weekend fourteen: saturday night's alright for fighting

So, what happens when you decide to film at a bar at 2AM on a Sunday morning?
1.) You don't get too many extras (3) to show up as scheduled.
2.) You have to somehow coerce people in the bar to "stick around" and be in an Indie movie that doesn't' have any money to offer.
3.) It's quite difficult to actually tell drunk people to stay quiet during a scene while you're getting dialogue.
4.) Eventually (even if you stay as cool as a motherfucking cucumber) there is going to be an altercation with some asshole that doesn't want to behave and is so drunk that they're willing to spend a night in jail just to talk shit to the person that owns said bar.

You get where I'm going with this? Okay, we planned for all kind of problems. We tried our best to get people out to a shoot taking place during the wee hours of the morning. David Nestler was even kind enough to help us continue on with our dreams of making a film by letting us film during his last few hours of operation at Dish. A few people were kind enough to hang out and "play" extra for the scene at the bar on tail end of their evening (perhaps fascinated that a film was going on and they just so lucked their way into a walk-on role). I moved the camera around to catch some of the ambiance of the bar atmosphere early on (mostly for cutaways). Anthony dressed up in an outfit that would have made "The Duke Boys" blush. Minus having the room filled with a bunch of dancing men, everything for the shoot seemed to be going very well. Then we began filming our dialogue at the bar.
It was hard getting people to stay quiet for the dialogue shoots. It's a bar. There was alcohol being served. I knew that I would have to be patient with everyone involved, it was late, and we would have to be quick. We knew that eventually, we would get what we needed to make the shots work. However, I didn't plan for a drunken wad of fucking idiots to sit directly next to the microphone, refuse to cooperate, and then refuse to leave. The first couple of times... no big deal. However, after a couple of busted takes when Ralph asked the guys, "Do you mind giving me a break, I know you, I know you're family, we're working here. Do you mind giving me a break?" and then the dipshit (who happens to work for a radio show here in town) responds with, "No, fuck you"... there is going to be a problem.
5.) Ralph is a retired Memphis Police Officer. He doesn't take shit from strangers... he doesn't take shit from drunks... and if you're going to be disrespectful and screw with the crew or even try to screw up the production, Ralph will eat you alive and shit you out in chunks. I've never seen him that mad before but I'm glad he kept his cool.
Eventually David had to eject the "radio personality" and his shitheel of a friend. The cops had to be called, David injured his knee after just having knee surgery, a shirt was ripped, several weapons waited in the wings, and eventually the bumbling morons went staggering down the street into another bar and started some more shit. People like that need to be put down.
Now, after that little excursion, everyone was a bit rattled but we continued to film, get some great takes, and cooler heads prevailed before ending the shoot at 4:15AM. I guess that would be one of the bright shining examples of why there is no drinking on a movie set.
I would like to thank everyone that came to participate (with a glaring exception of the two flaming assholes that derailed the first portion of the evening): Arnold, Dayna Hinkle (I remembered your name), Bob, Forrest (for keeping me from stabbing the aforementioned assholes), and even the Memphis Police (though I really would have liked to see the officer put his billyclub to use). I would really like to thank David Nestler for making the shoot happen, taking care of the problems that arose, helping with lights, music, extras, and taking one for the team. Everyone involved with this film owes David a truck load of gratitude.
I can't wait to see the footage. I've got to load at least two more tapes (I got a little behind), rough cut some scenes, and I'm working "nightside" until Wednesday on top of overeating all weekend. We've got quite a bit of work to do. So, next time we'll have a little more control over the situation (I assure you). Even though we had a few people that were a little more than unprofessional, I can tell you that everyone else was respectful, very professional, and very cool to the whole operation. The moral of the story here is: DON'T ACT LIKE A DRUNKEN JACKASS WHEN PEOPLE HAVE CAMERAS ROLLING.... we pay people to do that (sort of), they're called actors.

HERE ARE YOUR THREADS FOR THE WEEKEND:

ANTHONY: Get me out of this outfit as soon as possible.
-- In response to wearing the "ubergay" cut off jeans.

RALPH: (bends over) That's why I come prepared.
--Ralph shows his piece.

BEVAN: What? There's a finger in your butt? You shit yourself? Why are you showing me your ass?
--In response to Ralph bending over

-B