Lights! Camera!?

So now we had it all. A script. A Director with Final say. A Website, Actors, Locations and possible DVD Sales outlets.  What we didn’t have still was a camera. We were getting ready to roll and nothing to film it with. Cameras were expensive and rentals of cameras were just as costly.. Our options at that point were to buy a camera for 3 grand. Or rent one for half that. The rental was for a limited time only which would rush our shoots. If we needed to reshoot wed have to rent the camera again. At the point we would have paid what the camera costs in rental fees. So putting up the dough and purchasing the camera seemed like the only viable action.

We had chosen an HD Digital camera because it was the emerging format and small movies like Dancer in The Dark had been fully shot in HD and looked just as good as film. Lucas also had shot Episode 2 a full digital format and was declaring small HD cameras the future.  

Staring at the rising equipment costs we briefly considered shooting on film. But in the end any money we saved on a camera we’d burn right back in film and editing costs. The reality of it all began to hit us. How was all of this really going to be possible? Leonard kept assuring me he would handle it.

I had just met Serge the DP on our current project, The Lunchroom. We began to shoot the shit talk about movies, loan each other DVDs. And as luck would have it Serge also shared a similar interest in filmmaking, and a common goal to achieve success in the industry. Serge also had an available HD camera. It seemed like a perfect match and the day was saved. 

Leonard though had a major objection.  He didn’t know Serge. At the time they had not met. So it wasn’t personal. He just believed we had come so far and did not want to rely on anyone’s help. And a camera would be a huge deal.  We’d be completely at the mercy of the owner. If he wanted to be like Cartman and say “Screw You guy’s I’m going, Home”. There would be nothing we could do. We’d be up shit’s creek.  I saw Leonard’s point and conceded. A collaboration with Serge would have to wait.

Now the game was about saving and making money for this camera. I was willing to put in as much as Leonard was, but was not even considering financing everything myself. And Leonard’s car had now finally succumbed to the long daily commute to The Answer Group and he was saving up for that.  So now the quickest way to make the money was going to be tax returns.  When Tax time rolled around Leonard opted to upgrade his computer system instead. He claimed he would need a better PC for editing. But I knew the truth, He was back to chasing the dragon. Literally. The Master of All MMORPG’s was calling his name.  World Of Warcraft.

This was the beginning of the end.