The Kindness of Strangers

Shooting is going pretty well so far. I hired a great sound recordist who can back up as DP which is serendipitous, since we just found out we are getting the opportunity to shoot the city, lake and waterways from a helicopter (yay, yay, yay!), and my DP is convinced that the laws of physics dicate such a machine should not remain aloft and therefore refuses to get into it (boo, boo, boo!)

But to each his own, right? Of course, the helicopter ride takes the cake for being the flashiest example of the kindness of strangers, but we have been treated like royalty all week (ok, royalty who has to lug their own film equipment themselves), but I feel like a princess nonetheless.

The crew has been given access to shoot from the bows of a Wendella sightseeing boat, in the belly of the Field Museum, a bustling kitchen at the Palmer House Hilton, on a barge moving up the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal - through the electric fish barrier, and now, the helicopter. It's truly amazing to me again, how passionate folks are about this issue, and now how generous folks are with their time and resources.

I could make an entire doc exclusively starring each one of my amazing cast members!