Packing for Canada

 With our trip to Canada looming Rebecca used today to coordinate her outfits for the holiday. There was a lot of consulting on my part as we whittled down the mini mountain of clothes, there might end up being some detritus going in my bag now as well. I still need to figure out what is exactly coming with me overseas, I'm mostly looking forward to reading books again, with plenty of travel time I'll try and get plenty of words under my belt. I feel like I'm the kind of person who brings a notebook along with aspirations if doing some creative writing, but I always end up lugging an empty pad... maybe just a small notebook this time...

Farewell Rivals

 Fun fact, I listen to 'P.S. Goodbye' and 'Nostalgia' by The Chameleons at the end of every job. Though I technically have one more bonus tidy up day on Monday, today marked the Production Team's final day in Rivals. It's bizarre to think they've been my colleagues for 10 months now, but it feels like yesterday when we all walked it, picked a desk and set up our laptops down. I keep getting flashbacks to prep and driving to the offices through the snow while we all navigated our new roles. Fast forward to now and we're all better people, more confident in our own skin and in our abilities. I passed on my wrap gifts and cards to everyone and only made a few people well up with my words. We packed down the offices, swept everything off our desks and left it just as we found it - as if nothing ever happened.

Lot of good memories on this job, that office will forever home a lot of happy thoughts and good vibes. Come Monday a part of me will miss it greatly.

Slap Up Meal

I was about 45 minutes into a big drive first thing this morning when I suddenly realized I forgot to eat breakfast. Thankfully it was our Production Team lunch this afternoon, and since I had been inadvertently fasting I was ready to gorge myself. Scallops, calamari, focaccia, gnocchi, arachini, limonchello and affogato, we had a banquet! So much so I don't think I'll need breakfast tomorrow now!

One last push for the wrap in the show tomorrow. I'll be driving up and around London all day doing returns, hopefully I won't miss any of the good vibes, but deep down I'm glad I won't be around to pack down the kitchen.

Hand Double

Forgot how ropey an early wake up call was, but that's the magic of working in TV. It was our one and only pick up day, most of the crew were called in for one last rodeo up in a regular location of ours and it felt like coming home. They added in an extra scene too which they required a hand double for so I dove in front of camera once again to save the day to the amusement of my team. That really, really was a full on wrap on Rivals now and it went out with a fun little shoot day.

Accustomed to Customs

There's just a few big jobs left to do in the office, arranging this international freight courier has been the bane if my life recently though. Valuing every individual item, gathering insurance quotes and filling out customs paperwork is miles out of my wheelhouse but I forced myself to sort it all out today and I feel so much better now. The rest of the afternoon was all about getting the final, final day of filming all prepped and ready. I'm going to be doing one more big, nasty early morning and after that I'll be Scott free.

Chonky Tiger

With precious few days left on this job it suddenly dawned on me just how much I have to do before I can put my out of office on for good. Most irritatingly I have a consignment of personal belongings that need to head back to America on behalf of a cast member. Because they own a lot of expensive goods we need to get insurance out for them too, and that means itemizing everything they have in their various suitcases. The most hilarious thing we found was a rhinestone clutch handbag in the shape of a chubby tiger. At least it was the funniest thing until it flew out of the suitcase as I attempted to pack it, flinging itself at full force right at my laptop screen... so now there's a big chink in my device that likely means I'll have to replace the screen. What's an already stressful Monday without a little something more?

State of Sunday

My first and only full weekend day was a hoot. Depending on your state of mind it could have looked like a lot of false starts, Rebecca and I drove up to Cribbs Causeway with a long list of things to get, but we mostly left empty handed. We had a similar experience at IKEA as well, leaving there having spent more on meatballs than furniture. At least it was fun to hang out and take it easy - ready for the final push and last week of work.

Hanging up the Cape

 The original plan for this Saturday was to do some light gardening and some socializing... but the universe has other plans. I got a call from my team as I woke up saying there had been an issue with on of the camera cards and they might need a big favor from me. 

I ended up going on a driving odyssey. Bristol to London, a handful of pit stops around the M25, then London to Cardiff, then driving back home. 7 and a half hours of driving later I got a pat on the back for my heroism as it sounds like I helped literally save the day. Plenty of time to do the gardening tomorrow after I've hung up my cape.

Bedside Manner Prepped

Rounded off my week with a big old drive back towards one of our sets, all to hand over a box. We also rounded up about 50 reams of coloured paper, loaded it into my van and passed it into a nearby primary school. They were bowled over by our kindness, we were just grateful to see the back of that paper!

Rebecca went out partying at a work due this evening and I've already promised to nurse her back to health tomorrow should she be in a bit of a state. Head in a toilet bowl and dosed up with paracetamol, that'll be her no doubt.

Car Parts and Broken Hearts

There's a heck of a lot of continuity notes on this job. I should know because I spent most of the morning individually uploading all of them. It kept me occupied at least until the mechanic came to repair my Line Producers car. The cost of which was in the red zone so I had to break that news to them over the phone, which they took in better graces than I expected. 

Mostly I was eager to finish work so I could finally see Louis and give him his presents for his Birthday. As Rachel pointed out, Bake Off starts next week so we'll be seeing plenty more of those guys.

A Fair Bit, or an Awful Lot

Like the Hydra, whenever I think I'm done with a tricky job it sprouts up a new, uglier head. I'm still in the process of getting my Line Producers car fixed, I had a phonecall with a mechanic who fed me the classic line: 'It'll either cost you a fair bit, or an awful lot... depending on the problem.' For my sake I hope it's the former. Up next I have been embroiled into sending a member of cast's stuff back overseas so I'm dealing with international freight. But because there's a lot of jewelry and designer clothing inside we may need an insurance broker to help us out. Monday seemed like such an easy day but this has all been dumped on our laps like baby Moses.

Postage and Packaging

There was a point today after I packaged up the 34th wrap gift for postage that I decided I was slightly over this. I'm halfway through my wrap period and I curiously feel like I haven't done very much to strike the show. Getting everything posted off will be a massive weight off our shoulders though so fingers crossed we get that all sorted very soon. Otherwise I'm still dealing with our Line Producers car and a few other niggling little jobs that keep pulling me away from what's actually important.

But what's obviously most important is time with friends. I took flight to Chance and Counters once again to spend time with Matt while he's still kicking back in Bristol. He's our little board game rising star - we're gradually bringing him into the fold of more heavyweight titles so we can play some meatier games with him. For now though, we're just hanging. And in spite of having a fairly meh day, my mood instantly brighter when I saw his face.

Slabs 4 Sale

Early doors I was saddled up with a fairly innocuous job: moving a few crew cars to different spots in our car park. It was meant to be easy but Monday's like misery, loves company. My boss's car has a faulty electronic handbrake so not only couldn't we move it, but I've been embroiled in arranging a mechanic to come and fix the issue. That was the last thing I needed on a day that turned out to already be fairly busy. I'm still on the wrap gift postage work train but I'm also trying to wrangle lost and found and a few other odd jobs, I have time to do it all but I could do without the surprises.

I managed to offload the remaining paving slabs we had in our possession since yesterday too. The Facebook marketplace really is the place to be for stuff like this, a lady quickly got in touch with me about them and said it'd take her a few round trips in her car to collect all of them. Feeling oddly chipper I elected to drive them over to her too and give her a hand unloading them. She was so incredibly grateful for that, I was kinda bowled over by how happy she was. I left the slabs with her and she said I've restored her faith in humanity. I laughed at that quip, but her eyes stayed serious. 'I really mean that' she added in a way that suggested that she'd been through the wars. Anything to help out is my mantra, we're all in it together, might as well aid one another.

Slabs upon Slabs

Broke out the pots and pans to cook our house guests an (almost) full English breakfast. For our troubles cooking, Rebecca's parents agreed to do the washing up for us, all the whole I played Guitar Hero in the next room like a teenage degenerate, but hey, it's Sunday so I can do what I want. Rebecca snaffled up a Facebook marketplace deal for a wedge of patio paving slabs - 40 of them for free! Good thing I had my van because Rebecca's suspension wouldn't have handled the weight, or the filth of the slabs. Once they were collected it was time to kick back and take it easy. Feels like the first afternoon we've had to ourselves in months, I feel supercharged as a result, but even still I could do without the Monday tomorrow.

Free Cake

Split my Saturday with 3 social groups:

First up was my parents. I took the trip to Newbury to spend the morning hanging out with them and getting a haircut. It won't be til next month I see them now so it was good to get some hugs in while I could.

Then I zoomed back to Bristol to see Chris and a lot of very old school friends at a board game cafe. Remarkably a lot of them haven't changed a jot, but I did rekindle a friendship with an especially old chum who lives in Bristol; future hangouts abound!

Last up was Rebecca's parents for an evening meal. They wanted to treat me for a birthday thing so we went into our favourite curry place. Just as we were about to pay the bill the owner came to check on our meal and casually asked if it was anyone's birthday. Rebecca extended a finger towards me, explaining that it was a belated birthday meal. 2 minutes later the restaurant announced to all the guests it was my birthday and here comes the cake. So I was suitably embarrassed but Rebecca was in stitches, got a free cake out of it some I was laughing too.

Ahh Champagne

 The lion's share of the day was spent in front on our photocopier. A bunch of different departments needed their handwritten notes digitized for our records so I was scanning bits and bobs ad infinitum it felt like. Still, I had the updraft of the weekend carrying me through it all and I'm walking into Monday with a clean to do list. No doubt that'll get repopulated very quickly but for now I can rest easy. 

Rebecca's folks are round visiting at the moment to celebrate my Birthday last weekend. We opened a bottle of Tattinger champagne, remarked on how delicious it was, then all got far too drunk far too quickly on it! Thanks to my old Line Producer for buying that for me as a wrap gift!

Everything in its Right Place

The mighty office pack down continues! It's funny how much if a difference unpinning all of the cast headshots makes on our area, slowly but surely I'm striking everything we've accumulated over the past 10 months. I think we've found some other productions who are in the market for all of our leftover stationary, I'd rather they take it than me finding a 'good home' for 30 reams of coloured paper. I'll miss my team once this one is all over. We've all really clicked, we're all pros who knows how to have a good laugh. If the planets align and we share another office space again I'd be chuffed as anything.

NQ64

It's hit that point in wrap where my 'Outgoing Post's tray starts bulging. Old wrap gifts, leftover kit and personal belongings all needed shipping out to people all over. I just wish that Royal Mail had a loyalty scheme. The whole day the team and I were dreaming of our little work social out in town. A new place opened up as an adult arcade center, they had emulators, Street Fighter, House of the Dead and best of all Guitar Hero. At last, my youth didn't feel so misspent... if anything I should have whittled away more hours on a plastic guitar because there was someone there who was showing me up! Now the job is winding down we're trying to spend as much time as possible hanging out and I'm all for that.

Prepping the Pack Down

Back in the office and I'm unsure where the day went, but I'm glad it went quickly! I was driving up and around the place for most of the morning before settling into one of the first ever team zoom chats to discuss wrap plans. I mostly just need to keep on going in terms of putting everything in boxes, I need to help out a bit with our sustainability records so we can report it all to Albert. It's almost too docile in the office right now though, I'm feeling sleepy by lunchtime, though maybe it's just my body entering rest mode now that the pace has let up a bit? Tomorrow I'm forcing myself to crunch through some heavy lifting so we can break the back of the pack down.

Slice of Office Cake

Back in the office for a few weeks of wrapping up now. The office itself was chokka with crud we'd accumulated over the months so it's down to mostly me to re-home everything. While there's still work to be done, the pace has thankfully relinquished significantly, I had time to breathe and take it easy while also chipping away at the bigger picture. What was really nice though is that everyone remembered my Birthday! A cake, card and present was all produced as everyone sung happy birthday. More embarrassing than usual waiting for the singing to end, but in a good way - I never know where to look then or how to act but I was hugely grateful for all the thought they put into it.

Happy 30th Birthday Me!

 Dan stayed over at our after the fun and games of last night so we woke up late and played video games together like a sleepover from my teenage years. We picked up a hardcore martial arts game called Sifu and passed the controller around each time we died, the game has a unique aging mechanic that seemed oddly appropriate considering I just passed another milestone.

A lot of messages in my Birthday cards make reference to all the things I accomplished in my 20's. On initial reflection, that age seemed like a decade characterized by false starts. Being let go from my first real job and wallowing around in my flat hoping for the better times to come is the mental picture I often draw of myself for the last ten years. In reality, it was an honest period of growth: graduating university, buying a house and getting into high end TV. My 20's have had a handful of lows but they tempered me and made me all the more grateful of where I am today. 

I've had a wonderful Birthday weekend, now I just have to take my first steps into my 30's.

Rebecca's Surprise

Luckily, I only had a few beers last night. The culmination of three back to back 2nd unit days, a late party night and a spot of drinking resulted in a splitting headache this morning. Some coffee and painkillers set me up though before I marched into town for Rebecca's mystery Birthday activity. I had a good guess at what it might be and my hunch was right! A private cinema screening of the Truman Show just for me and my closest friends. Rebecca did such an amazing job of organizing the event, such a joy to see that film projected so beautifully in such an intimate space. We all then hit a few puns and grabbed some burgers together, basically we all just hung out for most of the day. Feeling very lucky to have such great friends.

Rivals - That's a Wrap

 And so, the culmination of 6 months of shooting has come to a close. Rivals has wrapped (in the UK at least). I was running around making sure the second unit ran without a hitch, all while dealing with the various wrap requirements as they trickled in. I said my final goodbyes to the crew and all the friends I had met along the way. It's crazy to think that by Monday most of the people will have moved onto other jobs while this one has meant the world to me. The crew have been my pseudo family for half a year and now they're all scattered to the wind. We shared a wrap party and many kind words together but I'm already having difficulty processing not having them around the next day.

While I'm not quite done with this job, I already miss the people that made it worth coming to work each morning.

Read In

 The penultimate day on the shoot and I was once again the Production rep for the 2nd Unit. I became a Swiss army man, wrangling pizzas, cast flowers and even read in during a take for eye lines. I gotta say, I forgot how much I like being on set, it's been a good long while since I've really had a few good back to back days down there but I'm becoming increasingly chummy with the crew - the camera department even involved me in their cold drinks run! I was touched!

One more day tomorrow and it's a logical beast for me. Early start and a wrap party to cap it all off and not enough sleep in between. What could possibly go wrong?

Ice Cream Hero

On two hands I could count the number of years I haven't been stung by stinging nettles. Somehow today I got hit three times while wrangling kit around our 2nd unit in the fields of the Cotswolds. There were worse places to be today, and the view from my shoes was pretty lush. I also donned many a hat, Production, Scripting and ADing all at a moments notice. One chap remarked 'They're getting their money's worth out of you Theo'... By golly they certainly are. I was elevated to hero status once I dashed out for a big old soft drink and ice cream run which landed at the perfect moment of the day. Just got to keep the fun train running with a handful more 2nd units before we finish up for good.

Stepping off the Truck

Approaching the homestretch now on this job. I wrapped myself out of my beloved Production Truck this evening seeing as I'll be tending to 2nd units for the remainder of the shoot. I've been so manically busy getting things ready for the final three days that I haven't really had a moment to stop and think about the end of things - i'll just keep on trucking until my train reaches it's last station before getting sentimental.

Scramble After Sunday

 Still buzzing off a easy-going weekend I drove into work with a skip in my step. It was the final week after all and I wanted to make the very best of it. Around lunchtime though a war room chat was called with all the top dogs and slowly everything became unraveled before my very eyes. Virtually the entire week changed which inadvertently added to everyone's workload (mine included), but it also had some ramifications about my favourite topic: 2nd units. Basically instead of a nice studio week, I'll now be up and around Bristol trying to get stuff in the can. This made me a little grumpy as final weekes are often chaotic enough for Production, I'm really going to have to scramble to do everything now.

Tiramisu Try-Hard

We had a plus one on our regular trip to the Tobacco Factory Market: a very lost Spanish Lady! She stopped to ask us for directions so we just said "follow us for a bit, then after we leave you, just keep in going up this road'. 20 minutes later we spotted her ahead of us asking more people for directions... Rebecca and I just hid in a few independent design shops until the coast was clear, we didn't want to look like we were being helicopter parents to a stranger.

I put in my metaphorical apron this afternoon to whip up another batch of my set-famous tiramisu. The last load I made was atrocious, but still went down remarkably well. This time I knew where I went wrong and spent the time to make the perfect batch and wow, this lot is miles better. Rather embarrassingly though I underestimated how many sponge fingers I'd be needing so Rebecca very graciously scooped out all the shops that were still open in a Sunday evening and returned with a post office Madera cake. I sliced it up, dried it out a little in the oven and soaked it up like usual. The results were almost identical - certainly good enough for my purposes! Hope my team likes them. One final present as we go into our final week of filming!

Scrapper

This was the first Saturday in recent memory where it felt like I didn't wake up with that signiture exhaustion hangover. I whipped up porridge while feeling fresh as a daisy, even Rebecca noticed the difference in my demeanour. We made the most of a slopey Saturday, doing errands at first but then migrated towards chillaxing. For National Cinema day we booked a pair of cheap seats to see Scrapper, the latest British Indie darling that is worthy of most of the praise it's received. It does try to have some cake and eat it though when it comes to tone, it carries a cineme verite quality for the most part but every now and then it tries to do something a little stylish, evocative of a young Danny Boyle or Edgar Wright flick. Sometimes these work well, but more often than not they provide tonal whiplash, making it tricky to emotionally fall back into step when the scene changes mood. That's my only gripe though, otherwise it's solid 'Best of British' film which is exactly as long as it needs to be.

Flower Fella

With plenty of cast finishing their time on the show, I've become the resident flower giver once they fully wrap. When walking past with a bouquet every single crew member says 'Naww you shouldn't have', such a woefully unfunny joke and I get to live it multiple times a day. The unintended side effect is that I get to spend more time on set by playing the 'I'm the flower hand over guy' so I sat behind the monitors again to help out. We splintered off a fair bit so I had plenty of chances to shine by myself and be useful to the team. 

And so, my 6 day week full of night work, overtime and 2nd units has come to a close. I get a full 2 day weekend and I'm gonna use it to the fullest.

Atop the Throne

 Sat on a toilet for most of the afternoon...

We were shooting a scene in a nearby master bedroom so the adjoining en suite was the best place for us to park up. We were a chair down so I sat on a toilet with the lid on, much to the crew's and Producer's delight. No one was overly thrilled about going into camera overtime after 11pm though, it's going to feel more like a power nap than a full on kip tonight. Still, just one more day of this 6 day week, then a whole 2 days off!