By Ruth Munyaka
Ruth (rookie), innocently walked into the organized chaos of a production house and got baptized by fire. This is her story.
It was almost end of June and everyone was excited about the next project. The office was buzzing. For the first time since its establishment, Spielworks Media was venturing into movies. I had landed a production assistant job at the best time. I was looking forward to a new and exciting experience. But “How in the world were we supposed to shoot fifteen movies in a month?” Yes, you read right. Trust the Kenyan hustler mentality to figure it out!
Three crews, five movies each, one month… this was going to be a tough marathon.
Now, back to the activities. The first task was breaking of scripts. Which means… indicating what a scene is about, identifying the cast members and the page count of every scene to determine its length in terms of time. This was usually done a week before a movie was shot.
With Line Producer Ndanu Kilonzo
Task two was a pre-production meeting with the Head of Production, Head of Art department and the location manager. Looking for locations could get tedious at times. Either, the potentials were too expensive or the location was not as suitable as we had imagined. On the bright side though, it was fascinating to watch the creativity that saw sets in a single location, transform week after week. Kudos to the Art team! Getting a location for a grave-site for a movie crafted around dark humor was difficult and I had this nagging thought…who is the guy who was going to lie in the coffin. Shivers!
“He’s aliiiiive”
Task three was printing the scripts for all departments involved. The part that sucked was when ‘Wendy’- the printer- didn’t feel up to the task. To make things worse during the rush hour when everyone is all up in your face with one word “script”. “Where is a printer-whisperer when you need one?” Not to mention cuts from papers and staple pins all in the name of recycling? Lesson learnt: be economical! I’m sure we saved the company a couple of shillings.
With Wendy in happier times
Lights, camera and Action! The first day things were a mess! I mean Garfield had nothing on some people, Monday blues. Getting extras and coordinating them wasn’t all rosy. One thing that pushed me to the edge was actors not having lines because they didn’t get scripts. Lesson learnt: In the production business, your patience will be tried on several occasions.
The coordination between the different departments was well done. Like a well-oiled machine, one part can’t function without the other. Exterior shoots though, took a toll on some. It was either traffic, changing of location on short notice, the weather messing up the shots and the crew forced to endure a billion re-takes. This got a lot of people edgy. “Real housewives of Atlanta” would be a tea party comparably. But with all that they still produced great results.
Best moments on set would have to be when lunch was being served. Guys used to get so excited that they would all say in unison “Kata!” But the highest point was the director saying the three magic words “it’s a wrap!” Talk about a mini celebration on set.
The one month was baptism by fire for a rookie who had no clue about production. I have become a better team player, learnt to think on my feet, take instructions, remain flexible and become well organized.
Helping out a cast member
So yes, we did finish all the movies in a month. With all the effort and time people, both crew and cast put in despite all the challenges. But mostly because they are “those guys”…the winning team!
It has been a good ride, on to the next project.
It’s a wrap!