new protagonist, in the hope that the main characters can be used in later scripts.
Heard back from the operations manager of the Maryland Hall in early October. They did not give permission to shoot in the gallery even in between shows.
The rehearsal on Oct 1st and the studio shoot on the afternoon of Oct 9th went very well. In fact, Alicia introduced me to Mark Hildebrand and Julien Jacques which was a stroke of good fortune. Julien and I met for several hours the night of Oct 7th and discussed shooting different ways to shoot various scenes. Mark did all the sound and also had great suggestions on how to shoot and block various scenes. Laurie not only made the actresses look great, she also helped with camera operation. Thanks to Julien and Mark and Laurie for making the shoot on Oct 9th go so well.
A still of Eyo and Wolff in the security office (with some effects using GIMP added) from the Oct 9th shoot:
A screenshot of Ray trying to sell life insurance to museum guard Freydoon:
A still of Grekov, Eyo and Wolff in the security office:
A screenshot of Ray talking to Chance about his daughter Tam:
Andrew dropped out mid-October, stating other acting commitments. As great as Andrew is, this is a blessing in disguise as I need to cut down the script to finish the shoot faster. I rewrote the script, "killing off" Wolff, writing out Tam's part, and retitling it Quantum Insurance. It is 24 pages (down from 60). Here is the new synopsis (spoiler alert):
A divorced single father, Ray, who uses the hard-sell to try to sell life insurance, meets Sigrid, a life insurance agent at a competing agency. The are forced together during the kidnaping and theft of a valuable state-of-the-art computer-chip sought by hackers and spies. A rough hacker, Chance, has hidden the chip in an art museum, but a gang of hackers, led by Grekov, have discovered its location. Grekov's gang kidnap everyone in the museum in an effort to steal the chip, shooting the guard Freydoon in the process. However, Chance briefly escapes. Police become suspicious of a stolen repair van Grekov used to enter the museum. While the hackers search for Chance and the chip, Sigrid befriends Ray. A gang-member Wolff is killed, Chance is discovered and tortured, and Freydoon finds the chip. Sigrid notices it looks just like her make-up case and gives it to Grekov, who runs out of the museum with it, into the arms of the police. Sigrid and Ray find happiness together by creating their own insurance company together, Quantum Insurance.
Here is Sigrid's business card:
The shoot at the AACTV studio on Octover 29th went great. There were a lot of props in this shoot! Took me 4 trips to unload the car.
Since a picture says a thousand words, here are some behind-the scenes shots:
Jarrett (Chance) getting bruises applied by make-up artist Laurie:
Julien shooting a scene with Pajvak (Freydoon, who has just been shot by Grekov):
Alicia (Sigrid):
Liza's baby Lulu was the real star of the show:
In one scene, Chance is beaten by Grekov and Eyo to get his to reveal the location of the stolen chip. Here's a still shot of Chance, with blood applied by Laurie, and background filled in using Gimp:
Looking forward to the next shoot, on Nov 6th, since there will be fewer props to lug into the studio!
I arrived at 8:15am the morning of the 6th (the studio officially opens at 9am, but they have allowed me to lug the equipment and props into the studio early, so I can get set up before the actors arrive). The head of the studio said he would not allow me to shoot any more of the project in his studio. I told him it was the last day of the shoot anyway. He seemed upset but it wasn't clear to me exactly what he was objecting to. However, the AACTV rules are that a show is to be submitted after each reservation. I've had 3 studio reservations and have not yet submitted a video for them to broadcast. I told him I hoped to be done with editing in December. Except for that exchange, the shoot went great and the actors were on the top of their game.
Here is a shot of Ray, Sigrid, and Freydoon in between takes:
By far the most unpleasant part for me was the editing phase. I'm very happy that part is over!
Overall, I'd characterize this as a great learning experience for me, both as a writer and as a producer-director. I feel very fortunate to have been able to work with such talented cast and crew members. Hopefully, the future holds many more film projects like this one.
All episodes are now online at vimeo:
