Shooting the "Spirit of 76"

I met Jace McLean shooting my first student film at NYU, and we've been buddies pretty much ever since.

Jace moved to LA last summer but wouldn't tell anyone he was an actor. In the meantime he wrote a feature length screenplay, put the money together for it, and we shot it. Now he won't tell anyone he made it -- wrote, starred, co-directed and co-produced it. Either he's crazy or I am, and I don't really care which.

It was an 18-day shoot and I won't tell ya how much we did it for because I want you to think it was made for a million dollars. Never mind, I'll tell you. We shot it for a million dollars. How do you make a million dollar movie? Jace started with three distinct characters and stories and wrote them to be shot in our neighborhood. You cast actors who will kill for a part and then you make them commit homicide and come along with you on a pirate ship of a movie. You do the same for your AD, your DP, and yourself. Then you try to get some sleep. That amounts to one or two hours per day, so then you invest heavily in Rolling Rock and Costa Rican coffee beans. Pray that your girlfriend understands. If possible, cast her.

In all seriousness there was no preparing for this shoot (even though I worked on it for a month before it started) and no recovering from the heartbreak of it being over. There is no replacing the friends that are made and unmade making a movie. As a learning experience I would give it up for nothing.

Making movies is an excellent way to go for broke and end up with a hangover you feel good about.