Casting Magic

My third week here is done and our preparatory work is nearing completion.  Getting ready too shoot over 600 pages of script in 50 days is a somewhat daunting task.  To get a perspective on this, most movies are 90 - 120 pages of script and anywhere from 18 days to, well, 60 and beyond.  I know of no better way to cut your teeth as a director for film than to prep, cast with final say and shoot all 13 one-hour episodes of a TV series.  I am so honored and grateful for having this opportunity and to work with the lovely people of Kenya.  

Today I had the lovely experience of seeing a vintage car show at the Nairobi fair grounds.  Lots of people, cars, motorcycles and food and fun.  And the weather this time of year is just divine.  Sunny, warm and a light breeze.  Perfect for shooting actually! 

My son Harrison flew home by himself on Friday night.  He caught two connections and traveled over 29 hours straight to get back to Vancouver and he’s just 15 years old.  He told me he is going to tell his grandkids about it.  

With a major situation now under control (location), another had to be resolved this week too.  A lead, who was not yet under contract but was cast, had a schedule problem.  Not a big deal right?  Just find another actor.  Well this lead happened to be a white female North American.  No such actor exists here in Kenya and probably not in all of Africa!  I had virtually no time to think about it and had to take action.  It just so happened that an actress I had coached years ago was following this very blog and sent me an email commenting on how great the blog was and how she missed being in Kenya.  Guess what?  I sent her a request to put herself on tape, upload it to YouTube and send me the link.  And I got another woman who was also coming here already to put her audition on tape.  I received the links, viewed them and wrote direction notes for both of them.  I got the new links and they both did a great job.  Now it was down to character.  Which one was the character?  The actress who commented on my blog got the job and not only that she could drop everything and arrive here in a matter of days and stay here for 10 weeks to shoot the series.  Major situation #2 handled!  Whew!  As I write this Meghan Lees is on a plane heading here.  

Amazing what can happen in this business.  One day you see a blog from an acting teacher you had about him directing in Kenya, you make a comment, and within a week and a half you are on a plane flying to Africa to do a lead role in a series!  It’s a great story to tell.  

Spielworks Media Offices in Nairobi

The series is Kenyan based with real Kenyan sicknesses and accidents and situations.  It has a bit of the USA thrown in there for good measure (American doctor and her son), mainly to point up the cultural differences in a mild attempt to enlighten the astonishingly widespread lack of understanding in the western world of this great continent and, more specifically, Kenya.  What an awesome series this is going to be.  I am so very excited to give these pages life!  Great stories and interesting characters.  A very unique series coming to a channel near you!

Ciao for now!

Neil

Casting, Location and Mombasa!

Ramping up to shooting SAINTS this week has been very productive.  All the leads have been cast and supporting roles for the first 7 episodes have been pretty much worked out.  This week we will contract the rest of the cast. 

Before we launched into all that production last week, we had a trip to Nakuru National Park.  There we were fortunate to rhinos, giraffes, monkeys, baboons, lions and flamingos at Lake Naivasha.  What a great place!  Here are some photos:

Ken - our driver

I was having a good time!

That trip set us up for a great week and a major accomplishment...

Although we had secured a hospital location before I left for Nairobi, it was not the most ideal of locations.  The main hallway we had to work with was only the width of an average hallway in a house and we didn’t have access to a reception area.  The walls were not the right colour and the exterior would not provide us with the shots we needed.  Luckily, the hospital I had originally worked in back in March, contacted us again and our producer, Dorothy Ghettuba, managed to reach an excellent agreement with the hospital CEO.  It’s a much better location with wide hallways, nice reception area and nurses’ station, waiting rooms and so forth.  I am very excited to say the least! Oh, and the best thing of all, there’s a Java House across the street!    

So with casting and location secured, we can now confidently move on to finalizing the colors and materials necessary for the sets and props with the art department.  

With all that behind us, the staff at Spielworks decided to have a bit of a break before we launch in to heavy duty production with a road trip to Mombasa.  Mombasa is a Kenyan city on the coast of the Indian Ocean.  It’s a tropical paradise with a huge natural port that has been the centre of trading for many centuries.  The Portuguese, Turks, Arabs and British all have had their hand in the control of the port at one time or another.  In fact, Swahili, on of the national languages here (English being the other), is derived from Arabic.  I believe the Arabs were here for a couple of centuries or more.  

Mombasa is very multi-cultural.  More so than Nairobi.  All the trading of goods and spices brought people from far away lands like China, Thailand (Siam), India, United Arab Emirates, Britain and Portugal.  

After One and a Half weeks - almost

The SAINTS adventure continues!

The flight to Kenya was long and tiring.  Flying to Dubai took approximately 16 hours  and was a pleasant flight.  Harrison and I stayed in a very nice hotel in Dubai where the temperature was 37 degrees (99 Fahrenheit) when we landed at 7:30 p.m.  

The next morning we walked around the area of the hotel in search of some food and drink.  The only place open was a small confectionary-type store where we got some drinks and snacks.  Walking back to the hotel, Harrison opened his drink to cool down - it was 45 degrees (not sure of the Fahrenheit equivalent).  As we approached the hotel entrance the bell hops looked panicked and quickly told Harrison to stop drinking in a public place.  “It’s Ramadon!” they said, “You could get a 500 durham fine (over $100) for drinking in public.  You can only drink that in your room!”  They then proceeded to tell us that it is a law in Dubai since it is a time of fasting.  But at night, it’s okay to drink and eat all you want.  

Here are a couple of photos of Dubai from our hotel window.  

 We had a bit longer stay in Dubai than we had anticipated.  Emirates Airlines overbooked our flight and only one of us could board.  So we waited another 6 hours for the next flight.  It was okay as the Dubai airport is like a giant shopping mall.  

We arrived in Nairobi late on Sunday and stood in line for over 2 hours to get our visas due to the number of flights that arrived at the same time.  

On Monday I started to hold casting sessions.  We went four days straight and I auditioned over four hundred actors.   Some of them were fantastic.  Even though it was long and arduous it paid off.  Because there are no agents or casting directors here, we had to do an open call.  

Harrison and I on a break after a casting session.

Ndanu and Kemi having a break from casting.  We had a team of 6 people.  

I got a chance to see our main location, the hospital.  We have a wing and a half to work with. Next week I will be heavily into preproduction with the DP (who just arrived from South Africa), the Art Director and wardrobe.  The 1st AD will be hired and scheduling will begin as well.  With just 50 days to shoot 13, one-hour episodes, we need to be properly scheduled.  

Nairobi is a bustling, lively city.  People are on the move and business is booming in every sector.  You just can’t find energy like this back home.  Opportunity is virtually everywhere as the country has a rapidly expanding middle class that is demanding everything from iPhones to new cars and everything in between, like flat screen TVs and DVD players.  

There are over 30 countries in Africa that speak English, so there is a big market for our show.  

It took a few days to get over my jet-lag.  After casting for 9 hours, I just couldn’t do much else other than eat and go to bed.  But now I am working on the Kenyan clock.

So all the lead and supporting roles have been finalized and the actors will be notified tomorrow.  Sean, the DP, arrived today so we did our recce (location scout) with the sound recordist today.  Things are moving ahead nicely.  The first 7 scripts are done as well.

More photos and stories to come next week.  We have delayed shooting to Monday the 27th of September due to some scheduling but all systems are GO!

From Nairobi,

Neil