Guerrilla filmmaking on Veterans Day

It's Veterans Day and we are trying to film at the VA (Veterans Administration) because we need a quiet bus stop and can't afford to pay the LAPD to stop traffic like big budget productions can.

So to the left, you see our guerrilla filmmaker director hiding from the security patrols.










To the right is the bus stop scene which is the reason we are here. Mona, played by lead actress, ELISSA KERHULAS, tries to flee the problems plaguing her mind and making her unhappy, only to end up spending the night at a bus stop. In the morning, along comes Manny, played by DON BALDARAMOS, who thinks he just might get lucky here.

Maybe not quite what Manny should be thinking about on the day honoring our veterans of previous wars on the grounds where the permanently wounded and sick are taken care of. Shame on you, Manny! You'd think men think of nothing else! Duh!

Don is a wonderfully versatile actor who plays Manny with great charm. As I listened to him, I had a smile on my face -- yes, I could see a woman falling under his charm.

As people drive up and wheel their fathers and brothers in and out of the building, they look at us, as if they're debating to come over and see what famous movie or television show is being filmed here... and can they get a glimpse of somebody important.

They do not strain their eyes too much, though. After all, this is LA and there is filming going on everywhere in this city. But no such luck for them today, it's just us doing guerrilla filmmaking like hundreds of other people in this world called 'Independent Film'.

Because this is outdoors and the dialogue will need to be looped over in post anyway, Jim did not require a boom operator for these scenes. (For those who don't know what a boom operator is, he is the guy who holds the microphone on a long stick, over the actors' heads to clearly pick up their voices, but out of the camera's range. Prerequisite: Strong arms and tireless legs.)

We finish this scene quickly and then decide to do the next scene, because if you wait until the cars stop driving into the parking lot (creeping along in an effort to not disturb us, duh) and the security cars to drive by on the way to somewhere else, it's a nice quiet parking lot. This scene is where Mona is letting Manny think he is definitely going to get lucky, for she is walking with him to his car. As originally written, the car was supposed to be down the street, but when Director Jim decided to utilize this parking lot, he did a quick change of dialogue, and walla, here we are.

Does Mona drive off with Manny? Well, you'll just have to watch the film to find out.

After we wrapped our shooting in this location, my actors and director all told me how happy they were to have me there with them. Producing for each project means something different, but for this one, I think my biggest and most important job is to see that they are all happy and get whatever they need to be able to do the job.

Now if only someone would plop a bigger budget in my hands, I could make all of us much, much happier.