It takes a village to make a film. Here, NYWIFT member Jane Applegate give thanks to all those who lended a hand – literally and figuratively – over the years.
By Jane Applegate
As the holiday spirit flowed last month, my thoughts turned to angels. Not the winged ones in heaven, but the earth-bound ones who generously support independent filmmakers.
I owe everything to the angels who have supported my low-budget film and TV projects through the years. They not only wrote checks, but provided invaluable blessings in the form of donated props, boats, equipment, carpentry skills, political clout, psychological counseling and most of all, their time.
One of my biggest angels was Connecticut entrepreneur, Don Vaccaro. In 2014, he provided us with free access to his five-acre section of Mistake Island, a remote island located off the coast of Jonesport, Maine.
The rugged island is home to an elegant, unrestored 1800’s-era lighthouse, the perfect setting to shoot To Keep the Light, a period piece written and directed by NYWIFT member Erica Fae. Fae’s months of location scouting led us to Vaccaro, who on a whim one evening, purchased a section of the tiny island via an online real estate auction.
Vaccaro’s generosity enabled us to shoot To Keep the Light (www.tokeepthelight.com) for less than $1 million. In addition to providing the spectacular island, he covered the cost of a construction crew and $63,000 worth of building materials to build the exterior of the lighthouse keeper’s house. Years before, the original keeper’s house had been blasted to bits during a military training exercise.
Built mainly with cables and bolts, all the siding, lumber, windows and trim were salvaged by the construction crew after the shoot and stored on the island to build a future cottage.
Other Jonesport angels were Joy and Colin Alley. I met Joy in the church across the street from the charming inn we rented to house the crew and use as a key location. I was in the church crying and praying — two things many overwhelmed producers do often. Joy reminded me that her husband, Colin, owned the biggest fishing boat in Jonesport. She said if there was anything they could ever do to help out, please call her anytime.
A few days later, as the leaden clouds rolled into view, our fantastic line producer, Samantha Knowles, insisted that we get everyone off the island — fast. Harry Fish, captain of our tiny fleet of small fishing boats, told Sam it wasn’t safe for him and his sister to return to the island to fetch us. I called Joy and within an hour, Colin and his fishing boat crew arrived to rescue us and all our gear.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was another angel. A few weeks before shooting started, we learned that the shrill audio signal generated in the lighthouse blared every two minutes — making it impossible to shoot on the island. As luck would have it, Sen. Collins chaired the committee that oversaw the U.S. Coast Guard. Her office was instrumental in accelerating the switch from the automated signal to a ‘marine-activated’ signal that allowed us to shoot on the island.
Other angels included members of the Jonesport Historical Society, who lent us priceless antiques to outfit the general store and provided access to the original post office for the final scene. Those precious antique gave the film its authentic look and feel.
When my friends heard I was finally getting to produce my ‘dream film’ on the scenic coast of Down East Maine, several volunteered to help out on set. Kent Newton, a former Navy diver and underwater cinematographer with 40 years experience, spent nearly a month working with the camera crew, serving as a safety officer and wrangling boats for various scenes.
Alice Look, a post-production supervisor at a major cable network, spent a week on set, grappling with all the SAG paperwork.
My dear friend, Linda Denny, drove us from New York to Jonesport — shopping for food along the way and then cooking for the cast and crew along with Todd and Butchie, our full-time catering team.
Another close friend, Jay, an experienced DP, spent a week on set helping the crew, while also serving as my bodyguard, therapist and driver.
Two years later, on writer/director Harris Doran’s Beauty Mark shoot, I met Brian, the owner of a downtown Louisville ‘gentlemen’s club.’ Brian not only let us shoot in the club for a couple of days, but played himself and did a darn good job.
On our last day of shooting, the piece of crap car purchased by the line producer I stepped in to replace after she had a meltdown, died. We had one final, critical driving scene and no car. Someone remembered that our club owner friend, Brian, owned a big, flat bed truck. At midnight, Brian rolled up in the truck, winched the crappy car on to the flat bed and helped the exhausted crew rig up the camera car.
Brian and his truck saved the shoot. While they drove off, I dried my tears and unloaded a few bottles of tequila and a trunk full of soda, beer and snacks I had been squirreling away because I was determined to have a wrap party.
We had been shooting non-stop for 12 days under battlefield conditions including a sizzling heat wave and roaring thunderstorms. I spent my own money to rent a car, (that’s another story) but had enough cash left to buy one hundred Fourth of July sparklers. At 2 a.m., when Doran called “Cut—That’s a wrap!” I set two handfuls of sparklers ablaze and passed out the rest to the exhausted crew.
This time, I was crying tears of joy.
Jane Applegate is a producer dedicated to producing ultra-low budget films. She’s also a production consultant and teaches film financing and the business of film at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Brooklyn College.
Related Posts
NYWIFT Member Spotlight: Myrta Vida
Myrta Vida is an award-winning writer and independent filmmaker specializing in features, shorts, documentaries, and stage productions. She serves as a producer at 3DMC, the production company behind the John Cassavetes Award-winning feature Premature (2019) and the Sundance Award-winning hybrid documentary The Infiltrators (2019). Since 2010, Myrta has worked as a story consultant and script doctor for independent filmmakers worldwide. A proud Army veteran from Puerto Rico, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and completed a conservatory program in screenwriting at the New York Film Academy, both with summa cum laude honors. Additionally, she holds a certificate in sketch comedy writing from the Upright Citizens Brigade and was a 2022 Fellow with Third World Newsreel. Get to know her in our latest interview!
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Chiemeka Offor
Chiemeka Offor is a NYC-based Nigerian-American interdisciplinary artist, image maker, and director currently focusing on editorial photography and poetic short films. Her artwork has been featured in Cultured, i-D, Vogue Italia, Women’s Wear Daily, Buzzfeed Photo, Frieze, and Office Magazine. Chiemeka has received National recognition as a Grand Prize Winner in the Smithsonian Teen Portrait Competition for her portrait “Showtime”, and a 2020 National Young Arts Foundation Award in Photography. In the spring of 2023, she joined the 2023 Voice X PhotoVogue NFT Residency and is currently pursuing a major in Film and Television at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she continues to construct visual and sensory worlds of inclusion through her intersectional and community-driven work. Continue to read more about Chiemeka and how she hopes to mesh the two worlds of fashion photography and visual activism in her career.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Angela Inez
Welcome to NYWIFT, Angela Inez! Angela is a screenwriter, podcaster and SAG/AFTRA actress with a deep love for words. Her upcoming audio drama “Where Loyalties…Lie” will debut in Fall of 2024. She was in the Writers Guild Fellowship for military veterans where she developed a supernatural drama television pilot. Read our interview with Angela below to learn more about her creative journey, her upcoming audio drama and her advice for pursuing careers in podcasting and television.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Gina Moore-Herring
Welcome to NYWIFT, Gina Moore-Herring! Writer, Filmmaker, and Digital Content Creator Gina Moore-Herring is a proud New Yorker and graduate of NYU where she studied Digital Communication & Media. Gina, also known as “G”, started her creative journey in the Fashion Industry in production, and as a designer. Her dream job with Calvin Klein led her to Gerber Technology where she worked for 10 1/2 years learning the importance of technology in global business. Her “can do” fearless approach allowed her to build lifelong business networks and travel the world. It is also the catalyst to spearheading her own consulting company, where she uses her business savvy skills to work with corporations, large and small, saving them time and money through her strategic, transformative thinking.
READ MORE
Comments are closed