road trippin'

previously published by me elsewhere:

Whew! I just got back from Jacksonville, having gone with the director of our movie to check out a hospital for our shoot. This would resolve our location needs for about a dozen or so scenes.

Unfortunately our cinematographer was busy, but we took a bunch of digital pictures, that capture everything except the chilly air and funky hospital smell, and should assist with making our decision.

Things seemed somewhat uncertain at the start of the trip when I was picked up from the blistering heat in a vehicle with the windows rolled down and with no air conditioning on. It wasn't until several miles out of town that she turned on the air, and rolled up the windows, saying she sometimes forgets she has a/c. I don't get it.

Overall the trip itself was a good one, with the expected discussion of a whole flurry of films and future projects. What really struck me was how much we talked about normal stuff.

I had come to realize that we knew very little about each other on a personal level and coincidentally this whole untapped conversation route presented itself. It was very interesting, and I suddenly feel like I can relate to her in our business associations in new ways. Cool.

After we arrived and passed by the security desk, we were greeted by a man who was talking our ear off about things that didn't seem to relate to our general reason for being there. I was thinking for a while that he actually thought we were someone else.

It took quite a bit of time before his ramblings segued into something resembling movie talk. By this point it started to seem as if he was pitching us his movie ideas, in a "couldn't hurt" sort of fashion.

The one thing that really hit me about this guy was how enthusiastic he was about everything medical. It's nice to see people find their true calling, and make the most of it.

Although we have some logistics to work out for getting our cast and crew up to the location for a couple of weekends during June, things seem reasonably positive.
On the negative end, the man did warn that we NEED to have security escort us outside after dark due to this place being in a "dangerous" part of town.

I have to wonder at what risk it is worth a good location.