Tonight was the first rehearsal with the actors. It was a lot of fun--I had never heard the script read aloud, and Edith and Dylan had a good feeling for the characters even on the first attempt. With a little luck, maybe our tight rehearsal schedule won't be a big problem.
Today was an exhausting day, with one journey or meeting after another from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. I think we've secured Hunter College as a location for our college scenes--the head of the theater and film department there, Joel Zuker, is grateful to us for taking on his daughter Katie as a production assistant, and is bending over backwards to help us. Just in case the security and public relations departments at Hunter cause trouble, I've asked my family to obtain access to a school in Pennsylvania as a backup.
Frank Stubblefield, a well-known gaffer in the NYC area, stopped by today to pick up a script, and seemed interested in working on the project. (The gaffer is the crew member in charge of setting lights.) I took a liking to him, but I fear we may not be able to resolve money issues.
I had a somewhat uncomfortable meeting with the producers tonight, with me trying to push them toward taking more of an overview of the project so that I didn't have to. I probably should have kept my mouth shut, as I think I made them feel as if I didn't appreciate their efforts. The discussion got a little edgy, but we smoothed everything over eventually.
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