As
he drives across the Pocahontas
Parkway bridge, Brian Fox spots the toll plaza
in the distance. But something's amiss.
The right lane is
blocked by a row of orange cones and one of those big yellow trucks with
the flashing arrows.
"I thought
there was an accident," he said later. "Then I realized: That's
for us. I got butterflies."
For a few
hours, this toll booth becomes his stage.
And Fox is
grateful. Making an independent motion picture, even a very short one,
frequently depends on the kindness of strangers and friends.
It also
requires a touch of madness.
"A big
part of making an independent film is the support you get and the things that
fall out of the sky," Fox said.
The support
comes from all over:
Professional
actors spending most of their weekend working for sandwiches, salad and a
chance to ply their art on an interesting project. A highway department
willing to lend one of its brand-new toll booths to a polite but boisterous
film crew.
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'The Toll Collector' The Cast
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Christopher
Dunn plays John Rapp, the toll collector. He is a staff attorney for the
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and managing director for Essential Theatre.
Peter Schmidt
plays Ted Leonard, the interviewer. His day job is at Barnes & Noble Libbie Place.
Stephanie
Kelley plays Franjelica Rapp, John's daughter.
She is a working actor and is president and director of Yellow House, a
nonprofit theater and film company.
Donna Coghill plays Judy Armour,
the protester, and John's sister-in-law. She was also the film's
production manager. By day, Coghill is a
director, actor, producer and arts educator.
Justin Dray
plays an excessively profane driver through John's toll lane. Justin is a
working actor and is vice president and artistic director of Yellow
House.
Barbara Fisher
plays Mary Rapp, wife of the title character. She is an actor and make-up
artist.
John Marshall
plays Andy, a co-worker of John's at the toll plaza. He is a certified
personal trainer and aerobic instructor.
D.L. Hopkins
plays Mikey Spanos,
John's supervisor. He works in information technology for Media General
Inc., which publishes the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The crew
Brian Fox
wrote the screenplay and produced the film. He also played Tony, one of
John's fellow toll booth attendants. Fox is a freelance copywriter and
commercial voice talent. "The Toll Collector" is the second
film he's written and produced.
Paul Awad was the film's director, cinematographer and
editor. Awad has more than 10 years experience
as a professional director and cinematographer. His work includes local regional, and national commercials. "The Toll
Collector" is his second film.
Sean Finnegan
did on-set sound. He's the owner of Sight & Sound Video Productions.
Jon Martin
handled additional sound and equipment.
Jeff Master
was a production assistant. He is a photographer.
Double Image
Studios provided on-set photography.
Stasi Waleski did the catering.
Patrick J. Dunn,
a full-time editor, was the editorial consultant.
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Things that
fall out of the sky can be good - an unexpected but hilarious improvisation
from one of the actors - or not so good, like torrential rain when the preceding
scene was shot last weekend under brilliant blue skies.
"We
had different weather every day we shot," Fox said. "It rained two
days, it was real sunny two days. Then it snowed."
Maybe that's where the madness comes in. Making an independent film means
dealing with an almost endless mountain of details, surprises and
complications.
The prospects for profits are poor. The payoff, if it comes at all, will be
less tangible. The joy of creation is paramount.
Fox, 37, a freelance advertising copywriter and commercial voice-over artist,
is working on his second independent film.
The first, "Zilch," was accepted by nine juried film festivals around
the country, from California to Mississippi.
Fox wrote and starred in the seven-minute comedy about a dithering screenwriter
wannabe. Mickey Strider directed that one.
Fox's latest effort is more ambitious. "The Toll Collector" will be
about three times longer than "Zilch," which was filmed entirely in
Fox's Fan District dining room.
The new film, directed by Paul Awad, a local director and film editor, features
numerous location shots, including the toll plaza, a suburban living room, the
interior of a moving car and Caravati's Salvage Yard, posing as a hardware
store.
"Zilch" had a cast of one and a half - Fox and a talking computer
program. "The Toll Collector" put nine actors to work, with Fox
playing a fairly minor role this time.
The story is more complex too, based on Fox's 24-page script about a doggedly
optimistic toll collector who endures a dull job, obnoxious colleagues, a
witchy wife and a daughter that one of the other characters describes as
"somewhat of a hussy."
It's a comedy, but one with some serious character exposition.
The main character, John Rapp, is played by Christopher Dunn, a lawyer by day
who has been active in local theater for years.
"His character is really an anchor of sweetness, surrounded by a lot of
materialistic, selfish, unhappy people," Fox said.
As the film's producer, Fox has to do a bit of anchoring himself.
He was touched when he first saw the toll lane blocked off for his film. But
the sentiment ebbed just a bit as he pulled into the parking lot next to the
toll plaza.
After his butterflies subsided, he remembered, "Of course, I'm paying for
this."
The cost: more
than $1,000, for insurance, a state trooper, traffic control and
consultation from a toll supervisor.
. . .
Richmonders have grown accustomed to
filmmakers in their midst.
During the past
couple of decades, a few dozen feature films and television movies have
been shot here. And it's not uncommon to see commercials filmed in the
city's streets and alleys.
But the big
production folks head back to California,
or wherever, when their projects wrap.
And once the
commercial spots are finished, the ad folks slip back to their agencies. At
least, they usually do.
Sometimes, in
their spare time, they decide to switch their creative talents from selling
stuff to the more whimsical business of making films from the heart.
Several local
sources report that MovieMaker Magazine's January
issue will name Richmond
as one of its "Top 10 cities to be an independent moviemaker."
The region's
relatively big advertising industry, with its stable of freelance writers,
directors, technicians and art directors undoubtedly contributes to the
film-friendly environment, as does the area's up-and-down but always
resilient theater community.
The Virginia
Film Office also stands ready to assist moviemakers large and small.
Fox said the
agency, along with the Virginia Department of Transportation, gave him a
big boost in making "The Toll Collector."
The film office
helped Fox make contacts with VDOT, which was generous with its facilities.
"The VDOT
people were great. This is a real toll booth we got. That's incredible!
Without them, we would have had to build one."
And the owner
of Caravati's, Jimmy Kastleberg,
lent his building to the filmmakers out of pure kindness.
"He opened
his place for us on a Sunday," Fox said. "And he didn't know us
from Adam."
Still,
independent films ultimately live up to their names. At least one or two
fanatically dedicated souls are absolutely required.
As writer,
producer, actor, financier, assistant editor and occasional prop holder,
Fox meets the requirement.
So does Paul Awad, the director, cinematographer and lead editor.
They filmed on
weekends in November and early December using a small digital video camera.
During the last few weeks of December, Fox and Awad
got down to the gritty business of editing, cutting hours of footage to a
tight 20 minutes or so.
When the Fox
film is finished around mid-January, the two will have spent more than 100
hours editing, hunched over monitors connected to an Apple iMac computer in
a Spartan room at Fox's house.
"A film is
written three times," Fox said. "When you finish the script, when
you shoot it and when you edit it."
Along the way,
things can get confusing.
. . .
Shooting
started the first weekend in November.
"The Toll
Collector" is a "mockumentary,"
told from the perspective of a local television crew filming a news feature
about Rapp, a toll taker celebrating 20 years on the job.
That approach
allowed Awad to use a single digital video
camera, which creates a look that people associate with "reality"
these days.
"Brian's
script really worked well on video," Awad
said. "It's the right look."
It also
simplified matters. No expensive lighting, cameras, sound equipment - or
technicians to operate them. Awad handled the
camera work himself.
Using video
eased the editing process later on, eliminating the need to rent studio
editing time that can set you back $250 to $350 an hour. Plus, they didn't
have to spend money on film, which can get expensive.
The first
scenes were shot at a house near The Shops at Willow Lawn, where we meet
the toll collector and his family at home.
A lot of movie
making is about repetition. And dealing with a thousand little disasters.
Action grinds
to a halt repeatedly to repair the fake nails that keep flying off the
fingers of Stephanie Kelley, who plays the toll collector's daughter.
Lengthy
discussions focus on a plate of doughnuts and precisely how and when they
should be dusted by ash falling from the cigarette of the toll collector's
wife.
Comedy is all
timing - and resonant moments.
"Did we
finally get the right combination of ash and attitude?" asks Barbara
Fisher, who plays the wife.
Fox nods.
"That was very good ash."
A week later,
the cast and crew don orange and yellow safety vests for the toll-booth
scenes, filmed on the Pocahontas
Parkway, a mile or two east of its
intersection with Interstate 95.
An off-duty
state trooper, hired by Fox, keeps an eye on things but mainly looks bored.
Dunn wears his
toll-collector uniform.
"It took
me forever to find the uniform shirts," Fox says. "And the
patches."
Dunn is stuffed
in the toll booth with Peter Schmidt, who plays the television interviewer.
"You're
uncomfortable, but you're acting like you're comfortable," the
director tells the actors.
A stream of
cars rolls by the booth as Schmidt interviews Dunn. He takes the tolls.
When the
scene's over, the cars speed backward in the closed-off lane and do it all
again.
One lane over,
where the real toll takers are working, a boy in the back seat of a minivan
swivels his head as the film's cars race in reverse. He looks puzzled.
"We knew
this was going to be a ballet," Fox says.
Despite some
early morning training from the toll-booth professionals, the actors keep
setting off the toll-not-paid buzzer.
It blares again.
"Oh, that's not us," Fox says. This time a real toll evader ruins
the scene.
After nearly a
dozen takes, Awad smiles. "That's the best
ending we've had so far," the director says. "That's really
nice."
A few minutes
later, during a break, Fox and Awad hunker down
to see what they've got, taking advantage of digital's instant feedback.
They mutter
under their breath. Awad glances at Fox and lifts
his eyebrows.
"There's a lot of nice bits in there," Fox says.
. . .
At first
glance, editing videotape seems to be all about watching endless versions
of scenes that were shot over and over.
In fact, it's
all about sifting gold from the muck.
Fox and Awad are using a $1,000 editing program that lets them slice, dice, mix and tweak scenes, sounds, color,
even lighting.
"We're
debating. We're cutting fat," Fox says. "There's funny stuff
here, but if it doesn't serve the movie, it's out."
Awad runs a couple of versions of
the same scene.
"There are
a lot of jokes," he says. "We're trying to figure out if they're
funny or not. A lot of the comedy is just inappropriate behavior."
Most of it
seems pretty funny now. But will it play that way on a big screen? That's
the tough question, impossible to answer with absolute certainty.
"When you
sit in the editing room for eight hours, you sort of lose your sense of
humor," Awad says.
Their mood
swings from euphoric to defeated, and back again. And again.
"If you'd
seen us on the first day, when we started editing, you'd have seen two guys
going, 'Oh, man,'" Fox says, shaking his head.
Now, they're
feeling more confident.
Part of that
comes from making tough decisions.
"A lot of
times, we've got a great joke, but it goes on too long," Awad says. "So we just say, no. Here's where it
stops."
And part of it
comes from all the hard work the cast and crew put into the film.
"The
actors did a great job," Awad says.
So they might
have a pretty good film. What will that buy them?
Fox spent about
$5,000 making "Zilch." He made about $500 when the film won the
second-place prize at last year's James River Film Festival.
He expects to
drop as much as $10,000 on "The Toll Collector." It's possible he
won't make a penny back. But that's OK.
"This is
what I get energy from. I really have this drive to be creative and to work
with creative people," Fox said.
"When
people are just getting paid in food, you know they're there because
they're passionate about it. That's exhilarating for me.
"This is
costing me money and I'm not going to make any money. But I'm getting a
hell of an education. I don't know how much film school costs. This is my
film school."
For people used
to working in advertising, an independent film can be liberating, Awad said.
"The whole
goal of advertising is to entertain and sell a product," he said.
"This afforded us a chance to try new things. We got to do a little
improvisation. We got a chance to experiment.
"Time is
so regimented in advertising. I did things here that I'd never be allowed
to do on a commercial job."
"The Toll
Collector" needs to be completed by Jan. 14, the deadline for the
Newport Beach Film Festival in California,
the first of dozens of festivals Fox plans to enter this year.
"I'll be
spending a lot of time filling out forms and going to FedEx."
He's already
working on a script for a full-length feature film.
"Now I've
made - I've been part of a team - that's made two films," Fox said.
"It's my intention to keep doing this. This is not some backyard
endeavor."
It is an
enviable form of madness.
