THE SITUATION:

Fast Lane is a short comedy film about a frazzled woman driving to work while she deals her three-way split personality. Her demanding manifestations reflect the fears from her past and about her future while the wild woman inside demands to live NOW.

From the moment cinematographer Derek Johnson and I committed to producing Fast Lane, everything came together seamlessly. It was as if the project was touched by Spirit. Everyone and everything we needed arrived at the perfect time and in the perfect way and the entire production was composed of a constant stream of miracles.

Even without a budget, we lacked for nothing - our studio angel and co-producer Joe Reynald even prepared fresh sushi and served home- smoked salmon for our two o'clock (a.m.) dinner break. And the total commitment of everyone involved made the long hours fly delightfully by. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

PREPRODUCTION:

One of the challenges in filming this project lay in maintaining continuity. The four characters are played by a single actress and interact with each other in the tight confines of a car.

Derek and I agreed we needed a studio with a green wall. We would drive the car into the studio and rotate it as we shot each character in their respective car seats – driver, shotgun and the two back seat passengers. We would then replace the green screen with surrealistic backgrounds that reflected each character's  particular personality.

Derek and I split up our tasks. Derek would locate the studio and equipment. I would rework the script, locate the talent props.  Derek would be Lighting Director, DP and  Editor. I would be Writer, Director and Script Supervisor.

Our first miracle arrived in the form of Joe Reynard, an ex-LA producer who donated the use of his studio for the weekend, along with 35mm camera equipment, lights and editing facilities -- for the cost of electricity.

The second miracle arrived in the form of Kelly Reed, an actress with perfect spatial memory, a phenomenal ability to banter with herself without dropping a line, and a lovely British accent she can pull up on cue.

Kelly's props might be considered miracle #3  and #4 if you count a cap full of dread locks for our Rasta-Goth Wild Woman and her car, which matched exactly the writer's concept and met exactly the physical requirements for maneuvering and lighting in the studio.

Clara Lawrynuik, a student filmmaker with an uncanny knack for saying nothing, doing everything and keeping accurate slates when the director lost her place was miracle #5 and a miracle I plan to keep around on every film I work on.

PRODUCTION:

Once shooting began, I lost track of the miracles. We shot for 18 hours with a dinner break - smoked salmon and fresh sushi prepared by Joe. The actual shoot was stress free and fun. There was no ego tripping or fried tempers. There was laughter even at the 18th hour. Every person on our miniscule crew stayed focused on their task, while being aware of what every one else was doing. It was a perfect dance.

Kelly Reed was a wonder to work with. She has a virtually perfect memory for dialogue, inflection and space and hit her marks perfectly every time, even for match cuts between her characters.

Clara Lawrynuik amazed us all. This was her first time on a film set and she absolutely got it. Though all the complex scenes, she kept our slates accurate and orderly. Few words passed her lips that weren’t directly related to her task and she kept her eyes open, anticipating everything. Only over sushi did she share her twisted humor. Bless her. She’s going places.

Derek Johnson brought a great imagination, practical creativity and consummate professionalism to this project. The next morning, I drove him around Seattle for two hours to capture our backgrounds. Then we landed at my sister’s house to shoot magic hour for morning followed by Derek's excursion to a park overlooking the I-90 bridge for our opening and closing sequence.

From first shot to wrap, everyone was as enthusiastic at the end as they were when we started. It was as if our energy was constantly being renewed.

POST PRODUCTION:

We shot in 35mm and dumped directly down to digital tape. Using Final Cut Pro, I pulled the shots and did the rough cut. Derek edited the final and used PhotoShop to create the special effects and surrealistic drop-in backgrounds.

THE RESULT::

Fast Lane screened at 911 Media Arts on Derek’s birthday, February 11, 2005.

I am immensely grateful to everyone who played with me in the Fast Lane. Especially Derek; without him, my script would still be yellowing in my file cabinet.

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