On the set of Wildseed's 'Marijana' shoot

Marijana is a comedy pilot in production with Wildseed Studios.

I was fortunate enough to be a runner during many of the filming days, working alongside our director Andy Mosse, and winner of the Funny Women award 2012: Gabby Best playing the titular character.

Filming lasted a little over a week, the focus of Friday’s shoot was to get some ‘vox-pops’ of Gabby with random members of the public. Hilarity and public awkwardness ensued as Gabby asked passers by to ‘Stop and smell the flowers’ as she, herself posed as an over-grown sunflower; Marijana’s ‘casual’ clothes simply were not outrageous enough. Gabby threw on her signature Eastern European accent (which never ceased to amuse) and just started shouting bizarrely phrased life advice. It really was a sight to behold.

Marijana offering people a whiff of her wisdom

Andy knows two very important things as a director: Where the funny lies in a scene and where the best place to eat in Bristol is - both of his talents were put to very good use and were pivotal throughout the week. Lunch was the ultimate morale boost, we were treated to a home-made toasted wrap and a brownie so delicious it made us regret that we had but one life to live. 
 

The energy on the shoot was exceptionally positive. Gabby and Andy’s comedic fusion was a force to be reckoned with, every gag was a wrecking ball to the funny bone and holding in our laughter to avoid spoiling a take became almost impossible. Our trainee producer, Mark Stopher, once again proved that he had the versatility of a Swiss Army Knife. Simultaneously managing to record Gabby’s sound and book a London look-alike cab, all while dressed up like a hippy Peter Pan for his brief cameo as ‘Gary the nonplussed sound guy’.

Mark Stopher taking one for the team

Between scenes we piled into Mark’s little car, seemingly in perfect harmony with the on and off weather. Whenever the rain appeared to develop overhead we quickly finished our take to sit under some shelter. These breaks allowed us to carefully plan what we had to do next and ensured that we were ready to roll the second the skies cleared with a near military precision.

Obligatory team selfie

Friday’s street shooting continued with the efficiency of production from earlier on in the week. Monday through to Wednesday we were based inside the late Bristol Pilates Studio where Marijana taught a selection of ‘London’s most miserable and unattractive people’ to come to terms with their existence through unorthodox methods. These ranged from woefully unsafe trust exercises to trying eastern European foods which looked about inviting as a bowl of cow snot.

Marijana presenting her unique take on lunch

Although our location was effectively abandoned, in a just a few hours we adorned the walls with muslin cloth and tacky Buddhist scrolls to create Marijana's wacky enlightenment centre. This was expertly organised by Anna Vergano, and our Art Director, Sarah. Intentionally designed for someone who liked the idea of yoga, but has never actually done it - our venue became a natural extension of the Marijana character, even hosting it's own awkwardly named 'Garden of Intimacy'.
 

In order to capture all of Marijana’s shenanigans with the highest of visual fidelity, Wildseed used VMI to hire a C300 camera - the same bit of kit used to film Drew Casson’s ‘Hungerford.’ Additional attention to production value was also achieved through expert use of studio lights. Once armed with a handful of 2k blondes and some reflector boards our tech hand Kris Griffin transformed our derelict venue into a veritable wonderland where the concept of day and night no longer held meaning.

Wildseed’s Creative Director Jesse Cleverly dropped by a handful of times to provide some pitch perfect line suggestions and to inspect the quality of coffee on offer to the crew. I believe it was up to the Cleverly standard. 

I tried my best to keep the three C's going: Compulsory Cleverly Cafetiere

When filming was wrapped inside the pilates studio, Miles Bullough came down to assist in the packing away of kit and check that all was well with the crew. There is just something wholesomely re-assuring about our Managing Directors presence. When you see Miles' smile something deep inside of you just knows that even though the day's filming was rough, everything will work out in the end.

Filming lost none of its humor or momentum by the end of the week thanks to Andy’s patient and calculating direction and Gabby’s natural ability to maintain high morale. This woman radiates good vibes and was a genuine pleasure to work with. In fact, it was actually rather sad to know that filming was complete. 

Something that is seldom noted in the production of films are the strong friendships people create with one another. While our time as a team is fleeting, the memories of working with other like-minded people stays prevalent in the mind long after the final take has been shot.
  
Theo is a student at Bournemouth University studying Television Production. He has previously worked with Wildseed as a runner on their 'Hungerford' shoots. He writes daily blogs, which can be found on his site here: http://cafe-studios.blogspot.com