“Sasquatch” filming – day 2
On Tuesday, the second day of filming, the weather reared its snowy head and became an issue again, long after the crazy deep-freeze of last December. Another 10 cm of snow was supposed to fall some time today, although it also was supposed to melt away under late-day rains. But the skies were still clear as I got in the car and phoned Fahim to tell him I was on my way. He told me to wait – they were having a meeting and he’d let me know where and even if they would be filming today.
As it turned out, we didn’t film at Sasamat today. Someone had spun out on the way up there and dinged their car, and even at Capilano, cars were sliding on the parking lot – so an executive decision was made by the powers that be at the school that they wouldn’t go to Sasamat. Naturally this threw things into a bit of a tizzy and the “Sasquatch” team had to scramble to revise the schedule.
I was told they would definitely need me, though, so I followed my plan and headed for East Hastings, parked on a side street, called Fahim with my location and waited for a ride. (I didn’t want to take any chances in case the North Van streets were snowy.)
Today, I settled in at a new location, a giant studio building at the school, meant for interior film shoots. It was empty except for a couple of fragments of sets and a small sofa. I parked myself there, pulled out my brittle little paperback of “David Copperfield” and started turning pages.
Trouble was, time passed and nobody came to get me.
Eventually I was asked to go over to the “wardrobe department” – a corner of the classroom where the costume students work. I got into my “Greg the writer” clothes. Soon it was 1pm and lunch was about to be served – and almost simultaneously, word came through the walkie-talkie that I was not needed and would be released for the day!
A little confusion was understandable, but this really was too much. Luckily, this turned out to be a false alarm. They did use me for some “inserts”, some scenes in the car from Greg’s point of view – just showing my hands pulling out a portable tape recorder and answering a cell phone.
So this turned out to be a less than productive day, but on the other hand, it was a relaxing one!