Long Dark Way Day #7

Tonight's shoot was short and sweet. Only took two hours total to get all we needed. Thanks to my old employer, we were able to use an office there. It's been four years since I worked there, but everything seemed to be exactly the same. Even the stacks of books in the library haven't been moved in all that timem it seems. Felt like I had never left the place. HaHa

Patricia, Renee, Sonja, Greg R., Brian and Jamestic. Thanks for your talent and efficiency.

It will be some time before the next shoot as there is a holiday coming this weekend and the girls and I are traveling to Austin, Texas to visit family there for a couple of days. We will leave this coming Thursday and return on Saturday. Then I have to get serious about finding the last few locations we need.

Until then, friends, rest well and have a great time.

Long, Dark Way Day 6

This was supposed to be Day 7, but Monday's shooting was cancelled due to sickness (not mine). so that was rescheduled for Friday.

Tonight was a very small scene in a bathroom. Thanks to my chiropractor, Dr. Fred Bogan at Alliance Chiropractic, we were able to get in and done in three hours.

Thanks to Renee, Sonja, Greg, Brian and Jamestic. Good job.

Still needing a location for the dress shop and Rachel's house for the end of the film. Everything else is essentially finished.

From here will be sound effects, pickup shots (that's going back to locations and getting little things to cut to or scenes we missed) and voice over work. The end is in sight.

Long Dark Way Day 5 Pics

Patricia Robinson as Gloria

Richard Green as Security Guard

Zane Berlin as Danny

Lisa Metzger - 2nd Assistant Director

Greg Hisaw - location coordinator, extra, boom operator, grip, cast coordinator, and much much more.

Long Dark Way Day 4 Pics

Still haven't recovered my energy from nine hours of filming on Day 5, so will have to just post pics from the last couple of shoot days. First Day 4.


Renee Weygandt as Rachel and Brian C. Jackson, Sound Engineer - in hurry up and wait mode.

Gregory Raw - Boom Operator. Lighting Director and Editor

Karsyn Weygandt - yes Renee's daughter - as one of Abby's friends.

Brian C. Jackson

Sound check time.

Lyudmilla McCoy, as another friend and Kelli Kickham as Abby.

Makeup Tests

Long Dark Way Day #4

Day 4 is actually reshooting all the Day #1 footage. Unfortunately, neither the lights nor the sound from Day #1 were good enough. However, it did not go to waste as this was a good opportunity to work out the kinks in our operation. Because of this, tonight's shooting was much faster and efficient. Altogether we shaved 2 hours off the total time to shoot the same scenes.

It was brought to my attention that I failed to show the "casualty" picture promised two days ago. So here it is:


This purse, purchased after much consideration by Renee while living in Thailand, was our first casualty. For the sake of art, this purse bravely leapt in front of the wheels of a speeding car to save Renee. LOL

Actually the scene was that the car comes to a screeching halt inches from our heroine. Before she can even react, the villian is beside her leading her across the path. In the process she drops this purse and it is run over (albeit unintentionally) by the above mentioned car as it speeds away.


Major shoot coming tomorrow. Will post after that is done.

Long Dark Way Day 3 Photos

Renee Weygandt & Kelli Kickham
Brian C. Jackson
Gregory Raw
Marc Hall
Zane Berlin

Long Dark Way Day #3

Well, I must say that was fun. We shot the club scenes and the scene where our heroine has an encounter with a car. More on that later. but first I want to say thanks to all the great people.

First and foremost on my list tonight are Greg Raw, on lighting for making everyone look so good on camera and Brian C. Jackson on sound for making sure the actors can be heard clearly.

Second to none are Greg Hisaw, extras wrangler extraordinaire among about 100 jobs, including location scouting, he does on this film and Sonja Jones who not only takes exceptional notes of the scenes, and runs the slate (you know: "Scene 3, Take 7") but also provides locations, totes stuff for the decrepid director (that's me) and provides wonderful food for all and most importantly keeps said director from getting too stressed.

Then there is Erick Wolfe, who came to coordinate stunts and stayed to bring laughter to us all. Eddie "Monster" Evans, the ever present and calming influence, always ready to lend a hand any way he can.

A special thanks to Club 209 in the Brady District of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma and to Amber for opening up just so we could shoot these scenes. You can't know how much I appreciate it.

I saved the best for last: my cast

Renee Weygandt - our heroine, who sacrifices her time, petrol to travel fro Bartlesville (for those of you who don't know that is 30 - 45 minutes away) every shooting day, and tonight an even greater sacrifice (see photo at the end).

Zane Berlin - as our villian, Danny. He shows how a good looking young man can be creepy and villianous. Now that is good acting. Can't wait to get to the psycho scenes and see what he comes up with. ;)

Kelli Kickham - the daughter, Abby. Always bright and cheerful. And now a little happier because she got to run the slate. ;)

Marc Hall - the club bouncer - excellent job ferreting out those minors and not letting them in. ;)

and to all the extras who showed up at the last minute tonight to make our club look like a popular hangout:

Sam Harvey - Thanks for being the guy who almost ran down our heroine and did run down her purse. Good job!

James Stander and Trish Hutton - our underage clubbers. Great adlib lines.

Seton, Jillian, Ashley, Fernando, Jeffrey, Amber and Renee thanks for being our club crowd.

Next post will be pictures including a photo of the sad remains of the first casualty of the film.

This is our stunt coordinator, Erick Wolfe, showing our stars how to be safe in a rough scene.

This is the image promised in the last post. Read the sign on the door. ;)

That is all for now. Shooting a club scene on Monday night. Hope lots of extras show up. More after that.

Long Dark Way Day #2

What a great night! More crew showed up to help - thanks a million to Greg Hisaw with too many titles to list here, Greg Raw, lighting guru and editor, and to Erick Wolfe, stunt coordinator and "staggering drunk". A special thanks to Jeff Lamberton, our cinematographer. You all added so much to the experience tonight.

Renee and Zane. I must say we were able to experience the darker side of Zane's character tonight. Very creepy. Renee seemed to especially enjoy the scene where she escapes from his clutches. ;) As usual, awesome performances, true professionals.

Funny incident: At one point a man came by the set, walking down the street. We heard him yell out to one of the crew. "Hey, you got a cigarette? I just got out of jail." This was what lead to the addition of the staggering drunk that gets the crap scared out of him, just for asking Zane for a smoke. Performed to perfection by Erick Wolfe. Erick, dude, did you have some experience to draw from there? LOL

Erick and Greg H. spent a great deal of time warding off passersby or asking cars not to drive down the alley where we were filming. On one such occasion, Greg H. went sprinting down to the far end of the alley to wave off a car. He came back to report that he had encountered a couple in the early throes of a passionate embrace. I will leave the details to your imagination, dear reader. But needless to say it was embarrassing and hilarious.

Anyway, the filming went smoothly and we were done for the night in a mere five hours. Next scheduled night will be Monday. So rest up all and enjoy a peaceful and Happy Father's Day.

Oh yes...one more thing. Gossip column style: What good looking actor and creepy villian was seen fixing his hair in the ladies room at Club 209? Pictures to come later. LOL

The Long Dark Way Day #1

Well just got home from first day of shooting on The Long, Dark Way. First of all I want to thank all the people who participated and did a great job for the long, six hour schedule.

Zane Berlin, who is the villian of the film did a fantastic job coordinating the lighting for the scenes and keeping us all revved up between scenes. What a dynamo!

Renee Weygandt, our wonderful heroine. Steadfast, consistant and infinitely patient.

Kelli Kickham, our Abby, always cheerful and involved.

Lyudmilla McCoy, drove 2+ hours one way just to help make this film.

Special thanks to Shannon Miles, who let us use her apartment for the filming and then at the last minute stepped in to fill a vacant role as one of Abby's friends.

Brian C. Jackson, our local "mad scientist of all things electronic" who did our sound recording and provided the lighting equipment. You rock, man!

Sonja Jones, a real trooper. She came to be Assistant Director and jumped in to run a camera, doing a great job of it too.

And to my special girls, Jamestic & Sondra Stallings. My wards and the keepers of my heart. They toted and fetched, were there to assist in any way they could, working the slate and crawling behind appliances to unplug them. You two are the best kids in the world.

Now I go to sleep and prepare for shooting tomorrow night's scenes. More later.

Long Gone

My apologies (assuming anyone noticed) for the long absence. I am getting ready to film The Long Dark Way this month, beginning on June 13th with God's blessing. Still getting permissions for locations is a headache. But determined to get this done, and right, this month. I will return shortly after that and let you all know what happened. Maybe even post pictures. My love to you all until then.