Mockingbird Hill Cottage

This is a street in Chelsea near where we were shooting one day this week.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

End of the week. Exhausted. Yesterday we worked from noon until midnight. We were in a city north of Manhattan. A van drove us back to the Upper West Side, where, at about 12:45 am, I caught a train heading south. Then I had to transfer to another train which took forever to arrive. At this point it was 1 am and trains don’t run as often at that hour. The line that I transferred to was one of the few ways for me to get home at that hour. Very old train, very noisy, and then, to my horror, it went right past my station. An elderly man tried to convince me I hadn’t missed my stop – bless him, he was trying to comfort me – but I knew I had. I finally got out and talked to a woman working in the booth, who had no idea why it hadn’t stopped. I went up the stairs to the street, called an Uber, which arrived very quickly, thank God, and arrived home at 2 am. I left the house at 9 am that morning. This might be a bit extreme, but these are the kind of hours I am putting in on a daily basis.

I went to bed at 3 am and woke up at 8:30, so it wasn’t the kind of 8 hour sleep I craved, but maybe that will come tonight. Monday? I have to be on the set at 6:30 am.

Love/hate this experience. I love watching the process of making a movie. It is fascinating. The people are lovely. There is a lot of time spent waiting. I am in awe of the talent of the crew members who are experts at their jobs. Everyone is kind and patient. The actors are bringing these characters to life and it’s amazing to watch the process, especially when everything is shot out of sequence.

I sit with the producers watching the screens in what is called Video Village. They’re all youngish and funny and smart and I like them very much. One of them is Jim’s husband and I am so grateful for this opportunity to get to know him.

The ceiling in one of the Court buildings downtown, where we filmed on another day this past week.

I won’t be seeing Don this weekend. He came last Sunday and we had a great day together but when it was time to go to bed (I had to get up at 4:15 am on Monday) we realized this bed wasn’t nearly big enough for the both of us. We were jammed together and any move on Don’s part made him nervous about disturbing me and he ended up sleeping on the sofa, which was not at all comfortable. Between my very early wakeup call and Don being 6 feet 4 inches tall, we realized it wasn’t going to work. As I was leaving, we said goodbye and, instead of staying through Tuesday, he went home on Monday morning.

I was so sad the rest of the day. So was he.

We have some shoots coming up that take place in a county north of Manhattan and south of our cottage. I’m seriously considering going home for that part of the shoot and commuting back and forth from the cottage to the set. I wouldn’t have to deal with getting up incredibly early here at the apartment in order to take the subway to a van pick-up point, and then travel with a bunch of other people to the location. Jim’s husband first suggested the idea to me. I’d still have to get up very, very early, but I’d come home to Don and I’d get a weekend or two with him, one of which is my birthday weekend.

The trouble is, when I’m working away from home and I’m in and settled, I don’t like to relocate and then relocate again. But…it seems to be the most practical thing to do.

I’m rambling here, so forgive me, but I’m so very tired. Anyway, several of you mentioned that I would get to see Don this weekend and, sadly, that’s not going to happen.

There’s so much more to tell you, but that will have to do for now. In the meantime, I’ve discovered the joy of dropping off my laundry and picking it up later in the day, nicely folded and in a neat bundle. This is what Don did when he was in Margaritaville and, since the last thing I want to do is spend time sitting in a laundromat when free time is at a premium, that’s what I’m going to do today or tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

 

Central Park, very early in the morning – just across the street from the Plaza.

My first day on the set was Friday and it was a l-o-n-g day. Our call was at 8:30 – later than originally planned. I can only surmise that shooting the day before went overtime and they had to adjust the start. The problem for me was that I went to bed early the night before and woke up at 3:30 am. And I couldn’t get back to sleep.

Even if I hadn’t woken up quite so early, I would have had to be up by 5 at the latest. Travel anywhere in the city takes time; determined by the subway, weather, and unforeseen delays. Traveling into Manhattan from Brooklyn takes even longer. It adds at least 20 minutes on to any trip. Since my area of Brooklyn is directly south of the Battery, the southern tip of Manhattan, you can see that I have a lot of ground to cover via the subway. Though when we shoot one day next week in lower Manhattan, I’ll catch a break.

I arrived early. One of the things we have to do three times a week is get a Covid test. So I went to the testing area and had that taken care of. Then I went out to the catering truck and got some coffee. Then I went to the floor on which we were shooting that day and waited, unsure who to talk to, who to introduce myself to. It was very busy there with various crew members setting up cameras, sound – everything that is needed to film. I tried to stay out of the way. Eventually, I recognized the director’s voice and introduced myself to him. And eventually, I was introduced to the First Assistant Director who provided me with a headset so I could listen to the actors as they were filming. I have to say that everyone is very nice and helpful.

In the meantime, both Jim and Ben arrived and we had a happy reunion, in Jim’s case, and a first face-to-face meeting, in Ben’s. Jim kept showing everyone a photo he had of the two of us from way back when I was teaching him, just to prove how long we’d known each other. We’ve known each other for 21 years.

I sat with the producers in an area called video village. There are monitors there where we can watch the scenes being filmed.

Several scenes were on the docket. It takes a long time to shoot a scene. It needs to be shot from all sorts of angles and perspectives. It’s fascinating to watch the process.

I can’t go into details, of course, but it was a long day. I was there about 12½ hours, going on very little sleep, and then I had to travel back to Brooklyn, which took 40 minutes.

I was so exhausted, I felt a little bit insane. After calling Don to tell him I was home safely, I wound down a bit, then slept straight through until 8:30 am.

Tomorrow’s shoot has a 7 am call and it’s quite a trek from here. I’ll be up at 4 am. This is all quite an adjustment and I worry about keeping up with it all. I just need to get in a rhythm and know I can catch up on sleep on the weekend. It’s very satisfying, though, to have met everyone and know what I have to do. All of the ‘firsts’ are out of the way.

Don is coming today – probably in the afternoon. I have to find a laundromat this morning, although Don has offered to do it for me tomorrow morning. We’ll see. It’s raining at the moment. I think Don will be here until Tuesday. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so he can do something fun while I’m on the set. He had to delay his visit here because he had to pick up his car from the mechanics and it wasn’t ready until yesterday.

Some photos of the girls in the apartment:

Sophie in her mushroom dress.

Imogen in a Liberty print dress and new tights.

They were checking out the back garden.

Okay. I need more coffee. I’ll check in when I can, but if the days are like Friday was – and I think they will be – I might not get back to you for a while!

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.