The end of the tunnel

Here we are, about 6 weeks into post production, and light is not only at the end of the tunnel. It's flooding in! Danny Daneau, who worked as our D.I.T. on the shoot, downloading digital footage we shot onto hard drives, emerged to become our editor! After weeks carefully studying each shot as he recorded it, Danny knew the footage as well as I did! So he volunteered to put together a rough cut. We were all wowed by his talent and enterprise. And once he and I began to actively collaborate, we were so in sync we were finishing each other's sentences. We've been enjoying a remarkably productive couple of weeks. And getting TONS don remarkably fast. Handfuls of friends have stopped over intermittently, to screen the cut as it's evolved, and their feedback has been incredibly helpful. And supportive! People are liking what they are watching, and we are liking that they are liking it! Our own Luke Rothschild's brilliant and beautiful score is complementing the emotions of the scenes, while giving the dazzling performances of our gifted actors lots of room to breathe. So we're all pretty excited, and happy as we progress towards locking picture and moving into sound mixing and color correction. We also got some great stills from the shoot, which give you a glimpse into the movie. Soon to be at a theatre near you!

Photos: Day Thirteen

Now that production is over, I think that it's safe to say that we accomplished everything we set out to do when filming began almost a month ago. Not only were we able to film an awesome movie, but we were also able to make some good friends and hell, we even managed to stay green (among other things, we recycled and used cloth napkins and reusable water bottles). This has been a great team and I can't imagine making this film with anyone else.

Anyway, as promised in the subject line here are the last of the pictures. I'd like to thank Catharine McNamara for taking all of these photos. She did a great job capturing the production.

-Pete

We did it!

A little over a month ago, our team assembled to make FLY AWAY and fly we did! In just 14 days, each 12 hours long, we made something pretty special. The performances were dazzling, our brilliant cinematographer shot gorgeous footage, the cracker jack crew pulled rabbit after rabbit out of their illustrious hats and we got ourselves a movie! As Beth Broderick herself said (who has been on hundreds -- if not a thousand -- movie and television shows, and worked with that many crews), ours was one of the very best. The shoot was focused, intense, but happy. The only drama was on the screen! And after it was over, we all still liked each other! Well enough to hang out for hours after wrapping out of my back yard, over pizza, beer and fabulous champagne provided by our big hearted Associate Producer, John Yonover. John and his son, Matt (by the way, it was a requirement to either be named or related to someone named Matt to work on our film; we counted 6 of them on our crew!) flew in from Chicago, did great work as extras in our restaurant scene, and shared their generosity all day long. So now into the editing room! More updates soon. And thanks to each one of you for all your support.

Yours,

Janet

Photos: Day Ten, Eleven, and Twelve

Hi everyone,
We've reached the home stretch. Only a couple of days left. For me the end of a shoot is something that is always both highly anticipated as well as somewhat dreaded. While it's definitely nice to have some time off, I'm always a little sad when the cast and crew splits up and goes their separate ways. Even if you're planning on working with many of the same people again, the crew will never be exactly the same. Having said that, I think it's nice that at the end you'll always have a movie to remind you of all of the good times you had working on the production. Many of these fun moments can be seen in the below pictures.
-Pete

What could make a mother more proud?

Directing my first feature has been filled with profuse and profound blessings and delights. But one of the biggest was getting to direct my own son in a scene! My child, Matt, is now 16. Hardly a child anymore. At five feet, eleven inches, I'm looking up to him. And not just because of his height. His incredible courage, tenacity and sweetness inspires me every day, as does his amazing transformation into a confident, competent, engaged young man. Who could happily hang out on a bustling movie set, swirling with a crew of gaffers and grips, waiting hours for the 15-20 minutes it took to shoot his actual role! Ten, five, even 3 years ago, I would never have imagined last Tuesday. For either of us! Matt played the part of a Server at NICE CREAM (a fantastic gelato store on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice---run don't walk!), where our two main characters share one of the lighter moments in our story. (You can see photos of this happy event in DAY 9 of the daily blogs.) By the way, NICE CREAM gelato is not only totally organic and delicious, but incredibly low in calories. The owners, Laura and Christian Neilsen, not only donated the location to our shoot, but Laura appears in the scene. As well as my mother! The morning became even happier, when the crew got to sample the product. Nice, indeed!

And now...onto the home stretch. The last 4 days of our shoot, Saturday to Tuesday.

Janet

Photos: Day Nine

Here's the photos for day nine. Be sure to check out my awesome headphones.
-Pete

Photos: Day Seven and Eight

While I'd love to tell how tired I am after a long day of production, I thought I'd post a photo gallery instead. After all, if a picture's worth a thousand words than 29 of them has to be worth at least 29 thousand words (also I'm too tired to blog). No amount of coffee can prepare you for the quantity of loading and unloading of trucks that each day requires. Having said all of this, making movies is awesome and I wouldn't want to do anything else.
Enjoy the pictures,
-Pete

Photos: Day Six

Since it took me so long to post the last two days worth of photos, I figured I'd upload todays photos today!
-Pete

Photos: Day Four and Five

Hi Everyone,
Here's the pictures from tuesday and wednesday. I thought I had posted these a couple of days ago, but clearly that was not the case. Things have been so hectic lately I didn't even realize they weren't up until just now. Sorry about that. Anyway, in a surprising turn of events, tomorrow marks my professional acting debut. Indeed, because Fly Away is such a micro-budget production, many of the crew members are actually doubling as extras. While I've done a very small amount of "acting" in the past, this will be my first feature and as such, I plan to spend the rest of the night getting into character.
wish me luck,
-Pete

Still flying

We wrapped our first week of photography on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.. In five, 12 hour days, we covered 56 scenes and didn't go into overtime! An amazing accomplishment, due to the talent, dedication, focus and integrity of this group. The cast is amazing. Not only are the performances truly astonishing, but their all-in team work, and flexible, good humored adaptation to this close to the bone shoot is inspirational. And the crew is phenomenal; warm spirited, highly skilled and tireless, they really have formed a community. Not only does it take a village to make a movie, they became a village in my backyard, under tents! Someone once said that second to love, the greatest gift one can give is labor. I am grateful and humbled by the contributions of the cast and crew to this labor of love.

Now...Onto week two! Which Pete will continue to report with breezy charm.

Yours,

Janet

Day Three: Photos

Heres the photos from day 3. More to come tonight!
-Pete

Day Two: Photos

Photos from day two have arrived! Here the lovely ladies from our multitalented production office can be seen standing in for the actors while the camera, electrical, and art departments set up the shot around them. Having worked in the production office for the last week or so, I can assure you that getting these people to stop working and sit still for any amount of time is next to impossible. I am constantly in awe of our AD's ability to get them to do so.
Anyway, enjoy the pictures.
-Pete

Day One: Photos

Hey everyone, here's some photos from yesterday.
-Pete

Production Begins.

The time has finally come. Production is upon us. We've been at it since 6:00 AM this morning, and aside from a quick bit of rain, things have been running as smooth as possible. All of our time spent planning in preproduction is finally paying off. Unlike preproduction which is nonstop work, production is very stop and go. Whenever the camera starts rolling, everything else has to stop. As Christian Bale will tell you, even the slightest movement or sound can ruin a shot. This means that there's a lot of down time quickly followed by an intense period of work. Speaking of which, I should probably get back to it. I gotta go collect some walkie-talkies.
-Pete

Moving In

We're almost there. I'm going to keep this somewhat brief, since today has been a long day full of moving heavy objects, but I thought I'd at least take the time and give you a quick report as to what's going on. As you can see, this place is finally starting to look like a movie set. Walls have been painted, c-stands erected, and the craft services table has been piled high with everything from soda to soy sauce and wasabi flavored walnuts. I'm always somewhat surprised by how much stuff a group of people can actually move in a day. What started as a backyard has quickly become a fully functioning set. Literally everything that you see in this picture wasn't there more than five or six hours ago.

Well, I've got some more stuff to do.

Be sure to check back tomorrow. I doubt you'll be able to recognize anything.

-Pete

Autism The Musical

Hey everyone,
I thought I'd share this trailer with you.



For those of you who don't already know, Janet helped to produce this film. I highly recommend those of you who are interested in it, check out its own website for more information. Autism The Musical not only does a great job bringing attention to the struggle inherent in confronting autism, but in doing so it depicts how love, commitment, and the human spirit can help overcome anything. It is in this vain that we are hoping to create Fly Away.
-Pete

Office Tour

Howdy,

I don't have a whole lot to share today, but since I promised to update the site on a daily basis I figured I'd take you on a quick tour of our production office. Here it is!

While it may not the biggest place in the world, it helps you get to know everyone pretty quickly. More than a couple times today I've found myself awkwardly leaning over someone in a misguided attempt to grab something off of the printer. Also worth noting is the chicken that lives next door. While her clucks may annoy some, I've always found them to be somewhat entertaining. I was unaware that people actually kept chickens as pets (since it's been here for a few days, I'm assuming it's a pet and not dinner). Anyway, If I'm ever lucky enough to record it with my phone, I'll be sure to post that on the site.

UPDATE
Here's the chicken. The recording's a little quite so turn up your volume.

-Pete

Day One: Production Meeting

Hello World Wide Web,
having just returned from my first first day of pre-production, I can now officially state that we have a really great crew working on this film. While avid readers of this blog will likely recall that I may have said something to a similar effect in several of my previous posts, the truth is that I really hadn't met any of them in person before today. While they seemed nice in E-mail form, for all I knew they could actually all have been complete jerks. Today I can confirm, without a shadow of a doubt, that this is absolutely not the case. From the first second I stepped foot into the production office, it immediately became clear to me that our crew is not only a well oiled movie making machine, but also a great group of people. Despite having never actually encountered someone on a film that I didn't like, I'm always excited to learn that I'm going to have an easy time getting along with my fellow crew members.

Having said that, today's main event was a large crew meeting between all of the various department heads ensuring that everything was going to be ready for production when the camera starts rolling on saturday. Together, they meticulously went through the production schedule and made sure that every prop, costume, location, and camera angle was decided upon and accounted for. If there's going to be a shot of Mandy watching TV, what show is she going to be watching? If she is watching a show, will it actually be playing, or will it be added in later during post production? If it is going to be added during post production, will the television screen be overlaid with a green screen, or are you simply just going to place tracking marks on the screen? These are the kind of questions that are constantly being asked to ensure that even the most finite of details be ready, so that when the director yells action, everything is good to go . While no amount of preparation can make production run perfectly smoothly, if you can eliminate all of the potential problems that are able to control, than that's half the battle right there. This is especially true on a lower budget film like Fly Away, since every additional second you spend in production costs extra money.

Thats it for now,
Be sure to check back in tomorrow for more.
-Pete

Independence Day

Hi everyone,

Welcome to July. We're just one week away from production, and I've finally arrived in Los Angeles. As a native Philadelphian and a graduate of a small university in Connecticut, I've spent most of my life living on the east coast. Although having been here only a day, I don't have much too report as of yet (that is, aside from being mildly disappointed by my first taste of In-N-Out Burger), I can tell you that I'm looking forward to seeing what this strange new land has to offer. Rest assured that when I do find something worth sharing, I'll be sure to do so right here on this blog. For better or for worse, you can expect to find a new post here, at the very least, on a daily basis. This being the website for Fly Away, I'm going to try my best to keep things as on topic as possible, but don't be surprised if you find the occasional aside about Los Angeles, or baseball, or pastrami sandwiches, or any of other random things of that are constantly coursing through my brain. Judging by the amount of traffic that our cast page is getting at the moment, I'm sure that you'll be excited to know that it is in this vain that you can also expect to find blog posts from the rest of the cast and crew as well.

Anyway, I look forward to keeping you informed.
Happy 4th,
-Pete

Party Photos

Hey everyone,
here's some photos from last night's cast dinner at Janet's house. As the days pass and we get closer and closer to the beginning of production, it's extremely important that our entire cast and crew become familiar with one another. Although many of us have been working on the film for months, and some even years, others are more recent additions and so it's great when everyone can come together as a group, read the screenplay together, and really get to know each other. While this sort of team building is an important part of any production, perhaps the most significant event of the night came when Janet revealed what was for dinner; homemade lasagna. Personally, I'm of the opinion that there are few things that can achieve the kind of group cohesion necessary for filmmaking quite as well as the miracle that is lasagna. I'll do just about anything for someone who can make a good baked pasta. With that said, I think everyone's really excited to get to work. I'll be sure to keep you updated on all of the goings on as production starts to take off.
-Pete

Support Fly Away

At long last, it is now possible to support Fly Away right from the comfort of your own home. While those interested in doing so can certainly head over to our newly expanded support page, in the name of convenience I've also provided a link for you right HERE. All contributions to Fly Away are 100% tax deductible and can be made through the auspices of the non-profit foundation, FILMMAKER'S ALLIANCE. These funds will help to produce, market and distribute Fly Away, and in doing so assure that our story gets told and seen.

Thank you so much for your support.

Janet's Article on the Huffington Post

For those of you who haven't already seen seen it, Janet just posted a brand new article about Fly Away on the Huffington Post. If you are at all interested in the inception of the film (and seeing as you are currently browsing its website, I assume you are), it's definitely worth reading. The article not only touches on her personal experiences with autism, but also includes her reasons for leaving behind a life as a successful studio executive in order to direct Fly Away.

Again, if you've had a similar experience with autism, or simply just feel like sharing something, please feel free to use the below comments section as a forum for discussion.

-Pete

Pre-Production Report

I'm happy to report that only after a couple days of the site becoming fully functional, traffic has really started to take off. As said in my previous post, a website is only as good as the people who visit it, so this is great! We really appreciate your support.

Having said that, for those of you who are wondering about the production details, I thought I'd take a quick moment to share them with you. Currently the film is in pre-production, and everyone is scrambling around trying to get everything ready for production when it begins on July 10th. Personally, I've always felt that preproduction is one of the most exciting times to be working on a film, but also one of the most stressful. While it's great to see the different elements of the project start to come together, there's always something to be worried about. The amount of planning that has to be done to make a filmset run smoothly can be staggering. While on the screen you might only see the camerawork or mise-en-scène, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Even once those elements are in place, the production team still has to worry about things like the budget, transportation, catering, safety, and even the weather. Believe it or not, one rainy day can cause all kinds of problems! Obviously in a situation as daunting as this, it's imperative that everyone work together or nothing is going to get accomplished. Needless to say, the cast and crew gets to know each other really well (sometimes too well?) really quickly. Luckily for us the fly away team is not only incredibly professional, but also genuinely cool people.

While hopefully i've answered some of your questions about the pre-production process, if you have any more, feel free drop a comment below. I'd be more than happy to respond.

-Pete

Welcome to the Blog!

Hello everyone and welcome to the Fly Away Film blog!

This is the website for Janet Grillo's newest film Fly Away. Based on her award winning short, Flying Lessons, Fly Away tells the moving story of a single mother, Jeanne, grappling with the challenge of raising her autistic teenage daughter, Mandy. While I'd love to tell you more about the story, this being the internet, I'm going to try my best to keep this brief. However, if you do want to know more about the story, feel free to click on the "About the Film" tab on the website toolbar. We also have bios of most of the cast and crew up there (the rest are on their way), so be sure to check those out as well. We have a really talented team, so don't be surprised if find a couple of people that you've heard of before.

Although the blog may not be too spectacular at the moment, as production starts to get underway you can expect to find all sorts of great features popping up everyday. We'll have everything from interviews, to videos, to production stills, and even blog posts written by the cast and crew, so be sure to come back and check out all of that stuff out as it goes up. I'm hoping that in the next few weeks, this website is able to become a place that is as interactive as it is informative, and where you'll be able to learn all sorts of things, not only about the film, but also about autism in general. Obviously this is only possible by building a community around the site, so as we start to get things going, feel free to comment on the blog, follow us on Twitter, or become our fan on Facebook

Once again,

Thanks for checking out the site, I can't wait to see it grow.

-Pete Binswanger

A Statement from the Director

As the mother of a child with disabilities, I was immediately thrust into the
challenge every parent must face at some point: meeting the needs of your child
when it is at great cost to yourself. Perhaps the very measure of love is what and
how much we are willing to sacrifice. Although parenting someone with Autism is
particular, the primal drive to do the best for oneʼs child is universal. FLY AWAY
tells this story.

FLY AWAY is a personal film, derived from experience. As I have journeyed with
other parents of children with special needs, Iʼve witnessed great pain and
extraordinary passion. Iʼve also watched parents unable to place their children in
full time therapeutic residences, when it was clearly needed. While such
placement is not best for all or even most children on the spectrum, itʼs tragic
when parents are too plagued with fear and guilt to make the choice when it is. If
FLY AWAY eases the pain of even one parentʼs torturous decision, or if it
expands the heart of even one person untouched by Autism to accept our
children and appreciate our struggles, it will have been well worth making. The
authenticity of our story can provide insight and hope. Truth often does.

The stark emotionality of the story will be matched by the overall aesthetic. The
raw aesthetic of low-budget filmmaking, enhances our storyʼs intensity. We will
shoot FLY AWAY with a digital camera, making use of natural light whenever
possible. Much of it will be shot hand-held, in the observational style of Cinema
Verite. In the Neo-Realist tradition, we will film in actual locations. Our actors will
look accessible and feel relatable. Glamour will be left at the door.

-Janet Grillo