Turnip September 2025 News
"It Takes A Village" - A Film Community Story
Tuesday, July 8th was the very last day of shooting my current film project. The scene itself was extremely simple. But I experienced an unexpected and dramatic example of the value of my film community.
As some of you know, the DP on my current film project was industry veteran Ken Peterson. Ken was a great collaborator on this project. We began working together last December and production began in March. Shooting with my camera, we pooled an assortment of gear (C-stands, lights, etc.) as production went on.
But, on July 6th, two days before the shoot, Tropical Storm Chantal visited the area. Where I live in Durham, it was just a heavy rain. But Ken lives southwest of Chapel Hill in an area crossed by many small streams flowing toward University Lake.
So, as Ken and his wife drove home Sunday evening, they encountered a flash flood so forceful that their car was pushed off the road and into a swamp. They escaped from the submerging car, clung to a tree and were able to call 911. But with emergencies everywhere in the area, they spent nearly an hour in the cold swirling water before they were rescued.
When I heard the news from Ken early on Monday, my message was, "don't worry about the shoot, we've planned this well and I can easily run the camera and direct for this very simple shot / scene. Ken wanted to be there but realized that the combination of the loss of his phone and their loss of one of their cars, and the trauma, was too much for him to do the scene as scheduled. In fact, the road to his house was closed. And the shoot was in Raleigh. Okay, I had to try to do my best without Ken.
Except for one thing!
The shoot was a kind of B-roll shot of three guys in a dark bar. One camera setup and a couple inserts, in a dark bar, with one light directly above the actors as they improvised their interaction.
To position my LED light directly above the actors, our plan was to use a long grip arm I owned, tilted at 45 degrees to support the light. It would require plenty of sandbags for balance and the reach of that arm was not very long. It would be right next to the camera to be almost directly over the actors.
But that long grip arm was at Ken's house!
And this is where the community saved the day. I started making calls to a bunch of folks.
First, I called Ajit. He's an industry vet, a great editor, a friend and works with Figure8Films. Ajit was working from home that day and had a long grip arm. I got in my car, went to his home and picked up the grip arm.
Then I got a return call from Patrick. He's done lots of local film projects, as director, camera and as gaffer. He didn't have a long grip arm but he had an "avenger arm." As he explained it to me, it was clearly a better solution. We arranged to meet later for the handoff.
Then Ismail returned my call. He had the same arm as Patrick, so many thanks. But Ishmail lives further away and so we agreed, I would just go with what Patrick had offered.
With Glenn McAlpine assisting, it was easy to balance the light on this arm, support it on a C-stand, and counterbalance with a sandbag hung on the hook at the end. The whole thing is basically a lever you adjust to balance.
The scene went off without a hitch. And this rig was much more stable than what was originally planned. Thanks to folks I knew might be able to help.
The Film Community
Even without the unexpected problem, this scene involved community help. Finding location, actors, and extras relied on my relationships with a collection of film folks including filmmakers and writers Larry Evans, Al Julian, Michael Papich, and Rob Underhill. And practically every film I've made depends on a network of folks like that scene did.
I've always enjoying making the acquaintance of local filmmakers and film folks. Since the days when a bulletin board called tarheelfilms.com was the internet for North Carolina film people, I've always reached out to any new filmmaker whose name I saw. And, of course, many of these folks become friends, collaborators, cast, or crew.
One of the things I enjoy about moderating a screenwriters group is getting to know many different screenwriters. Several short film productions have happened, based on scripts from that group.
Part of this sense of community is the result of work of people like Camden Watts Roessler and her past work creating an organization worthy of the name Triangle Film Society. Last week I got a call from someone I had met briefly at one of those get-togethers, asking about lenses. Then we had coffee and found many areas of mutual interest.
Today Blake Kinsey and Austin Pigza have set an effort in motion, the New Carolinas Film Collective with a similar goal: a network for local filmmakers. Be sure to check them out.
We should do coffee...