"Call time is 10 am and I still have to pick up the lead actress I met via a craigslist ad. It is now a quarter past 10 and I still have now clue where I am driving to as my phone continues to ring. I try not to answer it as I try and make sense why there are two different Mission street exits. I crumble my mapquest directions and throw it in the back seat. My phone rings again, it is a crew member asking me where I am and verifying that they are on time despite the director not knowing where he is going. My phone rings again. The lead wants to know where I am and I tell her I will be there in seven to ten minutes (the typical answer I give to anyone when I am running late). As I am explaining my tardiness to an actress that I have talked to once in the back of my head I am thinking that in the back of her head she does not trust me and probably questioning the validity of our prior conversation. I bring a female crew member to avoid scarring off the actress from the feel of a shady adult filmmaker. I stop by two gas stations and against my internal instinct ask for directions and of course neither of them know where I am going. That’s makes 3 of us. A strange coincidence occurs when they both try to get me to buy maps. At this point I want to punch them in the neck for lying in order to sell a 3 dollar map, but I am trying to make a commercial so I will save this for tomorrow. I jump back in my car to see 3 missed calls. So I drive following my instincts which have done nothing for me. Welcome to 10:40 am. This is when God realizes he is done laughing at me and I see a road sign that shows me where to go. I quickly call the actress saying, “I am here.” I still have another 2 minutes until I am there so I kept her on the line. Finally I see her and introduce myself. I quickly call my crew members that are waiting at a coffee shop and I tell them I will be there in 7 to 10 minutes. At this point my brain is thrown off track and I am trying to figure out how to make up this time when I only have one day to shoot and need the daylight. So I tell myself it is just 30 seconds that I need despite knowing that telling a story in 30 seconds can be more difficult than telling a story in 5 minutes. I arrive at the coffee shop 15 minutes later. I am try rushing everyone as they all make smart ass remarks saying I am late not them. I know this. I rush everyone into the parking lot where I do a quick wardrobe check. We then all begin our 5 car motorcade to the beach. We arrive to the beach and begin setting up in what should have been a clear day by now, but the fog has yet to burn off. We start shooting and things finally begin to run smoothly. Once I get the take I needed for the first shot, a huge weight lifts off my shoulders. I am able to have fun with the shoot now. It turned out to be my favorite production day of all my projects."Dave Keenan
Digital Filmmaking Program Graduate
Writer/Director of "I DEW" Commercial
