Am calls first thing in the morning and doesn’t quit as Art Director, she merely needs to confirm some phone numbers, that's two days in a row she hasn't quit, things are definitely looking up.

Today is a very important day in the whole six week preproduction period as it is the day in which Paul tries to persuade Roger to be our cinematographer. Paul & Roger are long term collaborators and Paul is adamant he needs him to shoot the film and no-one else. One of the tenets of getting Seanne the Production Designer was that she could work with Roger again. The more I hear about him the more I think he is some kind of cinematic guru.

Paul's plan to persuade him runs loosely on the lines of 'I know you have just come back from three months in the Syrian desert and haven't seen your wife yet but we have already booked your flight for the recce.'

Guilt trip yes, feel guilty about it no.

Williams and I spend the day prepping the recce next week including booking a café in Rennes to meet an actor for the Soldier role and advertising for dogs, specifically a Breton Spaniel, such is Paul's desire to have a “local” breed in the film.

The emails bring in a plethora of CVs from Sound Recordists whom I fix to meet Paul tomorrow. I am about to reply to one when the room starts to shake, the tea in my cup ripples and I am reminded of that moment in Jurassic Park. We rush to the window to see a huge van rumble its way along the street and pull up outside the door. I greet the driver, sign for the stationary and spend the next fifteen minutes humping paper, pens, ink cartridges and a chair into the office whilst answering the numerous texts I get from Paul. “What camera are we using, what percentages, deferred payment etc”.

Stéphanie comes back saying she saw Paul and Roger in a little café in Soho, I ask her how Paul was, happy, sad, stressed, hoping for some clue as to how the meeting is going and if Roger will sign up or not.
“He was okay,” came the inconclusive answer leaving me non-the-wiser.

A long day of emails and calls ends at 5:40 when I check my in box and find no new emails. Phew. Paul calls and says Roger is interested and is prepared to blow out two TV series offers for us but has a commercial offer which will pay him equivalent of half our shooting budget which he needs to do. He will know in 24hrs when the dates are. I am about to relax when Kylie, our Executive Producer, arrives with her boyfriend Yoram who is interested in investing the equivalent of 1/5th of our shooting budget, I make him some tea and we discuss details.

In the evening Stéphanie and I go to the cinema to see a preview of 'The Marriage OF Figaro', I had forgotten that other films exist, normally I go to the cinema two or three times a week, I have seen two films since we start preproduction.

Crew members. 1 gained (possibly). 0 lost.

Day 20 Thursday 6th September 2007

Seanne is back in the office after her sojourn in Italy, she meets Am the still-not-yet-quit Art Director and likes her, so that is sorted.

We go on our second location recce to find an apartment for Callum. Seanne is not happy with our choice, a run down Tower Block in East London.
“It's a shithole,” she says in that subtle way Italians have with words.
“I want him to live in a shithole,” argues Paul.
“Yes, but there's shithole and shithole,” adds Seanne. “And this is a shithole!”
We finally compromise with a Tower block round the corner that is exactly the same except that it is painted a nice shade of blue.
“Now that's a nice shithole!” says Seanne.

Back in the office I check with her that she is okay for the recce next week and she tells me that her new Italian boyfriend is in London for those days and so she can't go. As half of the shoot takes place in France we really need our Production Designer on the recce but she refuses to leave him in London on his own, pleading that he doesn't speak any English. Backed into a corner I acquiesce and book him on the flight with us to France, which really pisses Williams off as he has already prepared the recce budget without including Italian lovers.

Steve Stills calls and says he has a Camera Operator for us. A friend of his called Pete. In the afternoon the post still hasn't arrived and this makes me a little edgy, which is quite disturbing when I realise I am actually hanging around my apartment all day waiting for my gun and condoms to arrive. If my mother calls I must remember NOT to mention that. Still, at least with an office full of people I'm dressed and not hanging around in my boxer shorts eating cold beans from a can.

Stéphanie breaks the wonderful news that we have a bunch of dogs waiting for us to meet in France for the dog casting. We get a call from a company offering us a small lighting package for free. We accept clear in the knowledge that our idea of the term 'small lighting package' is probably very different to theirs, rather like being offered a cup of coffee and a biscotti when what you really want is to own Starbucks.

I crash into bed late and dream of small lighting packages and Starbucks.

Crew members. 1 gained. 0 lost.

Day 21 Friday 7th September 2007

Hurrah ! Today the condoms arrive, hundreds of them. Some are out of date and to be used as props only, the rest are to be handed out as gratuities to sweeten the crew (probably just before wrap party).

As if that wasn't enough Roger calls to say he is okay to be the DoP on the film, this is a huge relief and we are about to celebrate by inflating pink balloons when he mentions that he will only do it on one condition, that being he refuses to shoot anything on HDV as the quality is not good enough. In short, we need to find a full (full being the industry term for 'expensive') HD camera, which somewhat flies in the face of our initial idea of shooting on HDV because it was free. The plus side is that if we get full HD we won't need the lens adapter but the down side is that the full HD camera and prime lenses will still be too heavy for Greg's stedicam rig. We set Sarah the task of finding a camera.

It is then that the inevitable happens. We have been waiting for it and running a small sweepstake on the outcome. Yes, Seanne calls to say that Am has quit as Art Director. Apparently she has been offered a paid job. Paul & I pay Sarah her winnings and once again we are back to square one on this issue. I have exhausted my resources and contacts but assure Seanne I will find someone. I would offer myself but I have already quit once. Steve Stills then calls and says he can no longer be the stills photographer as he can't commit the time. However, the day isn't completely lost as we get an offer of a brand new HD camera that has only been used on one other feature. A deal is struck involving deferred payments, back end percentages & cash stuffed in an envelope, no doubt brown in colour and recycled from an earlier football bung. The deal is to be done in a seedy bar somewhere next week when we will step boldly into the murky side of the film world.

I am about to post yet another advert for Art Director when I get an email from Daniel the Swiss one asking if I have passed on his details to Seanne as he hasn't heard from her. I quickly forward it to her and text her the news. A few minutes later she calls to say she has spoken to him, he sounds promising and they are meeting at the weekend.

Phew !

Crew members. 1 gained. 2 lost.