Film and Television

One Day and Counting

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It’s Monday night here in Berlin…which means we are just one day away from commencement  of principal photography on FAST TRACK: NO LIMITS. Fast_track_may_28_084

The last week has been filled with (among a thousand other things) rehearsals, stunt preparation, wardrobe & make-up tests, and the transformation of a fleet of cars into strFast_track_may_28_077 eet racers. The days have been long and exhausting…but lots of fun, too. The highlight for me has been the opportunity to spend four days in rehearsal with our incredibly talented  and creative cast…led by  Erin Cahill, Andrew Walker, Alexia Barlier, and Joseph Beattie. I can’t wait to get  them in front of the camera.

But none of this would have been possible without our line producer Heiko Schmidt, who I’ve seen perform at least one production or budget-crunching miracle every day that we’ve worked together. It’s really not possible to do a job like this without a partner like Heiko watching your back and doing whatever it takes (within the budget!) to make sure that your vision makes it to the screen.Fast_track_may_28_072 

I’m also fortunate to be working with Axel Sand, a director and D.P. who immediately understood how I saw FAST TRACK and, even before we’ve started shooting, has already done so much to bring that world to life. I’m anxious to see him at work on the set.

Tonight I got home earlier than usual (around 8 pm). I grabbed a table outside a restaurant in Berlin Mitte and had a chance to take stock and reflect on the last few months. If you’d told me a year ago that I would be here in Berlin today, writing and producing an action movie, I wouldn’t have believed it. But here I am. In a few weeks, my family will be joining  me and, after the movie wraps at the end of June, we’ll be spending the rest of the summer in Europe together.

I am, without a doubt, the luckiest guy I know. The only thing that could make this better was if my family was already here with me.

(The photos are a few of our over two dozen cars in various stages of transformation. Click on the photos for larger images).

Too Much Fun

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Production on FAST TRACK: NO LIMITS begins in just a few days. The casting is done, the cars are here being transformed into racers, and the stunts are being tested. Now the fun really begins.

I’ve been spending most of my time the last few days rehearsing with the lead cast members, going through the script scene by scene, discussing the conflicts and finding the emotional turns together, and then working them out in performance. I’m so lucky to be working with these young actors. Besides being talented, hard-working, enthusiastic, and great looking, they are unbelievably nice. The whole crew is falling in love with them.

For me, working so closely with them is exciting on another level. In a way, they are my imaginary characters come-to-life, which is exhilirating and a little unnerving. I’m the writer, so there´s no doubt that the characters represent some aspect of my own personality, weaknesses, desires, experiences, fears, and dreams. To see those aspects of myself — who I am, who I want to be, who I desire, who I can never be, etc — reflected back at me in flesh-and-blood is one of the great things about being a screenwriter and a producer. 

Driving_day_cast_2Yesterday, we all went out to a race track outside of Berlin for driving school with our stunt coordinator, stunt drivers, and our second unit action director. It was incredible. We all got the chance to drive three BMWs 5-series and one BMW z4 on a wet track, learning how to drift around a curve, do a 180, and how to drive backwards & spin  the car forward again, among other things.  We also rode with the stunt drivers as they drifted, spun-out, and rammed one another…it was like playing bumper cars with real cars. I’ve never done anything like that…and I loved it. So did the actors and it showed in their performances today in rehearsals when we got to the car scenes. (That’s me with Joseph Beattie, Alexia Barlier, Erin Cahill and Andrew Walker after a day of stunt driving. Could my smile be any bigger?)

P5230106_3 Speaking of cars, we have three of each vehicle — a "picture car" for theP5230107  beauty shots, one with the camera rigging, and one for the big stunts. We are starting with stock production cars and then "pimping them"  inside and out for the stunts. Our cars include a 1965 Mustang, a BMW Z4, a Toyota MR2, a Toyota Supra, a Nissan ZX350, a Subaru Imprezza, a Pontiac Trans Am, and an Opel Tigra, to name a few. We´ve also recruited 50 amazing cars from the "tuning" scene in Germany for the racings and as color at the starting line. Every day I wander down to the shop to see how the cars are being transformed and to watch the stunt drivers testing them.  The shots you see here are some of the naked cars in the very, very  early stages of the work…

Tomorrow there are more rehearsals, more meetings, and on Saturday, a table-reading with the entire cast. 

Footloose and Fancy Free

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Friday was a big day for me… I delivered my novel MR. MONK IN OUTER SPACE to my editor (and learned they’ve moved the pub date up to November) and emerged from a marathon casting  session in London with the remainder of our actors.  The cast is finally locked…and not a moment too soon. I flew back to Berlin that night,  got back to my hotel room a little after midnight, and collapsed into  bed.

Yesterday I had my first free day in weeks and I spent it outside, sight-seeing with our two of our four leads, Erin Cahill and Andrew Walker, who arrived in Berlin on Friday afternoon (our other two leads, Alexia Barlier and Joseph Beattie, arrive on Monday).  We walked all over the city. I had a great time. It felt so nice to be out in the  sun for a change,  instead of locked in my hotel room, my office, or an airplane. For the first time in a very long  time I didn’t  have  to worry about meeting any deadlines, finding actors for roles, making production changes for the budget, locating the right race cars, and all the other problems I’ve had.   It was a genuine day off.

I went to bed 1:30 in the morning and didn’t wake up today until 11. I feel like a new man…which is good, because I am going to need the energy going into the next week. My days are jam-packed with meetings and rehearsals…and I’ve already got to start thinking about my outline for MONK #6.

But today, none of that is going to be on my mind. Today I am getting out of my hotel room and exploring the city.

Thirteen Days and Counting…

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We are getting down to the wire now on  FAST TRACK…the parking lot at the production office (an abandoned chocolate factory) is filling up with great cars for the races and the U.S. cast members arrive in Berlin tomorrow for a week of make-up and  hair tests, wardrobe fittings, driver training with our stunt team, and rehearsals with me and the director. The British, French and German cast come in on Monday and Tuesday (though we are flying our French actress to Stuttgart on Friday with our costumer designer for wardrobe fittings at Hugo Boss). And there are still some roles left open, so I am off to London this afternoon for a marathon of casting sessions on Friday…which is also when I will  deliver my fifth MONK novel to my editor.

Yesterday I met with a possible composer…a young man with an obvious love of American soundtrack composers like Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, and Mike Post. I liked his work and am eager to hear his samples for a possible FAST TRACK score and theme. We’re also talking to some music labels about getting some songs for the pilot. In fact, I may be meeting with an up-and-coming band today before my flight.

The weather in Berlin the last few days has been schizophrenic…beautiful and sunny in the morning, and then pouring rain in the afternoons and nights. I hope that changes when production starts on the 30th…which kicks off with the main unit portion of our action sequences.

On the Fast Track

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The big presentation at the network in Munich went very well. My department heads all did a great job presenting their parts of the FAST TRACK world and the network loved what they saw. Now it’s up to us to deliver on what we’ve promised. Immediately after the meeting, my line producer Heiko Schmidt and I took an Air Berlin flight to Paris. We ended up not being seated together. I got stuck in a very cramped middle seat. I tried working on my MONK book on the flight but I couldn’t get comfortable and I couldn’t focus. The guys on either side of me were ogling the centerfolds in their German editions of Playboy. I still haven’t gotten used to the stewardesses handing out Playboys to the passengers. Everywhere you look its boobs and crotches.

Paris was another adventure. We arrived in the late evening. Our hotel was a dump (don’t believe the pictures you see on the web)…I’ve never stayed someplace where you get a bottle opener attached to your room key. But it was only one night and the hotel was around-the-corner from our casting agent…so we decided to live with it. We went out to dinner and my French got a work-out. I even chatted with the couple at the next table. Afterwards, Heiko and I did th

Style and Substance

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Tomorrow I am off to Munich with my line producer and department heads to make a big presentation to the network on the look, feel, and cast of FAST TRACK. I am really looking forward to showing them everything we have in mind so they will be as energized and enthusiastic as we are.  I’m also eager to get the network approval on our American actors so we can get them on planes to Germany next week. I will also be meeting with the network’s marketing, public relations, and merchandising people to talk about those aspects of the show as well. Then it’s off to Paris on a late afternoon flight to make a  casting session on Thursday for one of our remaining, principal roles…and then I go to London on Thursday night for a casting session on Friday…and then it’s back to Berlin for one, final casting session on Saturday for the remaining, supporting parts. We start shooting on May 30th.

I’ve been here for a week now and I am still exhausted. The problem with the long hours and all this jetting around is that I can’t seem to get my jet lag under control…so I’ve given up. I’ve accepted that I will be going to bed at 10 and waking up at 5. The nice thing is that I am getting a lot of writing done between 5 and 8 am on the MONK book…