The Clink Blogs...Continuous

I think I have like 5 blogs. I only use 1 and sometimes not even that! But over the next couple weeks I’ll use this as my film blog. I always wanted to keep a film dairy ala Hitchcock, “and then I said, ‘stop bitching Leigh and get in that shower before I taxidermy you!’”

Next weekend I start filming my second internet series “The Clink” (theclink.net). We learned a lot on the first one “The League” (theleaguetv.com) and hopefully won’t make the same mistakes. Instead we’ll make totally different ones! One of the biggest things I learned was to try and do the WHOLE series at once. Film everything together and be done with it. Tim will tell if that works out but we do have a rigorous schedule starting Sunday August 15th.

I have been in the process of building props (and amazing myself at the same time). The electric chair turned out really well. I used a picture I found on line and just built it (with wood I found in someone’s trash). It comes apart easily for transporting and future storage. I’m very happy with how it turned out.

I also built a “two way,” for the episode tiled, “The Two Way.” It is a piece of Plexiglas Jim Burns (producer & playing the part of “Quint”) found in the trash behind a school in his neighborhood. SCORE! The whole piece pops on to a fold up table. It’s sturdy and looks really good, down to the “A” carved in the glass, no doubt by some rebellious schoolboy who will turn his love for “anarchy” into acceptance and a future in a cubical. Go you! So these items didn’t require much in the way of budget (which is good seeing as the prison outfits were upwards of $300)

So last night Joel (co-director & editor extraordinaire) and I went to Lowe’s to pick up the materials needed to build the cell. We thought we had a real cell, which never panned out and just recently found out we might have access to a cell like horse stable, but decided to forge ahead with our newly devised plan. So we loaded up a borrowed pick up truck and headed back to my workshop (aka home).

I live on a windy road. Picture the road from “the Shining” and you’re not far off.

We were heading down the windy hill, right past the road that houses the Church where I got married. All of a sudden the truck pulls hard to the left (my side as the passenger). The front passenger side dips down as if we’ve run off the road. However I know this road and the embankment is about the same as the road so this shouldn’t happen. Joel calmly pulls to the left and applies the brakes. We come to a stop and see a wheel on our left hand side continue into a parking lot. What the what???

We come to a stop and assess what’s happened (and our underwear).

What we surmise is the entire wheel broke from the car (not something that you EVER want to happen when you’re in motion). We laughed about it and waited for Joel’s brother-in-law Dennis (whose truck this was) to show up. Dennis works on cars/trucks so we figure he’ll fix it. We’ll sit around and wait.

I actually walked home, got my car (and some lukewarm waters as it was about 90 out even at 10:00 pm) and came back to load all of the wood into it. I was surprised that it all fit in one trip which means I didn’t need the truck in the first place. But then it hit me. We were SO LUCKY!

This could have happened on the highway and likely seen us in A LOT of trouble. It could have happened as we went into the turn as opposed to coming out of it, which more than likely would have caused us to flip (did I mention I was not wearing a seat belt because I was holding a trash can in the cab and could reach my belt?) This could have happened next week while we were driving to film. Or it could have happened to Dennis or any other people who use this truck on a regular basis.

Someone could have gotten seriously hurt or even killed. Weird.

So what do I take from all of this? That the universe REALLY wants “The Clink” to happen. It may throw an obstacle or two in the middle of the road, but it’s just to see how we’ll react. Especially if that obstacle in the middle of the road happens to be the vehicle we’re driving in.

PS, this is my 69th blog here!