20.08.06 Sunday Night
I'm sick to my stomach and can't sleep. I arrived back from the States yesterday with R6,000 and one air ticket to fly Susanna to Cape Town. There's no way I can make a film in 13 days time.
21.08.06 Monday
I need to recast the role of Dillard because I can't fly my friend, Gerard, to South Africa. I sent the script to Danny Keogh.
22.08.06 Tuesday
Theuns just agreed to drive 1,500kms to work on the film. What a relief and generous gesture. He's a phenomenal location/unit manager and standup guy.
Laurette Marais agreed to Production Manage this project. I can't believe that she has experience as a line producer on features and wants to do this little short. Wow. Things are looking better. But I still don't have the money and how do I tell Jonathan, the Production Designer, that I have nothing for art department?
30.08.06 Monday
Not a good day. My sound guy just withdrew from the project. He's tops and sound is absolutely critical for me since I won't be doing any ADR.
31.08.06 Thursday
I auditioned Susanna 3 years ago for another project which didn't work out. I haven't seen any recent photograph and we've only known each other for half an hour in total.
Her plane just landed and I'm anxiously sitting here wondering whether she put on 300kgs and shaved her head. Who knows.
What a relief when she walks through the terminal gates. She looks fabulous.
01.09.06 Friday
The costume fitting went well. Diana serves a wicked cappuccino and I met Danny Keogh for the first time. Diana found an absolutely stunning dress for Susanna. I'm very happy. Now I just need to find a sound guy.
02.09.06 Saturday
We're shooting today and I still don't have a sound guy! I want to focus on my storyboards, but need to resolve this quickly.
Between Laurette and myself we managed to find a sound person.
Jonathan has done a marvelous job with the location. The crew arrives and takes over the place.
I can't afford to run behind schedule. I'm a little concerned.
Gavin, who works at Wizardz Inc., has no acting experience and wants to pull out. More stress, but he shows courage and delivers beautifully.
04.09.06 Thursday
The 6PM-6AM is tough, but we're managing to get through everything without too many hitches. We only have a handful of lights and whenever a bulb blows, Mike, the cinematographer, curses because we can't afford replacements!
Blog Archive
About Me
- Gregg Watt
- New York City & Cape Town
- Gregg started his film career with a BFA in Film, Video and Animation from the Rhode Island School of Design. During his final year he received an Entertainment Weekly Magazine grant for “up and coming” filmmaker and used the money to produce an award winning documentary called Without Remorse which challenges every preconception of post-apartheid South Africa. Gregg returned to South Africa in 2001 and established an actors studio that provided an experimental workshop environment for over 30 professional actors. The highlight of this initiative included workshops by accomplished actors and directors that included Juliette Binoche, John Boorman and Steven Berkoff. Gregg also organized a filmmaking event with Rutger Hauer for over 40 local filmmakers. He completed a number of short films, receiving awards in America and enjoying screenings at festivals around the world including the Hollywood Film Festival, Mexico’s Expression en Corto, Milan, London, Maryland, Rochester, Phoenix, and DC amongst others. MNET, who distributed The Dashing Diner across Africa, described Gregg as “arguably one of South Africa’s best film directors”.