Auf Wiedersehen Chunky

Took my big, stupid car out for one last spin. Put 2000 miles on the clock before I'm due to hand it back, somewhere around mile 1001 I think I grew an attachment to it. 'Chunky' was the name I rudely dubbed it on my parking app, though it is big and stupid, it's certainly a robust car that I'll be sad to see go tomorrow. I'm due for my next hire car within a week though so I won't be too heartbroken.

Rebecca returned from London this afternoon, and thus, the two of us were properly reunited after the nearly three month stint apart, minus so flying visits. It already so nice to have my best friend by my side again, having someone next to me while I sleep again might take a ment to get used to but it's one of life's most wholesome pleasures.

Pro(?) Painter

Slept in until much later than I was expecting today - guess 2 months of late(ish) night has finally caught up with me. Even after breakfast I found myself trying to doze off on the sofa. But I had stuff to do! I began unpacking all my gubbins so Rebecca wouldn't have a heart attack when she returned from London. I was shocked just how much stuff I came back with, mostly foodie bits from everyone which I'm still noshing away on. Thankfully, I got to share some snacks with Mum and dad who popped down to Bristol to paint Louis' house. Some some sort of 90's degenerate, I provided Monster Munch and moral support from a seated position. Only towards the end of their stay did I pick up a brush and start helping, contributing roughly 1% to the overall effort, but it was nice to get involved at least.  

Farewell Hartland

Cleared out my cottage very slowly this morning and said my final in-person goodbyes to my Production Coordinator and the Locations Assistant. I took one last drive up to Hartland Quay just to look around once more. I remembered sharing fish and chips with the production team on our second night, I remembered heading there first day the pubs re-opened and I remembered all the times we visited in-between just to marvel at the landscape. I didn't want to leave. I knew that would make the farewell feel real. But there was nothing left for me there, just the memories, all of which made me smile and think about how grateful I am for the opportunity I got. I bought a tiny, tasteful little thing from the gift shop, strapped on my seatbelt and hit the road. Waving goodbye to the Abbey as I passed. Once I got home I took stock of all the wrap gifts I got. Mostly bottles of wine and champagne with some well-wishes attached - including one gift from the Lord and Lady of Hartland Abbey(!) Just a few more days working on this job - while it's lovely to work from home, I'll miss the bustle and good company in our Production Trailer. End of an era vibes for sure.

Cottage Nostalgia

Had one last meeting with the core production team to discuss our wrap agenda, then we disbanded and said our farewells. Shook hands with my Line Producer and the Production Secretary, today is the last day I'll see them so it was a heartfelt goodbye. The cottage is feeling momore bare by the hour as I pack things away into my car. 10am tomorrow is the kickout time but I'm already looking around the house as if its the last time. Feeling deeply nostalgic already for everything that's come before. I always remember Louis taking the stance that nostalgia is a purely negative emotion. In several ways I agree with him - it just leads to heartache down the line if you surrender yourself to it. Right now I'm in the sweet spot where I'm moping a bit because the shoot is over, but I'm ready to head home and be with Rebecca and Bristol again. With the restrictions easing up to I'm very much looking forward to a much more social Summer.

Manifest

My boss treated me to a lie in today - got a few more hours shut eye before heading into work for a very sad little de rig. We stripped out our production office truck and sent back all the stationary. Worst of all, I had to confidential waste all the cast scripts. In prep, that was my biggest job, printing them all off and getting them ready - spent hours doing them. Fitting then that I got to chuck them all in the bin afterwards. A more emotional person would percieve that as wasted time... I guess I am an emotional person.

Afterwards I had a bunch of couriers to Canada to help arrange, specifically I had to type up a handful of manifests for Art Department - a job that arguably landed on my lap a little late in the day but I've always been known for pulling things out the bag last minute. The evening was spent playing board games with a man down. Matt Winlow has already driven himself home for a well-deserved break before he flies off to Canada. My cottage is all the lonelier as a result, missing his company a lot already.

Malory Towers UK - That's A Wrap

 I've become somewhat renowned for two things on this shoot. My coffee brewing and my way with words. Turns out the later almost made my colleagues cry as they opened up my wrap gifts to them. They were so we thrilled with all the bits I got from them and I too walked away with a metric ton of wine and champagne from my distant admirers. It was our last filming day today, I was on set as our first called 'That's a Wrap' and it was oddly emotional. To see it all from the start to now is such a weird feeling. I was also in charge of giving out everyone's crew wrap gift: a bespoke picnic blanket. So many people cane up to me afterwards complimenting me on them - in reality it was a group effort but I'm glad the crew enjoyed them so much.

Wrap Gift Déjà Vu

We celebrated the Birthday of our Production Secretary in style today. Bunting and balloons around the office, plus cake and presents - she kept saying what a lovely day it was.

I getting déjà vu today in that I was sorting out all the wrap gifts for the crew. I spent weeks arranging everything on my last job and slowly but surely this is also beginning to look like a bit of a mission. Tomorrow is our last day too and it could well be my busiest. I set out an itiniary for myself before I left the truck so I'm ready to rumble first thing tomorrow. One more day - let's do it!

The Mind

 That's the crazy thing about my industry. We work 12 hour days, yet the time passes in a flash! I honestly don't know where this Monday went, in between post office runs, wrap planning and day-to-day tasks, it just went so quickly. One of my close colleagues has their Birthday tomorrow so I spent a bit of time getting our portable office looking party-ready. With any luck she'll love it, we all shelled out for a great little birthday gift too which is currently hidden in my cottage wardrobe, we're all stoked to pass it into her. 

In the evening I was invited to a light board game night which ended up going a lot later than we'd all planned. No thanks to a game called The Mind which I recently introduced to my cohort and has gone down a treat.

Silly Dreams

Usually if I wake up at 10am that means I've had a nice lie in, but I slept so restlessly last night that I think I actually just needed the shut-eye to get my allotted hours of sleep. Bizarrely I was having anxiety dreams about something I thought I'd forgotten to do at work. I never full woke up though to address the problem though so I just woke up, worried, then went back to sleep, repeat. It was only hours later after I woke up a bit more fully around 4am I realized the thing I worried about didn't even exist. Not only wasn't it my department, the thing literally never happened, nor will happen. I was so ticked off when I noticed that, but the moment my brain called it out, I slept like a baby.

So I had a leisurely morning before driving back to Devon in the mid-afternoon. My goodness, the drive felt long today. Middle lane hoggers, broken down lorries in the middle of the road and long, unwarranted stretches of 40mph bit made a long journey feel endless. Once I got into my cottage though I felt like I was home. I've decompressed fully and I'm ready to hit tomorrow running. Fingers crossed I don't dream of anything stupid again.

Eurovision 2021

A spot of shopping started off my Saturday. I hit the high street to pick up a few 'thank you' gifts for my Production team. Found the perfect little cards too, just need to write a bespoke message in each of them and we're off to the races. Chilled this afternoon in preparation for a good old fashioned Eurovision night. Even after a one year hiatus, Louis, Rachel, Rebecca and I slipped effortlessly into our small-scale viewing party. Was a really fun year to watch this time around too, lot of genuine contenders and upsets that kept everything spicy. Best of all, Eurovision serves as a chance for me to get back in touch with an old Uni friend of mine - every time we chat it feels like no time has passed, they're the best kind of friends.

Crew Photo Chop 'n Swap

I'm fairy renowned in the office for my above-average Photoshop skills, so the job to superimpose people into our crew photo naturally landed on my desk. Had to chop in a director of ours, plus a standby props fellow - both pictures supplied to me were usable thankfully but they still looked a little odd in the crowd. Then I was tasked with removing the scissor lifts that take up a good chunk of the frame. I just stuck our logo in from of them and my colleagues thought it looked super. Everyone we gave the photos out to loved them though so I must have been doing something right.

Fancy Dining

Battled through the wind and the rain for most of the shooting day, luckily I was sat in our cosy production trailer but the wind shook us round and round. I found myself in an odd place really, not very busy for long stints, then super busy the next. Felt a little flustered by the day's end.

 In the evening the Producer took the Production Team out for a little thank you dinner at a high-end restaurant. Admittedly I felt a little out of my depth at first, I honestly don't know if I've even eaten a three course meal at a restaurant before but it was lovely. The conversation was great and the food was a winner too. We  actually ended up as the last group in the place so we started playing a dice game which got everyone howling with excitement. Guess us filming bunch are a rowdy lot.

Secret Spreadsheet

Don't mean to brag, but I made a banging spreadsheet today. I put a little bit of extra time into making it function really well, once I got the chance to share it with my teammates I was chuffed with it. Turned out to be super helpful though and the springboard of many a discussion. (Yes I am being coy about the contents of the document, its top secret at the moment). 

More and more jobs about wrapping up the shoot are beginning to land on my desk and it's starting to make me feel a little blue. Such a lovely crew, it's going to be sad to say farewell to everyone. That said, I've never been away from home for this long before and I can't wait to sesee my house, and more importantly, Rebecca again.

Thunderbolt and Lightning...

Claps of thunder started us off today, a bad omen for the day to come. I was out and about from the very get-go today, driving in the pouring rain for more umbrellas and travel sickness medicine. Getting back I saddled up with mybsound kit again for a hurried and ultimately unable piece of filming. Everything else went a bit weird today too, we had to shimmy around a lot if the scenes due to the rain and ended up writing someone out of some shots tomorrow. Production picked up the pieces where we could and I stayed back an hour (sweet, sweet overtime though). I'll rest easy tonight, hoping tomorrow is a little more straightforward.

147 Pints

At one point I though my day was pretty light, but when I stopped for a moment I realised I'd been run off my feet at some points. It all culminated with a mad rush to print off a hefty batch of script amends (regularily the bane of my life). A fresh bunch of them landed on my lap an hour before we wrapped. At the same time I was asked to hoover out one of our hire cars and do someone's petty cash form. It always snowballs at the day's end...

To celebrate the end of Monday, a tiny cluster of us went to go investigate the newly opened pubs in the area. It was an ironically sobering experience as I'd forgotten just how grungey some pubs can be, so much so we still elected to sit outside! Then my food was late, wrong and our drinks took ages too, wasn't even a busy night for them! Still, first day back I suppose. They say every UK adult needs to drink 147 pints this year to keep pubs aflot in this country. We'll, I did two tonight so we're off to an OK start.

A Short FIlm About Love

Though we all only got a single day off today, I think I used it to it's fullest. Watched A Short Film About Love after realizing that it has been a jolly long time since I'd watched a foreign language film. I've been on a steady Western-centric movie diet and this was a real breath of fresh air - it actually got me jazzed about films again which is a lovely feeling. We did a classic Sunday roast from our nearby pub and all sat round the fire chatting about what comes after this job. Everyone gets on so well with each other on this Production, to the point where most of us said when the next series is being filmed, we'd all love to come back. That's quite a rare thing from what I've heard. In the midst of it all a few of my teammates told me they think very highly of me, I never know what to say in instances like that but it does make me smile.

Honeycomb by the Honey wagon

Another working Saturday. Though the crew were tired and worn down there were a few perks to working today. An ice cream truck paid for by the execs arrived just as the sun came out. The crew very kindly let me go to the front if the queue to grab a scoop of honeycomb which was such a treat. Beyond that, the day was pretty light with plenty of opportunity to catch up on everything that fell between the cracks. I'm very much looking forward to having a lie in tomorrow though. No doubt my body clock will try and cajole me from under the sheets at 6:30... We'll see though.

Babies Don't Sleep This Well

Few tired faces around unit base first thing this morning. I personally woke up feeling sprightly, my energy levels waned as the hours went by. I did the 90 minute round trip into Barnstaple to fix someone's phone, get money out and to exchange a bunch of notes into coins for our launderette. After that I sat down at my desk and the day zipped by. I'm working again tomorrow so I'll have plenty of time to play catch up on all the bits I missed out on. 

We had one final low-key send off to our Canadian Director and DOP at everyone's favourite pub before turning in for an early night. I am going to sleep like a bloody log tonight I know.

Back 2 Sound

Dusted off my inner 'sound man', strapped on a boom pole, a mixer and I was off to the races. I stepped in to help with some digital content as a sound op along side my old chum Matt Winslow. Felt like Uni days producing short bits of content. 

We bid farewell to several of our Canadian crew members today, we'd grown very fond of them so it was immensely sad to see them go. My teammates did an amazing job organizing a wrap party of sorts for them in a small pub in the local area. We got it hired out privately and ended up drinking the night away, toasting our friends and even getting involved in a tiny bit of dancing.

Pink Shirt Day

Wednesday on set is 'wear pink' day. I asked Rebecca to bring down my only pink shirt (which I've worn a quarter dozen times) and it instilled a lot of confidence in me. I rocked up to set, hopped in the lunch queue and got a few choice looks, one of our unit drivers made a joke about how creased my shirt was! Probably because I haven't worn it in years. So, slightly put out I headed into the office and got asked to shuck a pomegranate for a colleagues' bowl of porridge. Odd request, but I was happy to oblige, I ended up squirting pomegranate juice all over my lovely shirt though, making it even pinker, but messier. Not a great start to the day.

Later in I was roped into being a background actor for a prop photograph. Got my five minutes of fame, plus the costume team saw my pink stains and offered to launder my shirt! What a dream, came back from set to an immaculate and pressed shirt - I wore it out with pride.

In the evening the production team got low-key invited to the cottage of the DOP and director for dinner. When we got there, there was candles, dipping oil for bread and deviled eggs already set out. We had cocktails and wine and ended up chatting for the whole night. In no other life could I imagine myself dining with such high up members of crew, yet there I was, as an equal, making them laugh with my stories about putting up my coffee shelf. Very special evening for sure.

Fun Supplier

Holy cow, talk about a busy Tuesday! We're shipping a hefty chunk of costumes back to Canada soon, unbeknownst be us though we had to fill in a pro forma to declare all the goods inside our package - this is something I'd never really done before and combing through government websites for  tariff codes was a learning experience - think we got it sorted in the end though! Afterwards I got to work on a bit on so e Covid spreadsheets of ours which were eye-openining at the least. Before I knew it the day had run away with itself! Even by Tuesday Production had been hit with a wrecking ball this week and the only antidote was a trip to the pub with a board game chaser. I'm silently priding myself on being the chap who supplies the 'fun' - Lord knows we need a bit of that sometimes.

Production Office Dweller

Later start today which was very much appreciated by myself and the rest of the crew. Hit the ground running with a big bowl of porridge and a vat of coffee - from there on out I don't actually remember where the morning went. Helped fix the printer at one point, only after getting pink ink pigments all over my jeans (they're on their way out anyhow so it's all good). After that it was printing out plenty more script amends in all the colours of the rainbow and dishing them all out to the cast. Our callsheet kept jumbling around a fair bit though which meant I stayed a little later than I had anticipated - it is what it is though and for a Monday, it certainly set the stage for the week to come.

Stony Scramble

Tied up a little bit of business first thing this morning by collecting and passing keys on for a big old van for a team-mate to drive tomorrow. Once I got that out of the way, I was back to enjoying my weekend fully with Rebecca. Our trip to the Quay was rained off yesterday so we made the journey down there to say we'd done it. The tide was really far out though so we got to poke around in some rock pools and scramble over huge piles of stones. I made it my mission to poke around inside a cave I spotted on the other side of the beach, had to do a fair bit of climbing and leaping (plus leaving my compatriots behind) but I got there in the end. 

Shortly after we got invited to a crew lunch at a nearby cottage, almost 20 people from our team turned up and it was so lovely to hang out with all of them outside of work. Rebecca and I tucked into a hefty roast dinner, plus a tiramisu which was ridiculously heavy. We shared a semi-romantic farewell, I bid Rebecca goodbye and told her over and over how grateful I was for her popping down to see little old me. Though I spent the rest of the afternoon playing rounders with the crew, I felt a little blue knowing that Rebecca wouldn't be by my side as I fall asleep tonight.

Gusty Hartland Hike

The pitter-patter of rain on our Air B&B skylight served as a gentle alarm clock to get me up this morning. It was raining all day in Hartland with gale force winds blowing periodically - perfect conditions for a coastal walk! Rebecca and I valiantly crossed cattle-fields, negotiated slippery rocks and hunkered down to avoid getting blown off cliff tops, all while enduring sideways rain that saturated our cloths before the halfway point of our hike. Spent the rest of the day wearing my pyjamas while letting my only pair of jeans dry out. Thankfully, they were nice and dry before our dinner guests popped round for a night of Pad Thai and board games. It was really lovely showing Rebecca to some of my close colleagues, everyone got on really well and it just felt so normal to be hanging out together.

1st AC A&E

We had a big double unit day today which meant twice the chances for things to go wrong. After spending some leisurely time on set I got a phone call from my Lone Producer asking me to rush our focus puller to A&E as he just got his thumb crushed by some filming equipment. Nearest hospital was a 48 minute driveaway so I hooved it down the windy roads of Devon to deliver my chap to the doctors. While I waited for them to do the X-rays, I hit the shops. I had a whole bunch of stuff to grab for a departing cast member, but I found time to grab some personal supplies too. New sunglasses and some fudge for the office which went down very well. 

Finishing up I was messaged frequently by Rebecca who was making the long drive to come visit. We went for drinks with the crew and retired to our adorable annex B&B. There's a mighty wind blowing right now and its starting to shake the walls. Its oddly calming though and I can't waitt sleep with Rebecca nextto me once again.

The Blackbird

Due to a bizarre set of circumstances, I got to step up to a hilariously high position today. Our script supervisor needed to make a scheduled phonecall with her GP so I volunteered to do her job for the duration. She gave me a crash course on the job and I was off and away. For the next 8 minutes and two slates, my role on a filmset had arguably never been so important. I timed shots, annotated a script and watched the monitors intensely. It was genuinely really exhilarating, once it was over I felt like I could do anything.

 

 Instead though, I went to fetch a bunch of lobsters for our main cast and exec producers. Hours later I realized I left the butter in my car too so I guess they enjoyed some dry crustacean... Actually that thought does make me snigger. After worm we headed to a nearby pub to watch the sunset. Driving back I hit a blackbird though and I kept thinking about it long into the evening. The people driving behindme said they saw it fly away afterwards but I can't help but feel incredibly guilty. I hate the fact that after I had such a lovely day, I ended the day for another living creature.  

Tricky Top 10

A few weeks back I was tasked with providing my 'Top 10 Films' list to our director in conversation. It wasn't until I actually sat down and tried to think of what films would occupy those spaces I realized how hard it was going to be. These days, only movies that give me an immediate gut reaction make it anywhere near that space, and the more I whittle it down to just ten movies I notice how many of them are hold-overs from my formative years. I believe I have a shortlist now but I wanted to do my classic mini-paragraph for each entry too. Might even share it on here once it's all done. That's honestly all that's occupied my brain today, the rest of the working day just passed me by.

Power Cut Cottage

No power in our cottage when we woke up. I wasn't too badly affected, but there was a brief scare once we realized all the bespoke meats we bought at the farmers market was slowly thawing out in our defunct freezer. My first job was to check the power, then to post a bunch of correspondence letter from my colleagues. Annoyingly once I got back from the post box, the big boss handed me a bunch of their letters to deliver, back out again... 

We all wanted to get out early today, but whenever things are looking clear nasty surprises start to crop up. Our Covid supervisor got shuffled around and the new one is a bit overwhelmed with all the moving parts so it fell to my team to sweep up some of the pieces. Left a bit later (get to charge a bit of overtime though) and found myself starving once I got back home. Pickings were slim, I haven't done a grocery shop in ages, thankfully a packet of spaghetti materialized and the evening was saved! Stuffed now and ready for bed for another busy one tomorrow no doubt.

Coughing in the Wind

 Back on the truck for the Bank Holiday and unsurprisingly, my to-do list was rather light. It was a good little gap day where I got to catch up on all the gubbins that fell by the way side. Only latterly I had to dash off for an emergency food shop for one our our self-isolating Canadians, I braved the appalling weather to bring her some ham and a microwave curry. Once back in our cottage my housemate said 'let's put the wood burner on.' We forgot just how windy it was so all the smoke blew right back into our home! Spent the last 20 minutes ventilating everything! We're chuckling now though... hopefully not because of the light smoke inhalation.

Most of A Sunday

Though we have only had one day off this weekend, we made full use of it. I whipped up some porridge and chattted with Rebecca while strolling around Devon which was super. A trip to the monthly Sunday market was next on the cards, there's talk of a BBQ soon so we got some burgers and venison sausage, plus some A+ cheese for Rebecca - but really it's a little present for the two of us. Then enjoyed a takeaway Sunday roast and earned a lot of favor points with my colleagues by making them all done espresso martinis. Walked off the booze with a lovely stroll round the local area while thinking about all the stuff I have to do tomorrow at work. Storm's a brewing. Or so they say... See how naff tomorrow turns out to be.

Cornwall Is Wrapped

Crikey, I'd forgotten just how slow working on a Saturday can be. Our Line Producer (usually the busiest guy on the team) was belly aching about being bored and asked us to get him a newspaper. My day was so slow, minus a crazy busy 2 hours in the afternoon after I learnt we had run out of water on set. I hooves it all the way to the closest supermarket (a 15 minute drive away), got there and realized I left my wallet on my desk! Gosh I was cross with myself. The request for water turned outto be a lot less urgent than we had anticipated thankfully, so I just got to luga shed load of water back up to Devon in my car. Cornwall is wrapped, last leg of the shoot should be easy breezy and very pleasant.

Flip Flop Friday

 Such an flip flop day. I had so little stuff to get on with I actually found myself giving my boss a lift into places of natural beauty. Then all of a sudden, everything was super urgent and last minute... Then it went right back to silence and being easy going. 

Though it's a bank holiday this weekend I will be working Saturday and Monday. We are all unbelievably stoked for our Sunday day off though. Farmer's Market is back in town and the Sunday roasts will flow like wine.