October 14, 2007

Here is the text of a letter I sent out to all the extras (along with the pictures we took of them the day we shot) updating them on where the project stands.…

Finally, an Indian Girl update! First off, a round of apologies go out to all of you – it has been way too long since I’ve provided updates either via e-mail or via the blog on the indiangirlmovie.com website.

In general, however, the project that we shot over a year ago (yes, it’s been that long!) has run into a number of delays, as independent film projects often do. I fully wish I would have been able to dig into editing the film right when I got back from Oklahoma last year, but instead, I had to focus my time and energy on teaching six college classes. When the Fall ’06 semester ended, I was able to focus on editing for a couple of weeks and ended up with a rough cut*.

Most of the time, once a rough cut is done, the process of finishing the project gets easier, with just some cleaning up to do. However, I discovered while doing the edit that the sound we recorded during filming had a lot of problems – problems that would take a lot more work to fix. Unfortunately, school intervened yet again as the Spring semester began, and my energy was focused on that once more.

Since then, Bridget and I have been doing various work to get the project done, but it hasn’t been easy. We had to have Yasmin (who played Miss Woods, one of the teachers) come up to New England to record some new dialogue, because when we recorded it last year, there was an air conditioner running the background. It may not seem like much, but in fact, when an A/C is running when recording dialogue, it can really ruin how good a movie is.

My teaching schedule settled down last month, and I’ve been able to dedicate more time to finally finishing Indian Girl! Just last week, I met with my music composer and the ideas she has for the music in the film; it sounds like it’s going to be great! Once that’s done, and the final sound fixes are made later this month, then it will be at that point where it just needs a bit of tweaking here and there. And then it will be done, and I can send it out to you all! I hope and pray I’ll be able to get it done this year (it’s the Oklahoma centennial year, after all!) and get DVDs out to you by the end of December. Wish me luck, but one way or another, know that the project is continuing, and enjoy your long-promised pictures!

And, as always, thanks so much again!

Christopher McKenzie

*if you haven’t seen the rough cut, check it out at http://www.leaningtreeproductions.com/files/indiangirlroughcut.mov

September 12, 2006

Double WHEW!

The film and the transfer to Beta SP tape is here and in my hands! I could relax a bit before since the developing happened and there were no glitches, but now that it's actually all back in my physical control, there is an added relief. From here on out, it's all up to me.

In the next couple of days, I'll copy the Beta tape over to MiniDV, so I can watch it (alas, I can't watch Beta SP tapes at home) and send a copy over to Andy and Brad for their feedback. Based on the stills we got, however, we're not expecting anything less than great. After that, once things settle down schedule-wise with teaching and editing the documentary, then I'll start tackling the footage. It will take all my will to resist starting editing before I really have time, but I think I'll manage. I'll let you know how the footage looks when I get to see it!

September 5

WHEW!

The film is developed! And it looks (at least from what we can tell so far) fantastic! This weekend, Patrick took the film down to Video Post & Transfer in Dallas, where it was developed and transferred to video. As part of their service they post stills online where you can gague the quality of their work, and both Andy and I are quite pleased. Here are a handful of the 148 stills they made for us to look over (they're in no particular order -- there was no rhyme or reason to the order that VP&T posted them either). These are actual stills from the final footage -- not just pictures we took with still cameras while on set:

(By the way, you might notice that the corners of the frame seem to be darker in a lot of the stills. That's natural -- not all of the picture that you see will be in the final frame; most of those darker corners get automatically cropped out.)

They're sending us the footage and negative via snail mail as of tomorrow, which means it might finally be in my hands by the weekend. This proud papa is very excited!

However, while he might get to hold his baby soon, he won't be able to... um... make it grow (the metaphor is becoming labored...). With school starting up, I won't be able to tackle editing for at least a month or so. But I've been telling people that we're shooting for a good cut by Christmas. Keep checking in with this page, and I'll post when editing gets underway!

In the meantime, all I can say is, "Ai-yip-ai-oh-ee-ay!"

August 18

Well, we're back in New England, enjoying the company of Brad and Jennifer Strunk at Bridget's family's lake house on Northwood Lake. Several more friends will be joining us for the weekend to celebrate Bridget's and my first anniversary. A few more days of time off, and then we're back to civilization, gearing up for the school year.

Back in Oklahoma, my brother Patrick will be shuttling the film down to Dallas for developing sometime in the next couple of weeks. Can't wait to see what we shot, but it appears we'll have to!

Updates on here will be more sparse now that production is over, but I'll provide occasional updates as post-production plows along, so check in every once in a while.

August 17

Back to New England! We set off to Tulsa before dawn, and we nearly had a disaster at the airport: Bridget hadn't checked for her wallet before leaving Pawhuska, and couldn't find it right away once we pulled up to the terminal. Panic ensued; we called the McBrides, and they couldn't find it in their house. Bridget dug through every crack and crevice in our luggage, throwing stuff all over the van. Finally, she found it folded up in a magazine in her backpack somehow. Supreme relief.

We dropped the van off and made our way to the terminal, where we waited for our flight with Andy and Brad, who were headed on a separate flight at the same time. Off we went, and our Oklahoma "Indian Girl" adventure was over!

August 16

Well, I lied. It wasn't a complete wrap yesterday. We still had a couple of shots to do today, in two senses of the word. First, we went back out to the Sooner Land & Livestock land east of Pawhuska and filmed close-ups of the actual shooting of the rifle. I got to be the one to pull the trigger, so when you see the movie, my hands will serve as my cameo. It was the first time this city boy had fired a full-on rifle, and I must confess, 'twas quite a thrill. We treated the situation like we were doing open-heart surgery, being very careful with setup and even more so after the rifle was actually loaded. Brad, the only one who could see the shot through the camera, said it looked great.

After our little shooting expedition, we returned to town to shoot a couple of quick shots with Jessica that we weren't able to get last Thursday. They went painlessly, and then we hurried off to Tulsa to drop off the equipment at Bulldog. Now that is a wrap.

We had a nice big fish and fondue dinner (no, we didn't dip the fish into the fondue...) for all of the crew at the McBrides. A nice final meal before our trip back to New England tomorrow. In the end, we got just about everything I wanted to get, shot-wise. Nothing catastrophic went wrong, save a few sunburns, and everyone was pleased with what we accomplished. All in all, a very successful shoot!

August 15

That's a wrap! We finished the shoot at the claim site east of Pawhuska today. It went as planned, though, of course, there were a couple of bumps.

The first one happened last night. We've been pulling our hair out trying to find a suitable costume for the titular Indian Girl, and we thought we'd found someone here in Pawhuska to do it. Alas, she wasn't able to do it in time, so we were left to scramble at the last minute. Bridget's resourcefulness and my ability to sew came to the rescue. Using some of the old pictures we had and a pattern we found online, we got some fabric, cut it up, and sewed until past midnight. In the end, we had something that was rough, but worked just fine in the end.

The second big bump was the torture we had to put poor Katherine through in the end. The shoot had gone very well this morning, but as soon as we starting pouring blood on her, her good mood faded. And really, who could blame her? Because I failed to notice the low amount of film left in the camera when we started the post-shooting shots, she had to lay in a puddle of fake blood for about 10 minutes while Brad and Andy changed film. Then the DAT ran out of tape and Bridget had to trek back to the car to get it — more lying in a blood puddle. By the end of it, Katherine was starting to question her choice to spend the last days of her summer vacation with us. That made me feel bad, but I can hope that someday she'll be pleased with what we shot — because, frankly, it looks awesome. The shooting footage went very well, and the fight between the rider and the thief (played very well by Carl Mark Osborn) went better than we expected. All in all a very successful day at the end of which I got to say the immortal words, "That's a wrap!" Well, it's not a complete wrap, as we're going to do the closeup of the actual gunshot tomorrow, and hopefully a couple of pickup shots with Jessica, but the bulk of the project is in the can!

August 14

Back to shooting! Today was the first day of shooting on Segment 1, "The Girl." We focused on the stuff that happens before the rider arrives at the land run claim, namely his riding around on the open prairie.

With the help of Bev Moore, the principal at Pawhuska Elementary, we had gotten hooked up with a good-looking workhorse named Gray. Along with Gray came his handler, Aaron Labadie. Aaron's a great guy — very nice and easy-going. He may be a bit too ruggedly good-looking though — all the gals seemed to take a shine to him. 8^)

Our rider was played by Stephen Remington (is that a perfect western name, or what?), and he was perfect. He had grown up on a ranch, and it showed in his ability to handle Gray and ride around on terrain that varied from flat to rocky. The shots we got were nothing short of beautiful, and I can't wait to see how they turn out on film.

In the afternoon, we went to the site of the claim, and I got to nail in the claim post for the first time (number on the claim: 821 — I'll leave the significance of that number for the IMdB trivia page...). We shot most of Stephen's solo shots at the claim, including the close-ups of his interactions with the girl. All went very well, and the weather, which the TV had been warning about, stayed good. Several of us got new sunburns (despite regular slathering with sunscreen), but the day was a big success.

August 13

The wedding went well — good cake, good times, etc. We drove back to Oklahoma, unfortunately having to pass up a visit to my Great Aunt Kathryn because of time.

Our first stop was up near Pryor to pick up a saddle from some nice folks we had arranged with. Unfortunately, there was some misunderstanding about compensation, and what they asked for was quite out of our price range ($500/day for a saddle — egad!) so we had to pass that up and see about figuring out an alternative for tomorrow.

Our next stop was much more successful. We stopped near Catoosa at the home of "Burly Bill" Bell, a western re-enactor who we had stumbled across in our hunt for western wear and gear. He and his lovely wife live in a beautiful log-cabin-style home, bedecked with all the modern trappings one could ask for (they are preparing to install a hot tub, which made both Bridget and me covetous). Burly Bill had offered to let us borrow a fully functional replica of a 19th century rifle, and the weapon did not disappoint — it was a beautiful thing. What's more, recognizing the small-budget nature of our production, Burly Bill did not ask for any compensation other than a spot in the credits and a copy of the completed film! Needless to say, he's one of our favorite people now, and both Bridget and I left very glad to have gotten to meet him.

Before we left, though, we got a chance to talk about "Deadwood" with Burly Bill and his wife. They had both just finished watching the first season on DVD, and it was interesting to hear these two western re-enactors talk about the show.

August 11

Today went really well. The shoot at the elementary school library was as planned — simple and painless. Katherine, our "Indian Girl," did fantastically, and we got all the shots we needed. Once again, the pictures below tell much of the story.

After dropping off equipment in Tulsa (for the last time until Wednesday... hooray!), Andy, Brad and I went to scout locations for next week's shooting. Mike Justesen at Sooner and Land and Livestock showed us a gigantic swath of land that was, in a word, perfect. I couldn't imagine a better place, in terms of size, distance from civilization, and beauty than this place east of Pawhuska. I was flabbergasted with how good it was, and Andy and Brad were both similarly impressed. Now, if we can just figure out some way to deal with the heat way out there, we'll be fine!

No shooting this weekend — Bridget and I will be heading down to Wichita Falls for my cousin Derik's wedding. So, I probably won't be able to update until Sunday. But for now, it feels darn good to be halfway done, and to have it be successful thus far!

August 10

One of the most important days of my professional filmmaking life, and it had to be the hottest freakin' day of the year. It reached 111 degrees in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, today. That's three ones, folks. The hottest it's been all year here and probably the hottest it's going to get.

But we did it. We were miserable, but we did it. I almost had heat stroke (not a hyperbole), and I have a nasty sunburn developing, but we did it. We had a very successful first day of shooting, especially considering the obstacle of severe heat that made it hard to function for the crew, and miserable for the very young cast.

We treated them right though — we kept them out for no more than 20 minutes at a time, and we hydrated them with as much water and Kool-Aid as they could ingest. But even so, by 1 p.m., the heat was unbearable for even the littlest body, and we condensed the shots we needed. But we got everything we absolutely had to have, from the dolly shot to the roof shot, and everything in between.

Andy and Brad were incredibly tolerant of the heat; while I knew they were hard-working troopers, I never expected them to be up to the challenge of Oklahoma heat, but they did it without complaint. Sarah, our script supervisor, was incredible for someone who had never done it before ("I think [one of the 20 kids in the shoot] wasn't wearing that hat last time," solidified her status as a keeper of continuity in my book), and was always willing to pitch in, even when no one expected her to. David stepped in well as sound guy, and Jessica helped solve a problem by stepping in front of the camera. Our hired actresses from Tulsa were great. And Yasmin — she's Yasmin, and thus awesome.

And then, Bridget. My hot production manager. Yes, I knew I could count on her to push us through and keep the kids organized and relatively calm, but it still amazes me how good she is, how sane she remained (among so many kids and parents), and how seeing her face on set made the experience infinitely easier.

Instead of giving you an hour-by-hour rundown of the day, I'll let pictures tell the story... I will say that, in the final analysis, and now that I'm relaxed, it was a very successful day, especially under the circumstances. I'm glad that tomorrow will be a lighter day, in the school's media center, and I'm definitely glad that the hardest day of shooting is past us.

August 9

'Twas the night before shooting, and all was well. Today was, to say the least, a hectic day, but in the final analysis, everything is in place, everything is more or less ready for tomorrow... the big day I've been waiting for for months.

We started the day early, driving to the airport to pick up Andy, Brad, and Yasmin. We took them to Waffle House for a delectably cheap breakfast. We then trekked back to Pawhuska (no small feat from Tulsa). Bridget and Yasmin split off, taking Amanda's car to Bartlesville to buy a whole lotta groceries, including dozens of gallons of drinking water, lots of lunchable stuff, and just general other food and beverages. 'Twas an impressive haul.

Andy, Brad, and I checked out the elementary school, where I finally got to meet Bev Moore, the principal with whom we've coordinated this entire shindig. After getting a sense of how the filming would transpire, we returned to Tulsa (again...ugh) to get the most important stuff of the day: the grip equipment.

Yes, we had finally squared away the equipment with Bulldog Production Services in Tulsa. I was still more than a bit worried about insurance at the point we left Pawhuska... the details are too complicated for me to cogently describe at this hour, but suffice to say that there were all kinds of confusion on my end as to what needed to be done to finally get this dang production insured, a sine qua non of renting equipment. However, after some increasingly desperate phone calls, insurance was secured, and at a cost that was less than what I'd been fearing.

But the final insurance paperwork came after we got the equipment, which is the first wonderful thing I'm going to say about Bulldog, but hardly the last. Brian Blagowski, the owner, is a busy, busy film guy, and it's been difficult coordinating this rental, but I'm very glad we were able to get it together. He and his wife, Julie, were very accommodating of us, and Brian was understanding of the insurance turnaround, allowing us to rent the equipment even though he did not yet have a "certificate of insurance" in hand (he was satisfied based on what I had that he would get one tomorrow, which he will). As for Julie, she treated us in a way I've missed having been away from Oklahoma -- she volunteered to loan us a cooler (just because!) and she outright gave us a box of individual bags of Sun Chips. Totally random, but totally welcome and nice. And their facilities are quite extraordinary for Oklahoma -- an impressively decked new studio that would be good quality for the East Coast, much less the Great Plains.

But most importantly, we had the equipment. It was such a relief to be able to drive away with a van full of stuff and a DP and gaffer happy that they have so many toys to use on the shoot. We made one last stop to draw the rough chalk outline of the state of Oklahoma on the grass of the elementary school (the rest to be filled in tomorrow morning), and then returned home for a dinner of homemade mac and cheese (a la Bridget) and hot dogs. Now, I'm done for the day and I'm relaxing with a Sonic milkshake, waiting for the gang to assemble in the living room so we can watch Brad's thesis film, which he thoughtfully brought along for us to watch. And then... to sleep, perchance to dream... of a successful shoot.

August 8

We're in Pawhuska! Patrick drove us this evening to Tulsa, where we picked up our rental minivan (which I'm calling my "command ship"), and hightailed it to Osage County. We're now at Justin and Amanda McBride's place, enjoying their hospitality, and breathing in one last deep breath before the chaos begins.

When we got here, we were pleased to find that all our boxes with equipment, etc., had arrived in one piece. We also got to see the frightening looking knife for the first time. It is truly a formidable instrument of destruction. I think we're going to try to find some way to have the edges ground down before next week. The manly man in me finds a horrible proposition to destroy such a beautiful implement, but the director in me would rather not have a sharp object around the set.

August 7

I'm not sure if it's good or bad that today was completely spent doing non-film things, but that's what we did. Bridget says it's good, but I still wonder. I do think it has calmed my anxiety down, and that's all for the better. And besides, the only stuff left to do that I have any control over can easily be done tomorrow.

What did we do? We drove with my mother southwest to the heart of Kiowa country, and visited my great-aunt Esther Hayes in Mountain View, Oklahoma. We had lunch in town, looked through photo albums and listened to old stories, some of which further inform segments of the movie. All this while enduring an old un-air-conditioned house! It was very nice though, and good to see Esther well.

After that, we drove to Rainy Mountain, trying to find a way to get there. We got to the base of it, but couldn't find the ruins of the Rainy Mountain Indian School, where part of my screenplay Anadarko is set; they must have been on the other side, which we couldn't see how to get to. We then drove to Anadarko itself and visited the McKenzie family plot, where my great-grandfather Parker and his family are buried. Bridget had never seen these aspects of my family life, and it was nice to share them with her.

August 6

At last, here we are in the Sooner State! We had an eventless plane trip, which we spent watching the Season 1 DVD of "House, M.D." on the iBook (awesome show, by the way). Now, we're relaxing at my childhood home, Bridget checking up on kids for Thursday's shoot, and me... well, you can see what I'm doing.

In weather news, the temperature just seems to keep going up and up in the forecast. And now that we're less than five days away, I actually have to take these forecasts seriously. Right now, the 10th is slated to be 104 degrees, and I don't mean Kelvin (not that you thought that...), while the 11th will be cooler, but with scattered thunderstorms (but that's okay, because we're supposed to be inside that day). There is good news on the weather front: Tropical Storm Chris fizzled out over Cuba, which I'm hoping is not indicative of the shoot. Perhaps it's indicating that the film won't do well in Cuba, which I can accept.

Tonight, we'll be out and about with my brothers, Patrick and Andrew, and tomorrow, I'll probably be back to trying to tie up those aforementioned loose ends. In the meantime, don't wake me; I've got some sleep to catch up on.

August 5

Bridget and I left our apartment today to spend the evening in New Hampshire, so we don't have to go far to leave from Manchester at the butt-crack of dawn tomorrow. I was actually much less anxious today than I've been in the past week; not sure why that is. We've still got a couple of big loose ends remaining in the pre-production that I really wanted tied up long ago, but in some way I've kind of resigned myself to doing the best we can with what we are able to do. It's like Francois Truffaut said (paraphrasing): "The first day I'm on a set, I want to make the best movie I can possibly make. The second day, I'm content just to make a good film. The third day, I just want to get the damn thing done." We haven't quite started yet, but I'm confident that whatever we wind up with will still be worth the trip. Then again, perhaps my nerves are just being blunted by the impending reality of actually going out to Oklahoma to shoot this thing.

August 2

I was interviewed this evening by Cyndi Kane at KPGM radio for a "Talk of the Town" segment that will air on the 10th. It was a new experience for me, being interviewed like that, and I think it went well. Her questions were wide-ranging and very good, and I think it was a very good conversation about the project. You'll have to listen for yourself: 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 10, on 1500 AM radio.

Yesterday, I finally put an end to a long-standing equipment problem, namely that a flaky woman I had worked with here in Boston had borrowed my DAT recorder and hemmed and hawed about returning it. Sad to say, but we had to lie in order to get it back -- Bridget played the bad-cop production manager saying that we needed the DAT ASAP or else, while I played the poor helpless guy caught in the middle, just wanting everyone to be happy. Worked like a charm, and had the DAT back in my hands yesterday evening. Won't be working that gal again anytime soon...

August 1

The month is here, as are the first 10-day forecasts that include a shooting day! The news so far (which cannot be trusted 10 days out, but I'm going to report it anyway) is good: mix of sun and clouds on the 10th with a high around 97. Wait... did I say that was good? Well, in the sense that there is no rain in the forecast (knock on all the wood I can find), that is good. In the sense that we will likely melt, that is bad.

However... Chris' worst nightmare might be... Chris! A tropical storm with that beautiful name is roaring towards the U.S., with a path that could potentially bring it toward the Sooner State. That would, in short, be awful. Most rain and thunderstorm systems in Oklahoma last the better part of a day before blowing through and disappearing. But the remants of a tropical storm might not be so quick to depart. Let's hope it does what most tropical systems do and turn north before it gets to the west Gulf of Mexico!

July 31

Things continue to come together. The McBrides, our hosts in Pawhuska, received a frightening looking short-sword... I mean Bowie knife that we'll use as a prop (Justin was not expecting it, and thus thought he had an omerta out on him for a few minutes). Insurance and grip equipment are the only two big variables right now -- you'd figure that if people found out that you wanted to give them money, they'd call you back right away. Not so, it seems. It will get done though!

July 28

Patrick's the man! My younger brother trekked down to Dallas to pick up 10 rolls of 16mm film straight from the refrigerators of Kodak. One less major worry! Thank you, bro!

July 26

We got a nice little write-up today in the Pawhuska Journal-Capital, complete with contact info for kids and parents who want to take part in the "Another Run" segment. We've gotten several nibbles already, and I bet we'll have a few more by tomorrow. It's a good first step to getting the kids we need for our big shoot day on the 10th!

July 23

Just two more weeks until we fly out to Oklahoma and do this thing... it seems hard to believe it's that close. I talked with Andy this weekend about film; we're concerned about how to get it out there without having it get damaged by airport or shipping-company X-rays. I may just end up buying it in Dallas (the nearest place I could be sure to get what we need) and perhaps having one of my relatives bring it up to OKC. My brother, Patrick, has agreed to help out if we can't find anyone else. We shall see how it works out.

July 17

So many little things to worry about. Bridget and I, both of us with full-time day jobs, fill in the little breaks of time we have during the day with calls to people in Oklahoma and beyond, trying to get this thing organized. Our biggest concerns right now are clothing and weapons (both for "The Girl" segment). We're trying to get what we need without spending too much, but if need be we'll throw more money into the fire. Such is filmmaking.

Other than that, there's not much to report. Just lots of mundane details.

July 12

For all the kindness and help we've gotten from the people we've contacted in Oklahoma, there's always got to be one asshole in the lot. Bridget encountered him on the phone when we were trying to find some period horse equipment for "The Girl" segment. Here's a tip for all you potential businesspeople out there: if someone's talking about giving you money, it's usually not in your interest to be condescending to them. That's my Business 101 lesson for the day.

But do let me reiterate -- Bridget and I have both been generally overwhelmed with the helpfulness we've gotten from Pawhuskans and other Oklahomans.

July 7

Not so fast... a small little error in the coding the main page was causing a lot of problems -- you couldn't see the page on a PC browser yesterday (I keep telling people to buy Macs...). Problem is solved, the page is up for all. Next step... telling everyone about it.

July 6

The website is up! After finagling all the necessary hosting requirements and whatnot, the site finally went live this morning. My first domain name/website... brings a tear to the ol' eye.

July 5

This may sound like an academic point, but I've changed the titles of the segments we're going to shoot next month. Originally, I referred to Segment 1 as "Indian Girl" and Segment 9 as "Land Run," but that caused all kinds of confusion, especially since both of them have land runs, and the movie itself is already named Indian Girl. So, I changed them. Segment 1 is now just "The Girl" (maybe still confusing, but much less so) and Segment 9 is now "Another Run."

July 3

All that’s left to do with the web site is the content! The design is quite simple, following in the model of Cherry Red Productions, which valued simplicity above flashiness. I like how it looks though. Not going to win any design awards, but whatever; I’m making a movie, dammit.

July 2

Am working on the website, hoping to get it up in the next few days. I’m having to go back and update the blog as I can. From here on out, it will be updated much more regularly.

June 30

Got a bunch of headshots from a casting agent in Tulsa. Good stuff – I saw good choices for just about every role we have open… now I just have to find out if they can act (and if they’re available!).

June 27

Bridget talked with Mike Justesen at Sooner Land and Livestock today and I’m very pleased to share that he was willing to have us shoot on their land. Justin reported that Sooner had some of the largest blocks of land in the area, which should be wonderful for the 1889 segment.

June 26

Gah! We just found out today that some of the money that we’d set aside for the movie is going to have to get spent somewhere else (I can’t get specific about it online), so we’re going to have to borrow some more to get the movie made. Bridget and I have agreed to do that though – well, for one, we’ve bought tickets, but two, this movie is going to get made, come hell or high water.

Of course, if any of my faithful readers want to help out… *grin*

June 23

Bridget and I have been talking a bit about the themes in the script and how the scenes, especially in the present-day segment, play out. We’ll probably be sitting down at some point in the next week or so to revise some of those scenes.

One point of disagreement we’ve had is on the choice to focus somewhat on the name of the town, Indian Girl. I feel that the town is a microcosm of the state (whose name after all translates to “Red Man”), and in that sense, the town itself is a vital part of the story. However, Bridget feels that theme distracts from the meat of the message of the segments, and I can see where she’s coming from. Another thing we’ll talk much more about in the coming days.

June 16

The point of no return – Bridget purchased and confirmed plane tickets for us, our crew, and one of our cast members to fly from the East Coast to Oklahoma. It wasn’t cheap – it pretty much ate up a good fifth of the production budget, but we had planned for that.

Bridget did a hell of a job coordinating people and getting the info from everyone. Besides me and her, three people will be traveling (though not at the same time as us): Andy Kuester, Brad Webb, and the ever-lovely Yasmin Tuazon, who will be playing Miss Dawes, the main teacher in the present-day segment. You may remember Yasmin as Carla Woods, the intrepid lead character in one of my earlier projects, All The Reverend's Men.

Things are starting to fall into place…

June 8

Today it happened – in every project like this there comes a moment before which you’re not entirely sure if it’s going to happen, and after which you have no doubt it’s going to go forward.

That moment happened today when I got an e-mail from Bev Moore, the principal at Pawhuska Elementary. I had asked her about using the school to shoot the present-day segment, and she was extremely accommodating. No, accommodating isn’t the word – she was not only that, but virtually falling over herself wanting to help us in any way she could. Being used to shooting on the East Coast, where it seems you can’t so much as take a tripod out of a bag without a permit, I must say I am pleasantly surprised to see such excitement back home.

It’s not just Mrs. Moore either. Amanda reported that her uncle, who just happens to be the superintendent of schools in Pawhuska, also was excited about the project when she asked him about it.

But general excitement and Mrs. Moore’s willingness to have us shoot at the school wasn’t what made me so sure that this was all going to happen. At the end of Mrs. Moore’s e-mail, she added, almost as an afterthought, an offer of over 350 acres of ranchland for shooting if we needed it. The open prairie sequences of the 1889 segment have always been the part I’ve feared the most about this project – finding a place large enough that was willing to let us shoot. After being disappointed by the Tallgrass Prairie, I was starting to worry… but no more. We may find other, larger places, but now we have at least that.

Oh, and she has a horse too.

It’s going to happen.

Oh sh#t, it’s going to happen.