In my last post I talked about how the script for Running with Scissors was developed. Well, once Jerry Fushianes and Mary Lane-Poet, my partners at Hope & Glory Studios thought it was a good story, I had the bright idea of shooting a promo trailer for Running with Scissors. The idea was that it would be a proof of concept and might help a busy sales rep who doesn't have time to read every script take two to three minutes to see what the story is about.
So in early August of 2024 Mary, Jerry, and I started planning to shoot the promo trailer. But a week later, I put a halt to the idea because there just wasn' t enough time to shoot it before the weather turned cold way up here in Tomah, Wisconsin. So I told Jerry and Mary that we would just forget about the shooting the promo trailer for Running with Scissors, and we would focus on making the script perfect.
Another week passed and I found myself back at our studio office with Mary and Jerry. I apologized for having changed my mind, but thought it was just too much of a time crunch to do it right. But Jerry and Mary still wanted to do the shoot. And then Jerry let me know that he had not called off a single person who he had on board to help us. Upon hearing that, I figured I would let Jerry and Mary roll with it and we were on our way.
We had to shoot on September 8th as that was the only day we could get everyone together. Even for such a small one day shoot, there was still a lot of logistics to cover. We still had to do auditions for the actors. We had several great local actors try out. Marissa Joyce, our mean girl Kristy, auditioned via Zoom from the front passenger seat of her mom's car. (And you can see from the trailer that Marissa played the perfect mean girl.)
Two days before the shoot, there was still so much to be done. I gave a list to Jerry, and somehow two days later he had everything we needed. (I told Jerry a couple months after meeting him that he would make a perfect producer. And that has proven so true.)
On the day of the shoot we were out there at the set by 5:15am. It was dark and cold. Somehow by 6:30 we were shooting. Jerry worked with the actors - Tiffany Saggio (Megan) and Wriley Hoffner (Jack Scissors). Mary was in charge of scene continuity and all the little details that can so easily be overlooked. Peter Malinger was our DP. Amy Radoff played the part of Megan's mom and served as a first AD. Bonnie Hilt assisted with sound and costume design. Jerry' kids helped out with acting and sound, and my youngest son made sure the actors stayed hydrated.
But perhaps the biggest surprise was Jerry convincing Claudia Neve to help out. Claudia has been a first AD on a couple of movie sets, so Jerry thought she could bring some real professionalism and structure to the group. Right away everyone could see Claudia's abilities and she took over the directing duties for the day.
Claudia Neve's presence brought the production level up several notches. It was fun for the rest of us to watch her work.
And what was I doing the entire day? I was pulling around a wagon with a cooler full of refreshments and snacks for the actors and crew. By the end of the day of shooting I was tired after having lugged that cooler all over town. If there is glamour in the movie business, I wasn't finding it. But we all had a lot of fun working together to get this done.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, all cast and crew volunteered their time. So between the snacks and Jerry buying everyone dinner after the shoot, we were all in that day for about $500. Not bad. And now you can see that promo trailer right here on this website.
We all had a lot of fun on the shoot and we were also exhausted by the end of the day. I have posted some of the pictures here. I'll post a making-of video when I have time to edit some clips together. Hope you all enjoy the promo reel. Now we will use it to help us get Running with Scissors made into a full feature length movie on the big screen.
Until next time.
Daniel J. Hellman - Producer/Writer
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