Letting Go: Change at Work. Change of Control

[This is partly a response to my earlier post about my frustration and failure in first attempting to shoot a commercial in Puerto Rico.]

The last month in Puerto Rico flew by with lots of changes!  First off, I successfully shot a commercial in Puerto Rico!  It's a fun surf spot produced for a contest held by a brand of whisky.  I applied the lessons learned from my first failed attempt at making a commercial here:  I sought out reliable non-actor locals and gave myself plenty of time to shoot it while anticipating delays, cancelations, and/or reshoots.

I cast two surfers who I met on the beach to play father and son.  The "father" is the owner of a surf shop and the "son" was an employee.  I cast the two because they looked the part and there was already a natural chemistry between them from working together.  This meant I would be able to use less energy on trying to direct a performance.  I approached the project very much like a documentary which was a change from my recent work.  There was very little staging and very few takes.  I basically gave them simple actions to do and I would watch them and capture different moments and angles I found interesting.  

I was a one man crew with all my cameras and lenses in a backpack with a tripod strapped on the side.  It was very empowering to know that I could carry everything I needed to make a commercial in one backpack with my own two feet.  Larger productions can get so complicated once you start adding tons of gear, people, etc.  This was liberating.  Everything was shot daylight exterior so there was no need for lights which I didn't have a budget for.  A few times I used the white bottom of a body board to bounce the sunlight.

One of the most rewarding parts was just hanging out with the surfers, getting to know them, and becoming friends.

Over the past month, I've humbled myself a bit while learning to "let go" and not attempt to control so many things that are beyond me.  During the commercial shoot, I had no control whether it would rain or not or whether the swell would come in and the waves would suffice.  I also had to adapt to "Caribbean Time" where nothing or no one exists on a set schedule.  There were three days where we were suppose to shoot that fell through... luckily I was the only crew member and I had to just accept it, not stress over it, and say to myself, "Okay, I guess we'll shoot tomorrow."

The great thing about it all was that everything seemed to work out perfectly as I let go of control.  We got the waves, we got the sun, we got the shots and everything we needed in time and it all happened right before the owner caught the flu.

When I arrived in PR, I started looking for ways to make some extra travel money.  After the commercial, the one employee left to take a commercial fishing job in New York.  Now with an employee gone, and being sick with the flu, the owner who I became friends with asked me to work at the surf shack.  And thus the universe provided!

Working @ the Surf Shack is a pretty good gig.  The only real work is running 6 miles on the beach there and back everyday.

I had a really busy week while the owner was sick.  I was working in the kitchen at the health center and at the surf shack nearly every day.  I worked a 60 hour week while commuting 6 miles a day via barefoot running on the beach.  I was exhausted.

I've had some time now to rest and recover a bit.

I've adapted better to the Caribbean and am much happier with this new perspective of giving up control.  That's not to say I don't make plans and have optimistic intentions for outcomes... But rather, I don't stress or get too hung up when nature, people, or other things happen that are beyond me.  I realized I was some gringo trying to bring a whole different attitude from the film industry with expectations and scheduling that simply don't fly too well in Puerto Rico.

Also, the Surf Shack is right next to the yoga studio where I tried to cast the two people that flaked on me in the earlier failed commercial attempt.  That failure and my earlier expectations aside, they are totally nice and cool people and I see them on a daily basis.  No more hard feelings.

Now that I've changed a bit, I recognize other people who attend the health institute who bring similar expectations from busy city life.  They too would be better off if they let go a bit.

For example, the power frequently goes out here for long durations while storms pass through.  The last power outage lasted about 36 hours.  During these times I have to run the generator for a bit to power the kitchen and prepare meals.  One woman complained to me that the generator was very loud and inappropriate for the nature of the institute... She said we need to have a "sound barrier."

Really?  Are you serious?  You want me to make a sound barrier?

I simply apologized politely for the inconvenience.  But in my head, I'm blown away by her non-constructive feedback.  What does she expect?  My only two options are to run the generator and prepare her meal, or allow her to enjoy silence and solitude which will require her to fast.  I cannot control nature and its storms.  I cannot control power outages.  I cannot build a silent generator nor quickly organize a crew of volunteers to help me build a "sound barrier."  Come on lady!  Let go!

Although it's frustrating working without power in the kitchen, I don't mind doing without power, internet, and sufficient water pressure for a while on my own.  But this is really hard for city people...

Another lady was very sassy when we ran out of papaya.  I told her I'm sorry but the only papaya I have left isn't ripe yet.  In my head: There's some parts of nature I simply cannot control.  And I'm sure the papaya would ignore any verbal requests to ripen faster on my behalf.

Last week I started working in the greenhouse too!  I haven't practiced growing much of my own food which is one of my intentions this year.  I love it in the greenhouse and I'm learning a lot:  For example, don't wear flip flops while shoveling compost because ants will bust out with no mercy and leave you with the itchiest of bites on your foot.  Growing the wheatgrass and sunflower sprouts takes about 6-8 days so we always have to prepare for groups far in advance.  We have to be very careful because we run low at times and can't make nature grow any faster: Another lesson of control.

What I like most about the greenhouse is the occasional fresh coconut break.  The other day one of the workers chopped a bunch of cocos with a machete for each of us.  A fresh coconut water break is much healthier and cooler than the typical cigarette break most people have at work.  The world would be much better off if we replaced all cigarettes with coconuts.  I can picture myself now walking outside of a bar and a hipster asking me for a cigarette at which point I reply smugly, "No dude.  Just a coco..." And I pull out a machete and chop the coconut right in front of their face!  They then walk away with their tail between their legs realizing how uncool cigarettes are and how cool machetes and cocos are! Boom!

So, if you find yourself getting too stressed out... Maybe you should let go of some control... Or have a coconut... It helps!

Change of Place: Inspiration, Flaky Non-Actors, and Utter Disappointment

Part of my plan in coming to Puerto Rico was to take a break from film and commercial work.  But that quickly changed in less than 2 weeks.  Moving to a new place makes everything exciting.  If you've been walking down the same street, neighborhood or city for a few years or more, chances are good that you don't "see" as much anymore.  Things like grocery shopping, going to the post office, or filling your gas tank are now probably mundane.  Unless you make a conscious effort to look, or see things in a new light.

All of that is much easier when you move to a new place.  You can explore everything: The streets, the alleys, the people, the places, etc.  Everything from a stray dog taking a shit can be exciting!  And there are A LOT of stray dogs in Puerto Rico.

Needless to say, I'm already rejuvenating my creative inspiration.  However, I thought it'd take me a while to find crew and actors.  Within a week and a half, I met a fashion photographer and cinematographer who relocated from New York.  His wife teaches where I work.  That was a start.

We decided to try working together, first, on a contest for MOFILM.  I came up with an idea I really liked and kept it simple so that we could produce it within our limitations (No budget, 2 man crew, I don't have a car, no lights, short amount of time until the deadline, very small actor talent pool, etc).

The last week I've been very busy both at work and then running around trying to produce this project.  Craigslist isn't very popular on the island.  In order to find actors, I ran, literally ran on my feet, around town posting handwritten casting notices.  Meanwhile I was scouting locations, trying to borrow a truck, gather props, all while trying to make a schedule that can be realistic and simple as possible while balancing all the variables.  

Casting was appearing to be the most difficult.  The DP and I went to the market, the beaches, and around town asking strangers if they were interested in acting.  The short notice and scheduling was looking difficult.

Monday I got a call from someone who was interested.  It was getting down to the last minute.  I ran 5 miles down the beach barefoot with my backpack to meet her.  Again, my feet are my only transportation.  Not too many people ride bicycles here because the roads are narrow, there's usually not a shoulder, people drive crazy, and there's 1500 accidents on the island a week.

I meet the woman, she's a yoga instructor.  She hasn't acted, but she's enthusiastic and looks the part.  She has a husband, a surf instructor, who fits the part and is interested as well.  Awesome!  We're cast!

We planned to shoot yesterday on my day off after they get off work but I get a call the night before from the husband saying that yesterday was the only day he could have a mechanic fix his car.  No flexibility there.  Okay fine, it's gonna be a pain but we reschedule everything:  Borrowing people's truck, apartment, babysitter for the DP, my work schedule...

Everything's good to go for today.  We're shooting at 1pm.  I get off work, make lunches to cater for the "actors" and start set dressing and moving furniture from other buildings with the DP.  We have picnic tables outside wrapped in tinfoil bouncing light into the windows.  We have a janky tripod and on it we have pretty good cameras with nice lenses.  We're all set up.

I walk around the campus to see if the a actors are lost.  I give the husband a call.  I say, "Hey this is Marty for the commercial."  I get a "Hey, what's up man!"  No indication, recognition, or apology that they are 30 minutes late.  Then I realize I dialed his house number and not his cell phone.  Uh oh.  "Are you guys on your way soon?"  "Hold on a sec."  I wait for about 2-3 minutes of silence and then the wife picks up.  She quickly tells me how "crazy" things have been for them and I get a list of eight excuses or more.  She asks if we could shoot next week.  I remind her, as I told her before, that the final deadline for submission is Monday.  Insert more excuses.  My mind and body become a bit numbed from disappointment.

I kindly explain to her how much goes into the schedule and planning for a film or commercial project.  I explain how important it is that when you tell me you are available, then you have to be available.  Otherwise, it's important to tell me that you're not available.  It makes sense to most professionals, especially producers and those in film.  Apologies.  Good bye.

Burned.

I sit down with the DP and share the disappointment.  We talk it over, try to think of alternate casting, but we really don't have anything.  I say let's think about it for 10 minutes to give time for a creative alternative or solution.  Ten minutes go by.  We call it off.  It's done.  A lot of planning and work for nothing.  Or rather, a lot of work for the lesson learned.

Back in Michigan, with my network of both actor talent, crew, and other resources, I could have pulled this off.  Not in Puerto Rico. Not yet at least.

I still feel a little numb.  I wish I wasn't working on this the last few days and I could have rested more.  Oh well, it was a great first lesson to approaching future projects here.  I'll need plenty of time for pre-production and casting to find real actors or reliable people.  I'll also need enough wiggle room for cancellations and rescheduling.  I'll forget about people being on time in the Caribbean.  Unless they're surfers, we're shooting a surf spot, and a good swell is coming in.

I'm gonna go take an afternoon nap, swim in the ocean later, and get over this one.