Last year about this time I wasn't "overselling" my cabin because I was trying to save it as a location for shooting Jack vs Lanterns. I figured March wasn't really much of a time for us to have visitors anyway, so no loss of revenue by closing it to shoot. Well, much like this year, the weather was unpredictable and we lost a lot of those nights to rain or freezing temperatures anyway, so the shooting didn't get done.
Seasonal Work.
This past week I had planned to film out there, but we got a last minute booking. I'm not so rich that I can turn down a few hundred dollars (like I did last year), so I decided to finally bite the bullet and shoot the remaining the scenes in my blue cube that I use for the Inside HFP episodes.
Having another job that's basically seasonal causes a bit of a race at the end of winter. I should only have two days of real work when someone stays. Before check-in and after. If there's very little turn around between guests, that drops to one day because cleaning up after one guests also involves checking the place out for the other.
Last weekend was our first guest of "the season", so when I got out there, the place needed some fixing. A wind storm had destroyed a screen door and so we had to get it put back together with some new parts before the guests were due to arrive. That guest managed to break a chair. Fortunately, my next group is small and fine being down a chair because Nancy and I prefer to buy either Made in the USA furniture and/or sturdy used. (This chair was one that came with the original set which came with the house.) Newer stuff doesn't seem to be made to the standards we grew up with and buying used at least helps local charities or entrepreneurs and upcycling efforts. Things like this, however, eat into time that in the winter I would have had free for just editing and writing. Unfortunately, I never seem to be as inspired when there isn't sunshine outside of my window.
The Solution?
I'm really hoping to find a manager to take over this little unit here (we have one for our place in Florida), but I know from experience that they probably won't tackle small issues "in the moment" like I do and I like to be able to do that. I think it makes for a better guest experience. It's just interfering with other projects too much at this point. I spend a lot of time "on call" and I don't book the cabin as often I could if I didn't worry about not being on hand to deal with little issues that may crop up. It takes a lot Nancy's time too. At least a good portion of that time we're working together, so while other couples golf or whatever, we fix stuff and shoot movies.
New Projects.
I started the new podcast this week, right after our last guests checked out. You can read about it in the Cult Goddess Magazine blog. Tina Berg is working on the next episode as I type this. We're sort of in "Pre-Launch" mode with it right now, doing some pilots while I get my feet wet, but it should become a regular thing soon. I look at it sort of like an expanded version of "Cult Goddess TV" from a few years back. If you are an independent director, actor, writer, special F/X artist, make-up artist, jack or jill of all trades or any other independent artist and think you'd like to be on the show, contact me with a DM.
If you have a guest you'd like to hear from on BCinemaTalks, comment below and we'll see if we can make it happen.
Last week I also released the movie, X-24, to Amazon. It's a short film, which we shot in one day just after Halloween last year. I'll tell you all more about it in another blog. I need to go shop for chairs now.
Our UK readers can watch it on Amazon Prime in the UK here.
Look for this photo for the blog on the production of "X-24"
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| Michelle Prenez Kicking bad guys in my "Blue Cube" for Jack vs Lanterns |
Seasonal Work.
This past week I had planned to film out there, but we got a last minute booking. I'm not so rich that I can turn down a few hundred dollars (like I did last year), so I decided to finally bite the bullet and shoot the remaining the scenes in my blue cube that I use for the Inside HFP episodes.
Having another job that's basically seasonal causes a bit of a race at the end of winter. I should only have two days of real work when someone stays. Before check-in and after. If there's very little turn around between guests, that drops to one day because cleaning up after one guests also involves checking the place out for the other.
Last weekend was our first guest of "the season", so when I got out there, the place needed some fixing. A wind storm had destroyed a screen door and so we had to get it put back together with some new parts before the guests were due to arrive. That guest managed to break a chair. Fortunately, my next group is small and fine being down a chair because Nancy and I prefer to buy either Made in the USA furniture and/or sturdy used. (This chair was one that came with the original set which came with the house.) Newer stuff doesn't seem to be made to the standards we grew up with and buying used at least helps local charities or entrepreneurs and upcycling efforts. Things like this, however, eat into time that in the winter I would have had free for just editing and writing. Unfortunately, I never seem to be as inspired when there isn't sunshine outside of my window.
The Solution?
I'm really hoping to find a manager to take over this little unit here (we have one for our place in Florida), but I know from experience that they probably won't tackle small issues "in the moment" like I do and I like to be able to do that. I think it makes for a better guest experience. It's just interfering with other projects too much at this point. I spend a lot of time "on call" and I don't book the cabin as often I could if I didn't worry about not being on hand to deal with little issues that may crop up. It takes a lot Nancy's time too. At least a good portion of that time we're working together, so while other couples golf or whatever, we fix stuff and shoot movies.
New Projects.
I started the new podcast this week, right after our last guests checked out. You can read about it in the Cult Goddess Magazine blog. Tina Berg is working on the next episode as I type this. We're sort of in "Pre-Launch" mode with it right now, doing some pilots while I get my feet wet, but it should become a regular thing soon. I look at it sort of like an expanded version of "Cult Goddess TV" from a few years back. If you are an independent director, actor, writer, special F/X artist, make-up artist, jack or jill of all trades or any other independent artist and think you'd like to be on the show, contact me with a DM.
If you have a guest you'd like to hear from on BCinemaTalks, comment below and we'll see if we can make it happen.
Last week I also released the movie, X-24, to Amazon. It's a short film, which we shot in one day just after Halloween last year. I'll tell you all more about it in another blog. I need to go shop for chairs now.
Our UK readers can watch it on Amazon Prime in the UK here.
Look for this photo for the blog on the production of "X-24"
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