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