The GODS of FILMMAKING!

July 2nd was our shooting date for the short film "UNDEADline"; a late call of 5pm so we could lose most of the sun by the time we got to filming. We had all our cast, crew and locations - and we were all fired up and set to go.

Or so I thought.

Getting together a bunch of talent to shoot a film - for NO BUDGET - is not always the easiest of tasks. Since people have jobs and other projects to deal with, finding a date and time when everyone is available is not that simple. And this is where the gods of filmmaking come into play - I don't know how or why - but sooner or later, a shoot always gets scheduled! Thank the gods of filmmaking!!

And July 2nd was our time. I had confirmations of everyone involved except for one actor, the female teen zombie (a pivotal part). Worse, all I had for a contact number was her email address. After several emails and no reply, it was obvious that I wasn't going to get the actor I wanted for that particular part - now this happens all the time, and isn't something I get upset about - annoyed maybe, but not upset.

So. No confirmation from our lead teen zombie, no reply to the emails - I assumed that there must have been some horrible miscommunication between us. What to do? Just as any good Director, you move on quickly and recast. At this point I had just over a day to recast and was able to secure another actor. Yay! The gods of filmmaking shine upon us!

A teensy weensy little problem: this actor had had surgery a few weeks prior and was still recuperating! Good thing the part wasn't demanding and she agreed to give it a shot anyway! Great! Everything was a GO again! Thank the gods of filmmaking!

Na uh.

The morning of the shoot I get an email and the replacement actor has gotten a bad fever; probably related to the surgery... and you can't fault her for that!

The gods of filmmaking have deserted me on this one. No sense wasting any more time and energy when things just refuse to flow.

Maybe I can schedule my original choice for the teen zombie again...

Than again, one of our actors thinks he may know of another actor to fill the part, and if she agrees - we'll be shooting in a week ...

Or so.

Only the gods of filmmaking know for sure.

- Nik Poliwko