Sunday is All You Need

Everything suddenly stopped in my world. No whirlwind of errands to run, no driving to do, just a earnest day of rest and relaxation. I felt a little run down first thing after breakfast, but my body and spirit mended as the day went on. A video call with my family really picked me up, I haven't heard from Louis for a spell so it was good to hear how he was getting on. Tucking into various beers and chocolates from last week also served as a 'pick me up'. A single day off makes all the difference, and while I would be lying if I said I wouldn't want another day to sit in my pajamas, I'm just about ready to face Monday.  

An Abundance of Wrap Gifts

A gift bag was the first thing I saw on my desk today, and from there, the presents just kept coming. Costume and Makeup came round with goodie bags, a close colleague got me a new board game and the 2nd AD got me a very thoughtful book with a lovely inscription on the inside. Aside from a pair of filming days next weekend, for all intents and purposes, this was the last day the core team were all together and it was gently emotional. We've all shared so much time together over the past 6 months and forged strong relationships, its crazy to think we'll all be going our separate way very soon. I had lunch on the beach to mark the occasion, last time I was at the seaside was July... How time flies.

Production Break Up

I naively thought that after our screening yesterday things would get a little easier for me, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Lots of little bits that ao missed throughout the week started to catch up with me, I quashed a lot of them pretty fast but it felt like my list never got any smaller. What made today really hard though was knowing that today was the final day the full Production Team would be all together. We marked the occasion with a few board games, many of us were shattered from the night before so it was a cosy affair. Just feels strange saying goodbye to people after sitting next to them for almost 6 months. Hopefully our paths will cross once again down the line.

Theo, Theo

Lined up the order for 100 pizzas, bought £350 worth of party bits, sorted wrap gifts and hand-prepared some other wrap bits and pieces. That was my day. I said yesterday if everything went well it would look like my efforts were invisible, well I was delighted to get a little shout out. Our producer called me up to help out for something on the stage and a 'Theo, Theo' chant spontaneously erupted as I scrambled to get something ready. Felt very nice, I met up with a lot of the crew today after work just to shoot the breeze, though I'm just a member of the warm, cosy production team, I feel like the crew have really taken a shine to me and that makes me heart sing.

Ready Up for a Screening

Filled up on yogurt, fruit and coffee, sat at my makeshift desk and cracked on with my daily jobs. I'm scrambling to get a bunch of little things sorted for a little crew screening of the first few episodes. The order for 100 pizzas I mentioned yesterday we a bit of a worry for me initially, one place called up at midday to say they flat out couldn't do it, luckily we had our ace in the hole chirp up and we struck a deal shortly after. When I wasn't fretting about 100 pizzas I was logging and sorting out how to hand out the rather swish looking crew jackets we ordered in so they were ready to hand out tomorrow. Several additional jobs to get done tomorrow, but if all goes well my work will look invisible.

How Many Pizzas?

Sent off my CV to a few other Productions first thing today, some actually sound quite hopeful already which is good. My optimism kept me going through the day though. Kept me going through a lengthy phonecalls to a printer engineer, a Photoshop project and trying to source a big, fat catering request. Basically, I've been tasked with sourcing 100 pizzas on a fairly tight budget, we think we've got the place all booked in now but there's still a bunch of bits to iron out. All fun and games anyway.

Currently sat in my hotel room. I loaded myself up with a bunch of new games to play and I've already beaten all of them... Guess I'll find something else to occupy my time.

A Bit of Uncertainty

Rolled into our brand new production office: a big room somewhere backstage at the BIC. We all got a little lost trying to find our way around the place but we eventually got settled. Loads of my colleagues pointed out that the room had no windows, and its true it did screw up my perception of time somewhat - almost like coming out of the cinema.

Unfortunately I was hit with some sudden bad news around lunchtime today. The next job I was meant to be moving onto got postponed indefinitely. My Lone Producer called me up telling me that she was even more shocked than I probably was. Obviously this puts a big spanner in the works for the remainder of my year, I've already started shooting off my CV to a few places and I latterly got a few recommendations off other crew members to chase up. Its just insane how quickly everything changes, really hope I get something lined up soon.

Ticket to Bournemouth

The idea of doing a two hour plus drive lingered over me for most of the day. I got up in my own time but I never really felt settled until I was packed and ready to hit the road. Destination: Bournemouth. The final week of filming is peering over the horizon. All the crew have checked into a hotel together ready for the final stint. I arrived at the hotel apparently quite early, spent a fair amount of time playing games along in the hotel room. I stepped out to get some food and ended up having drinks and playing Ticket to Ride with a small crowd of familiar faces. If the week goes well hopefully every evening will be just as pleasant.

Belated Pancakes

At last, a day of rest. Felt so nice to get up at a leisurely pace and flop around on the sofa after such a busy week. Rebecca did some baking, I did some tasting, it was all very low energy and cosy. We did go out for a walk along The Northern Slopes in the rain which made for a nice change of scenery. At long last we managed to celebrate Pancake day too after putting it off for most of the week. I used up the last lemon on my tree to make a crepe suzette again this year, this time with a blob of vanilla ice cream which really made it sing. Plenty of leftover batter too, might have to double dip tomorrow morning, guess we'll see how we're feeling.

Bye Bye Production Truck

Worked my way back onto set to be a 3rd AD once again. Though we had a lot more cast to deal with, things flowed  in an easy breezey way. Shortly after I wrapped on set I hopped back in my big van and did a bunch of kit runs for various departments. Because we're losing our cute little production truck, everything needed to go somewhere so its been a mad scramble to get everything sorted. Was a little sad to see our office go, seeing the shelves and walls looking bare was a strange sight, reminded me of when we first got it and the weeks at the start if the shoot. We were different people them that's for sure.

 

 

 

Mark Riding Shotgun

For more than 10 years I've been bumming lifts off Mark in cars. Today was the first ever time that I got to drive him around - in a Luton van no less! Felt good, he seemed legitimately impressed too, I did gently mess up a reverse maneuver but I just styled it out (and gingerly asked the caterers to move their truck so I could squeeze by).

Im back on the floor as a 3rd AD again tomorrow (as officially reflected in the callsheet). I have a slightly better sense of what I need to do now so I should really hit the ground running. Its going to pour down again though... Every time I work on set it just chucks it down, guess I'm just bad luck.

3rd AD

Rocked up to set as a Floor Runner ready tomake some teas and do some rushing around. Instead I was quickly promoted to 3rd AD and was given a suite of responsibilities that were admittedly a bit new to me. I rose to the challenge though and the day itself was a bit of a trial by fire, rain, scene changes and going over by an hour were all part of the course. Best you can do then is keep you head held high and shouting out directions to the crew.

T Bone

A mini lie in marked the calm before the storm. I was out and about soon enough, gathering ratchet straps, gas cylinders and yet another van. Met up with a new camera team and loaded it up with some very expensive equipment, then drove down long windy roads for 35 minutes. All in a days work.

Tomorrow I'll be back on the floor as a Runner, leading the charge for the second unit. Feels like a lot is riding on tomorrow's shoot and to hype me up for it all I spotted our 2nd AD put me down as 'T Bone Durrant' - no doubt a little moral booster. It worked!

To the Tip!

Lotta drop offs today, spent most of my day driving around doing various errands. Most excitingly, I got to use the city tip which my taxes pay for. I lugged a broken side cabinet, a cinder block and a horrific amount of cardboard inti my car, queued for an hour then chucked it all away. No better feeling than leaving the tip with an empty car.

My lemon tree was looking like I needed to lose its lemons so I bagged some of them up and offered them round at work. With Pancake day coming up I figured people would get some use out of them. A novel gift too! Really hope my tree produces more lemons now...

Working Valentine

You know that infamous Roman battle technique, the one where all the shield bearers rally together and form a big shell. Well that was me today with umbrellas over our cast members. It was wet and windy as anything today and I was back on the floor for a chaotic neutral kind of day. Things went wrong, but we rolled with them, its all we can do really. Working on a Sunday didn't gel well with my body clock though, felt like I should have been swaddled up at home. When the day finally was over Rebecca surprised me with an adorable Valentine's day card. I'm so lucky to have some like Rebecca in my life.

The Florida Project

Though we got a gentle dusting of snow today the magic of the coldness has run its course. Rebecca and I spent our Saturday bundled up on the sofa, latterly we even lit a toasty fire to keep the chills at bay. We've been working through the latest Mario game as a team, Rebecca is delighted because Mario turns into a cat in this one...

I've been aching to watch a more modern movie recently, after pawing through my watchlist I remembered exactly the type of film I wanted to watch. The Florida Project was a rare treat, the kind of naturalistic and honest drama that only really exists within the indie film space. The characters felt like people, scenes played organically and the performances melted away into the fabric of the world. An all round winner as far as I'm concerned, if you've also been aching for a good movie to chew on with your mind this comes heartily recommended.

Load of Loading

With a little help from a colleague and her adorable Japanese van, we managed to finish packing down the office and shuttleing goods to another location. It was a real job well done actually, it all went much smoother and quicker than I expected and was a real load off my mind. Got back in time for lunch at base, there was a lot more food than usual going to waste today so we bagged up what we could in over a dozen pieces of Tupperware and donated it to a nearby food bank. 

All the while I was keeping a small eye on my phone, waiting for Rebecca to tell me whether my new game arrived in the post. Luckily it turned up just before getting home. So I cracked open a beer I'd been saving and settled into a gaming night with Rebecca. A well earned Friday respite.

Location Party

Continued dismantling our production office and came up with a nifty plan of attack after going through it with Mark. Looks like there'll be a fair amount of shuttling various bits and pieces tomorrow, though we did a good chunk today so we'll be laughing tomorrow. 

Mentally prepped myself for a long wait for the rushes tonight so I trudged out of our truck to sit somewhere with better Wi-Fi, in doing so I came across our locations teams having a little impromptu party. They invited me to hang out with them so I did just that. They lavished me with free pizza as a thank you for helping them out on an especially rough day just before Christmas. We chatted for almost two hours, just as everyone was putting their coats on to leave, I got the message that the rushes were ready. Well timed bonding session right there, really warm and surprising way to end my day.

Bidding Farewell to the Office

Headed back to our pre production office in order to do a bit of de-rigging and I found myself feeling oddly nostalgic. While tearing down old schedules and storyboards it felt strange to think back on where we were back in August for this job. Everything felt so abstract and far away then, even the thought of finishing soon felt like an eternity away. But now its rapidly approaching, and I'm storing it all away in cardboard boxes.

Trapped by Facilities

Feels like I spent the majority of my day driving to and from Wales. I always had something worthwhile to warrant each trip mind, though I got to flex my multitasking muscles in between trips by booking taxis and making calls whenever I parked up somewhere. Thankfully my car is warm too! My toes went numb sat in the truck so driving was a nice opportunity to get toasty again. Capping off the day was a quick trip into the middle of a deep, dark wood to collect the day's rushes. My timing  couldn't have been worse though because on my way back home I found myself trapped immediately behind the chaps driving our facilities trucks. I was stuck behind a convoy of mobile offices going 30mph across most of Wales, I just wanted to be home, undunder a duvet.

Tear Down The Wall!

Had a little chat with the neighbours and we agreed to tear down the boarders that divide us! By that I mean I ripped off part of the fence so the rendering experts could hop over the garden wall better to peek at the conjoining side of out house (this was all pre-agreed of course, no trespassing for us). The chap said the work was do-able and seemed a lot more trustworthy than some of the others, we're just waiting back on that all important quote before we sign off and await the chaos and disruption the work will inevitably bring. 

All the while I was making hire car arrangements and formatting our crew's hotel booklet for when we go down to Bournemouth. I reckon it looks pretty swish, the important info is easy to scrobble to which is a bit of a dark art in some circles. We tucked into the remained of our Chinese take away for dinner. While Rebecca made a valiant effort to re-heat everything, in reality she just made the serving dishes thermonuclear more than anything else. I also re-learnt the hollow truth that there's nothing sadder than a cold, three day old spring roll. What once was crisp was now worryingly soft...

Fasting From Friday

Reduced my food intake today to compensate for the mountains of nosh I've been tucking into recently. This fasting period has proven to be quite successful, my tummy feels less dense now, as bizarre as it sounds, I've almost forgotten what it feels like to be hungry recently so I'm looking forward to that emotion returning. Did sneak in a slice of Rebecca's Birthday cake though...

I stepped out into our garden for the first time since the Autumn today. With an old, dirty trowl in one hand and a bin-liner in the other I went out to scoop up all the cat poo adorning the lawn. It's a job I certainly haven't missed doing and now with the cold weather moving towards us it's become even less pleasurable. Still, it'll make things a lot nicer for the chaps coming to assess the rendering on our house, wheels are turning in that department and while it'll be a lot of work, it'll be a good job done on our home.

Happy Birthday Rebecca 2021

Woke Rebecca up on her Birthday with a cuddle and my presents - a rather fetching beret plus a chic, but heavy duty kitchen apron that she's had her eye on for a while. The apron was almost immediately put to good use, since we're effectively under house arrest there was no way I could make a sneaky cake without her knowing so we turned it into a team activity!

Good food ruled the day. In a nod to last years jaunt to The Nordic Cafe, we rustled up some smoked salmon, poached eggs and avocado to serve on pumpernickel style bread. Louis and Rachel swung by with their own cake to drop off (which was delicious!) Then we got a take-away from our favorite local Chinese place. I honesty think I need to detox after the last few days.

Wasn't just eating though. We headed out on a walk, watched Fargo at Rebecca's request and in the evening a group of her friends hopped on a video call to play some online games together. To my surprise we went right into the small hours of the night with smiles on our faces. Beacsue I'm a Birthday traditionalist, I even managed to sneak away, put a few candles in the cake we made together and produced it while singing happy Birthday in front of her friends. Though it was a lockdown party, we did everything we could to make it memorable. 

Super Size Me

First up, I'm happy to say that the job I interviewed for last week followed up with a phone-call today offering me the position. I'll be working on a new production shortly after my current one ends between the beginning of May to early January.

It was such good news it felt worthy of celebration... For the past week or so on of my co-workers was bigging up an infamous challenge he took part in recently. The rules are very simple, it's more of a test of will and endurance than anything else: eat 10 McDonald's Cheeseburgers. I've never been known to back away from quirky dares so I threw my hat into the ring and tucked into a mountain of heavily processed meat. Thirty minutes later it felt like I'd eaten 4 Christmas dinners... but the pile of burgers in front of me had been consumed. There was no glory in it though, only self-loathing and the sensation of having a lead-lined stomach that lingered for the duration of the day. It goes without saying, no matter how much you want to celebrate getting a new job, don't eat 10 nappy cheeseburgers.

Bournemouth Foodie

Though nobody issued me this particular task, I decided to construct a 'Good Grub in Bournemouth' handbook seeing as we're going to be down the for filming in a few days time. I've already called upon Dad and Jamie for additional suggestions and got a few winners already, that Korean place I went to over the Summer has been sufficiently hyped up and just relooking at their menu has gotten my mouth watering.

Belayed Christmas

Real 'work hard, play hard' attitude at work today. In between bouts of heavy spreadsheet editing, there was 5 minutes of hijinx. I even cracked out a Dobble and had a game with our Unit Manager to wake his brain up a bit. I got a rather sweet email for a co-worker regarding her hire car, she likes it so much she really wanted to buy it after the shoot ended. Sadly, the company weren't interested in selling it so I had to break the news to her. 

A parcel was waiting for me back at home, a bundle of all the Christmas presents my folks intended to give me over the holidays. There was lashings of preserved lemons, nougat and fudge-like tablet, plus a little book I've been wanting to get my hands on for far too long. The box was full of warmth, I've spent so long in the company of almost exclusively Rebecca I almost forgot I have more family, opening it up and unwrapping all the goodies made me feel closer to home.

Je Suis Negative

Good news. - I don't have Covid. Results came back negative for me and Rebecca so this household is fit and healthy. I continued making phone calls and equipment deliveries from the comfort of my own computer desk. Truth be told though, I'm pretty eager to get back into the action near set again and to fill my nostrils with the scent of our truck's diesel fumes. While I've been at home I've finally nailed my pour over coffee brewing technique - if they guys are lucky this week I may even share some of my good beans with them and treat 'em to a cup of the good stuff.

Swabbing The Decks

Though I was mentally ready for another day on the production truck, fate had other plans. Rebecca developed a very minor cough late yesterday and while we didn't want to read into it too deeply, the responsible thing to do was to book a NHS Covid test and work from home. Did the old tonsil and nose swab in Rebecca's car and felt a bit woolly in the mouth for the remainder of the day. Again, it feels like the chances of either of us contracting anything nasty are very slim, Rebecca is the one with what could be symptoms but shes doesn't leave the house much these days anyway. Fingers crossed we'll have a result tomorrow and we can put that worry to bed.