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STORIES
FROM THE TRENCHES
It
wouldn't be an independent guerilla film without the stories that toed
the line of bravery and stupidity. The fine line between skill and blind
luck. Slow Jam King was no exception. With a schedule so tight that
there was no room for mishap, plenty of mishap occurred. But the amazing
cast and crew were able to maintain and, even better, excel. Here are
a few of these "mishaps."
POLICE
DRAW GUNS ON CAST & CREW - STAR CUFFED!
Freehold, NJ - In true no-budget fashion, we were able to get permission
from a great location (a gas station), with a great owner who complelety
backed the project and let us shoot for free (Stan - you are truly the
man). Of course, we didn't really notify the authorities... and it was
a chase scene... with a lot of loud cursing & running... and a gun...
you get the picture. Amazingly, we were able to roll off 7 takes of
the scene until Freehold's Finest stormed our location in force with
6 cars. The whole cast and crew were face down on the ground, hands
and legs spread for about 30 minutes until the officers checked everything
out. SJK star, Ron Domingo, and Line Producer /Assistant Director Drew
Luis, were both cuffed and put into separate police cars until everything
checked out. Of course, after a little over an hour, they let us go,
and even were nice enough to let us continue shooting. And the cast
and crew were serious champs - going straight back to work without hesitation.
Needless to say, we were extremely lucky that no one was shot. Also
needless to say, we were extremely stupid. And to think... until that
day, I've never had a gun pointed at either my chest or my head! Unfortunately,
no photos or video of this was taken. But we'll work on some 3D CGI
composites when we have a chance...
FIRE
AND HISTORIC MANSIONS
Morristown,
NJ - Within a week after we were visited by New Jersey's Finest, New
Jersey's Bravest decided they wanted part of the Slow Jam King action,
and we obliged. We were lucky enough to procure a historic mansion in
Morristown, NJ, and were cruising along one of our tightest shoot dates.
Since the mansion had an older style circuit breaker, the box didn't
trip when we went over the limit on power... it just started to burn.
Actually, it wasn't really that bad - the box just started smoking,
really. But it was enough to get the fire department there. And this
time we had to shut down. Luckily, we were able to get a lot of our
scenes done, and managed to complete the rest at another mansion.
THE
BLACKOUT OF '03
At
the end of our first week of shooting, en route to our second location
of the day, the traffic lights stopped working. And so did everything
else that needed power. We pulled our van in front of my apartment,
and started listening to the radio to see what was going on, and were
quickly engulfed by a swarm of paranoid people who were all asking the
same questions - "What's going on?" "Is it an attack?"
We obliged to their demands and turned up the volume. It was the Great
Blackout of '03. We were only set back by a day, because of the actual
blackout. but the additional aftershocks of the blackout also had repercussions.
The chips in my office elevator got out of whack during the blackout,
so the elevator couldn't work even when there was power, locking everyone
out of the office, and preventing us from pickging up all our costumes
for a very big scene. We had to eat the costs and purchase replacement
wardrobe, since we only had one shot at the location. And, unfortunately,
had to waste some very cool costumes that our stylist, Iracel Rivero,
made. But, it all worked out in the end, and we were able to come up
with more creative ways to use iracel's work.
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ABOUT SLOW JAM KING PRODUCTION
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