And we're off!

Sunday, August 19th, was the first shoot for Everyone's Business. We all arrived at the Whipple House in Ipswich MA by 8:45am. I was armed with bagels and a Box o' Joe. The scene we were to shoot was where Libby arrives at the historic house she's to manage as her new job in the small town of Appleton. What she doesn't expect when she arrives with a suitcase in tow, is to find "someone" already living there. Erika Lamarre plays Libby, the new girl in town, and Susan Lombardi-Verticelli plays Jane Haley, resident ghost.

Director Debra Crosby, Director of Photography Garrett Williams, Consultant David Mauriello, and me, Alison Taylor, the Screenwriter now Producer, Prop Master, Craft Services, Wardrobe Consultant and Location Scout were all on-board to get the day started. A slow start, true, with make-up to be done and a costume to be pieced together (Oh we could have had quite the skin-baring sultry ghost), we were finally ready to roll about 10:30am.

We met our make-up artists Christine Caggiano and Carolyn Booker for the first time and they did an excellent job. They also kept me company while Garrett did his thing. We shot the exteriors of the Whipple House with Libby bumbling along on a seashell walkway in heels, pulling her suitcase, carrying a box and a lamp. A city girl looking a bit out of place indeed. Perfect.

Garrett shot her from the back heading up to the house as well as from a window upstairs. The Whipple House care taker, Judy Hallberg, was so kind to let us use the house and to set up shop in her own living room in the back.

We then moved over to the Bradstreet Ell, a little kiss of a house, and shot the "interior" within a 10x10 room. Garrett made it work by capturing the scene tightly from both inside the house and outside. Erika and Susan did a fabulous job with the relatively short scene and seemed to have a lot of fun doing it!

As it got toward 1pm, though, everyone was starting to get a bit tired. Tours were starting over at the Whipple House and between motorcycle parades and the beach shuttle zooming by, a few extra takes had to be done in order to get clear audio. Darn traffic!

It was a terrific start, an amazing moment for me to see the script come to life, and I can't wait for the next scene we're shooting at the Ipswich B&B. It's Ladies Night, whoo hoo! Seven actresses and Geoff, our Silent Sam. Should be a fun night. I have the ugly garden clogs ready for the "housewives" and designed a book cover for "Dumped at the Corner of Love & Hate" complete with fake reviews from Oprah, JK, and John Deere.

Til then...

“Dumped at the Corner of Love & Hate is filled with humor, intelligence, and downright sassiness. If were to write one more Harry Potter book, Hermione would be sure to have this on her bookshelf alongside Make-up for Muggles.” — J.K. Rowling