squeetus

That's a wrap, lads and lassies

That was a line from the movie, if it stays in, and I keep thinking of it these past two days. Yesterday was our last day of filming Austenland. After the last shot, the crew gathered onto set and there was cheering, applause, some dancing to Nelly, and tears. I was surprised by my own emotion. I wasn't just tearing up. I was full on chin quivering, face hiding, throat sobbing. The whole project just felt so blessed. As so many people told me, this was one of the most enjoyable movies they were ever on, and many said it was THE most enjoyable. It was just such a lovely cast, lovely crew, lovely director. So great there were no huge egos to bring everyone down. The mood trickles down from the top, and our folks on top were relaxed, competent, and a joy to work with.

I'm so thankful I got to experience this. And I'm so ready to be home. Seven weeks is a long time to be away from half of my family. I want to run home and hug them and snuggle them and stay home for a long, long time.

This ending is so much better than the bittersweet sadness of the last day of summer camp. Camp never happens again, but there's still so much to look forward to with this project. The movie! There will be a movie! How cool to be with dozens of professionals in various fields, all working together to make something. And it's something we can share with all of you. And our families and friends. Perhaps I'll be able to go to a premiere! And that will feel like a reunion.

And there's still the wrap party. I have a new dress...

Photos! Leaked from set! (sort of)

Now, you know I wouldn't really leak photos from the Austenland set. As soon as photos are officially released, I'll link to them from here. I'm such a good girl. So much fun stuff I can't wait to share! In the meantime, I'll content myself with these photos.

Salmon and asparagus quiche I ate, one of five times I've eaten out over the past seven weeks.

Baffled (and delighted) by this obscure sign at a shop. Must be British to translate.

Garlic and onion soup (bland) and delightful cheese and tomato (pronounced "toe-MAH-toe") toastie with Elderflower Bubbly. Pip pip!

Sausage buns! We've been delighted and surprised by a random tray of these three times on set. In puff pastry. Mm.

I kept taking photos of the treat trays after they've been picked over. But I love the little mini-pies. So cute!

Love this sign. In the US we'd say "Caution." BEWARE is so much funnier. BEWARE pedestrians. They will EAT YOUR BRAINS.

Counting down to the end

You know how parents measure their lives by their children? I'm feeling that way with my readers. Some of the lovely, exhuberent girls who were teenage fans of The Goose Girl--or younger!--are now in college or even married! Freaks me out a little. Yes, I'm talking about YOU. You know who you are. How dare you grow up?

It was a week of extremes in Austenland. Tuesday we filmed a scene that was perhaps everyone's favorite to make. There was a festival atmosphere. The sun came out, there were lots of extras and some were family of crew or cast. Children ran around playing. There were treats! It was just lovely. I think I tweeted that I'll remember it for the rest of my life. And then we had two rainy days, one day when it rained from sunup to sundown. It was cold, and everyone was wet and miserable. We kept saying, "At least this didn't happen on Tuesday!" to cheer ourselves up. Happily we were doing an indoor scene. Set was indoors, but most of crew (including me) were outdoors. And I forgot my warm coat. Doh.

One of the most exciting parts of being on set is looking at the schedule. "What's up tomorrow?" I'll read what we'll be filming, and I'll say, "Oh yay! I can't wait to see that scene!" I do this every single day. It's like opening a Christmas present every day for seven weeks.

We've wrapped four of our actors. Only five more days of filming. I'm going to get homesick for Austenland when this is over. I'm going to miss this experience. But I cannot wait to see my cutie kids at home. Thank goodness there's such a strong pull back home or I just might cry.

Awesome Wendy from Screen International visited the set a few weeks ago. She wrote a bit about it for Screen Daily. For those of you who don't want any spoilers from the movie, I warn you away!

Austenland keeps me busy

It's hard finding time to write the blog. I wake up in the morning to babies and spend every moment I can with their lusciousness. Then off to set where, despite not doing anything, I feel quite busy. I get back home late, some days only to see the babies for a bit before putting them down, and other days they're already asleep. I try to answer some emails (no internet on set) and then hit the sack, only to start it over again the next day. No complaints here, except not seeing my kids enough. But it's a temporary schedule, and the experience is so wonderful!

I am sorry that my blog is all about me, me, me. I wish I could gush to you about the cast and crew in specifics, but I understand why that wouldn't be wise. I need to respect their ability to do their job without some uppity writer reporting about their every move on my blog. Some have asked if I've met them all, and yes, I have. And I adore them all. (Danger: gushing likely) Q apparently saw something Ricky Whittle wrote on twitter. I shall have to save that story for a book event appearance. It's just not quite the same in writing. The story is also preserved on video, for good or for ill. Perhaps a DVD extra?

To answer a question many of you have asked, "Will there be a Colin Firth cameo?" Honestly, I can't imagine he has anything in his life more important than making an appearance in my low budget, indie movie. He must not know about it, right? Or else surely he would be. Just as if he knew Austenland the novel was dedicated to him, he would have rung me up to say hello long ago. Yeah, it must be that he just hasn't heard. But it's not too late, Mr. Firth! (Or can I call you Colin?) Still a week and two days of filming left!

Abby asks when we'll have a trailer to show. I truly have no idea. But be assured, the moment it's available, I will let you know here. Am I excited to show you this movie? Why yes, yes I am. That is assuredly true. Am I freaking out with excitement? Well, yes, that's a fair assessment. I've put books out into the world that some have loved, some have liked, and some have hated. I imagine the movie will garner similar reactions. Hopefully most will be the former. Oh I really, really hope.

In an email to my 7 yo this week, I told him that we work 11 hours a day to make just 2 minutes of movie. He wrote back, "Maybe in the future you could work 2 minutes to make 2 minutes of the movie, just so you know what I think." Awesome idea! Love that kid.

You asked for it, you got it

End of week 5 on the Austenland movie set. I can scarcely believe it. 7 weeks seemed so long. Now that I've gotten over the hump, I feel as if there is barely any time left. Some of the regular cast members only work 2 days this week and then wrap. We're that close to the end. I'll be very happy to be home with my whole family in my own house and get back into a routine. But this time has been such an unexpected gift. I feel so honored and humbled to have it. I'm looking forward to two more weeks to bask in the loveliness of wonderfully talented people working together to make something cool.

I promised some question answering! No more dithering.

From Jared Hess's mom: "Jared had a great English accent. Has it come back?" He does a flawless English accent, to my ears anyway. He can do any voice. He's magic. I love your son! Good job, Mama Hess.

From Caro: "Doesn't your butt get sore from sitting all day long? Sorry, I guess what I really mean to ask is whether or not you sit all day long, or if you get breaks specifically for walking around and not getting sore." Harder are the days when I don't get a chair. I get so sore from standing all day! At least with a chair I can take stretch breaks. We're working on an English estate, so there are 5 minute walks from unit base to the set and back again a few times each day. At first I was too embarrassed to do some yoga stretches in front of everyone, but now I just stretch away. Thank you for kind concern regarding my butt. And I thought nobody cared.

From Hydecodesigns: "I don't suppose you could drop a hint about where exactly you're filming?" I'm sorry, I can't! I have to be so careful not to reveal anything I shouldn't. I'm lucky to be here. I don't want them to regret inviting me! But even if you knew where we're filming, you couldn't come onto set, so it'd be a waste of time. I've only been able to bring my sitter of 5 weeks onto set twice, and then only for a few minutes.

From Nancy:

"1. Is there a release date for the movie yet?"

No, not yet. I don't think we'll know any of those details for a few months maybe? Honestly I'm new to this and am not sure.

"2. Do you get a "Director's Cut" (or rather "Author's Cut" version of it before all of the editing rips out scenes that you love?"

Ha! No. The writer is rarely a part of the movie making process besides writing the screenplay. I'm very lucky to be on set for the entire shoot. But I have confidence in the director that if she cuts a scene from the movie, it's for the overall best. When writing, I cut scenes I love all the time because pacing or something doesn't work. Maybe if a scene has to be cut it'll still make the DVD extras.

"3. If you do get one of these versions of the film, can others living in Utah come over and watch it?"

You are so sweet to even assume I'm important enough to get to edit my own version of a movie! I doubt any movie ever has had an "author's version." I guess the author's version would be the screenplay.

From Emma: "Hey, Shannon, any idea what the movie rating (PG, PG-13, R?) will possibly be?" I don't know, but I would guess PG or PG-13. Content level is quite comparable to the book. I'm sure it won't be R.

From Rachel: "Do you know who is going to do the score?" No, not yet.

From Summergirl:

"1. Is your baby-sitter under 18/high school graduate?" She is 17 and has been sitting for me for the past 4 years. I cannot sing her praises highly enough. Other moms out there know what I mean, when you find a golden babysitter, you do whatever it takes to keep her! And keep her happy.

"2. Do you read all the comments?" I do. I think I do. I might miss some sometimes. I usually don't see comments on older posts.

From many commenters: "Is the movie similar to the book?" It is very similar to the book. There are changes, of course. Sometime I'll do a blog post about adapting book to film. I feel great about the changes. Nothing majorly important to me in the book was cut out of the screenplay, and we added lots of bits that I'm very happy with. I hope you will be too!

From Alicia: "Are you nervous at all? So many movies are poorly made--how did you trust that these filmmakers would be true to your story, in addition to the fact that you are a screenwriter?" Co-writing the screenplay was huge for me. I was very much a partner in the entire screenwriting process. But a movie is in the director's hands, as it should be. I cannot control that part of the process. But I knew Jerusha and I knew her past works, and I felt confident in putting the story in her hands. And after the first few days of watching filming, any nervousness that might have been lurking inside me vanished.

From Celia Rangtisch: "You have mentioned bits and pieces of the costumes but only the generic -bonnets, breeches, etc. Are you allowed to mention anything more about them? Are they pretty accurate to the period?" We're doing an Austen-inspired movie. It's not a historical, so there's room to play. I love how the costumes are expressive of the characters. I'm excited for everyone to see all the details, like costumes and set design, that I've been marveling over for the past few weeks.

From Jeanna: "How long will you be shooting?" Seven weeks. Two more weeks of filming to go.

Calliope1of9: "Also I'm wondering if you're starting to see more and more parallels between your life and Becky Jack's?" HA! Oh man, the crazy ways life imitates art. I'll have to do a post on this sometime.

MelissaPete and others: "Will you do a cameo?" Check. Who knows if I'll show up in the final? But yes, I've put on a costume and pranced about the set.

I probably missed some questions, sorry. Some I can't answer. Ask more if you've got them and I'll do my best. If you have burning questions, the best thing to do would be to come hear me speak when I do book events this winter for Midnight in Austenland, and I'll sing like a canary. I do have stories to tell!

A reality check

In March 2008 I received the following email from an Anne:

So, I’m writing today to tell you how your books have impacted me in the last month.  On February 5th my life changed when I was diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma.  I was stunned.  I have three little girls, a wonderful husband and a beautiful life.  I was devastated.  I dropped everything that was extra in my life—including my own writing.  But I did turn to reading—it was just about the only thing I could do, or wanted to do, besides hold my little girls.  I needed something to take me away.  People gave me religious books and books about healing and inspirational stories of overcoming cancer, but nothing sounded good until my copy of A Book of a Thousand Days came in the mail.  I devoured it, and lost myself in a beautiful story, so masterfully told.  After I was finished I found Goose Girl in my little girl’s room (she loves to play Goose Girl—my mom even made her a goose girl costume to wear—she’s 6) and read it all the way through.  I read Princess Academy and cried when I was finished.  I got Austenland out today, maybe just so I could think about Colin Firth for a second.  I can't wait to read it again. Anyway, my point is that there is nothing that has been able to take me away this month, except your books and my little family.
 
I know this must seem like a strange email, but I thought you might want to know that your books have given me an escape—or a release, or whatever you might call it.  I’m grateful for the way you tell stories.  I’m grateful I found your books.  I feel like you’re an old friend and I hope that you’re never discouraged over your writing, because it inspires me in so many ways.

____

I tucked it away somewhere and just happened across it yesterday while working on my computer on the Austenland movie set. I think I replied to her at the time, but I'm ashamed I hadn't thought of her in years. I sent out a query across facebook and twitter and heard back from her cousin that Anne passed away a couple of years ago. I sit here, a stranger, two years too late, crying for Anne and her family. I didn't know Anne, but I wrote books that she liked--that forms some kind of bond, doesn't it? Doesn't that make us kindred spirits? I think another Anne with an "e" would have said so.

The struggle of Jane's story in Austenland is what's real and what's fantasy. Movie making is great fun, but it's fantasy. Family is real. Sending loving thoughts and prayers to Anne's children and husband. Going to go squeeze my babies now.

7 reasons why I'm loving this

So I've been gushing a lot. And I've had it pointed out to me that not everyone enjoys sitting on set all day as much as I do. Movie sets are famously unglamourous and boring. And of course there are downsides to everything that I don't get into, because why dwell on the negative? E.g. after the night shoots I'm speckled with mosquito bites; I'm the only person on the set who doesn't make movies for a living and sometimes (often) I feel like a huge idiot; at times it's just plain physically uncomfortable to stand or sit for hours on end, etc.

But I love watching all the takes. At the end of an 11 hour day we may end up with 2 minutes of finished product. That's a lot of set up time, then filming several takes of the same short scene, resetting cameras, filming the same scene again from a different angle, resetting, filming again, etc. We may hear the same lines repeated 30-50 times in a day. Why doesn't this get old for me? Especially as I don't have a specific role in the work to distract me? I've come up with a few possible reasons.

1. I'm in England in the summer. People would pay good money to hang out on an English estate all day, and we get to do it for work!
2. I love being outside. I love weather that allows me to be outside for most of each day. I just feel great in fresh air and natural light. It's been good for my soul.
3. This is a really great group of people. Everyone keeps gushing about the fab crew. I am inexperienced in the ways of crews, but even I can tell that. And I'm told the mood of a set trickles down from the top. When you've got confident, professional, yet relaxed and low maintenance director and stars, that sets a great atmosphere for everyone else. I think we've got that.
4. Frankly, it ain't hard to please me lately. I've been mostly housebound for the greater part of the past year and a half. Twins pregnancy. Bedrest. Newborn twins. Infant twins in winter. Long winter. And now...I'm outside! And I'm talking to PEOPLE! Adult people! If I were a dog, my tail would be wagging so hard all the time I'd get a tail sprain. ANd I'd be some kind of bouncy, tongue-drooly, ears up breed. Probably a mutt.
5. We're filming my book and my screenplay. So it must be said, I'm probably horribly vain. I must love to hear my words spoken over and over. I must not get tired of what I preceive to be my own cleverness. How embarrassing. I could probably spin this to make it sound better--how about: "When I write a book, I'm creating a world I'd like to live in, and watching the making of the movie of my book is the closest to entering that world." Yeah, that's probably true too, but I can't ignore the whole love-my-own-words idea either.
6. I WANT to love my experience. I've sacrificed to be here. My family has sacrificed to let me come. I have great motivation to enjoy every day and not waste a moment.
7. Have I mentioned there are treats?

Playing all night long

We've had three days of night shoots so far. Unit call is 8 pm. It takes an hour or two to set up the first shot, and by the time we film, it's completely dark. Monday and Tuesday we filmed my baby. It's a scene that's in the book but quite short, which I expanded for the screenplay. To me, it's the centerpiece of the movie, and if I were an actor, it was the scene I would most look forward to. So I was highly anticipating it on Monday evening.

I walked onto set at dusk. In a clearing in the woods, the design department had set up the most gorgeous, detailed scenery. THere were paper lanterns, string lights, and candles, and it felt like entering Faerie. I felt so giddy, so euphoric, I sniffed my hot chocolate to make sure no one had spiked it with anything. Nope. Filming my favorite scene in the woods of England is a natural high, kids. The costumes ranged from gorgeous to out-and-out hysterical. I wish I could give you a play-by-play of the scene and all the highlights, but that would spoil it. I want you to come upon this scene in the movie fresh, with no expectations, and be delighted right out of your seats.

The scene is about four minutes long. I watched up close for the first few takes of the beginning, but had moved back a ways to the monitors by the time they did the first complete run through. Thank goodness. Because it was impossible to remain absolutely silent. I had both of my hands over my mouth and nose (to keep from snorting), my eyes were tearing up, I held my breath, but I could not swallow the laugh. So my laughter came out in tiny gasps and a kind of choking, gurlging noise in my throat. As soon as the 1st AD called "Cut!" all 60-some people on set let out a relieved and united guffaw. Many of us fell onto the ground. I wonder how that must have sounded to any woodland passers-by. It was a violent laugh. Our stomachs hurt with the effort not to laugh out loud, our eyes stung. And there was a heightened comraderie on set. "This is FUN!" people seemed to say, some with a little surprise. A night shoot! And it's fun!

What a great way to start a week of nights! No one was bored. There was a kind of festival atmosphere. Each take was hysterical. It wasn't until 2:30 am that I began to see people sitting back, looking a little fatigued. We finished shooting this mammoth of a scene Tuesday night, so got to revisit the hilarity yet again.

Last night we did two scenes, each quieter, smaller scenes with only two characters in them. It rained. I was well-coated, covered in a blanket, sitting in my chair and holding an umbrella over my head. The crane light cast an unearthly gray pallor on the trees. The rain was fine and thin and traced white scratches against the night air. The pattering sound of rain on my umbrella was as cozy as a fire's crackle. I was warm and dry, in the rain at 3 am, and completely content. One of the scenes is one of the outspoken favorites of many Austenland readers. Many of you have asked if that scene will make it into the film. I don't want to name it, because who knows if it'll survive the editing process (over which I have no control). But yes, we filmed it. And I got to see it from under an umbrella at 3 am.

A lazy day in Austenland

We start night shoots tonight. 10-12 hours of filming = 1-4 minutes of finished movie. So anytime you see a minute or two of an outside evening/night scene in a movie, the cast and crew spent all night filming it. It's a little tricky in England in the summer, because nights are pretty short. Sun comes up around 4:30 am. We're looking into a week or so of night shoots in a row.

I've had such a lovely, lazy day in preparation. This morning, our Kayla got the babies up so I could sleep in. By the time I got up, they were down for a morning nap. I had a bath and tried to catch up on emails. Then we all played together till their afternoon nap, during which I napped again (a bonafide miracle for me). I'll go make some dinner and then head off to the set. I imagine a lot of the cast and crew are having similar days, if they can. Hoarding sleep. Gearing up. Speaking of gear, I'm lacking it. I kinda forgot "night shoot" naturally means "outside," which means, "cold." I only have a sun hat and a rain jacket, unless miraculously the coat and gloves I ordered have arrived already. I'll be bringing a blanket for huddling.