Checked the tracking numbers for the first season of Pitchman AKA: LonelyBloggers and we’re nearing one million views!!!! Pretty awesome. Now that we’re preparing for the release of season two we’re looking forward to building on that success. Jeffs regular emails asking how the editing is going tells me he’s excited and anxious too. As much as I’d like to start at the begining and move forward in a linear fashion editing wise it’s the wrong thing to do. I’m needing to add a bunch of clips looking ahead and behind and I really need to see the whole series edited before they’re released. Also we’re hoping to shoot the remaining bits for the second half of the season and also pick up a few shots that would make the early episodes even better. (if time and money permits) So it’s a work in progress but coming along nicely. LonelyBloggers is promoting the new season as “Fun at the Beach” and while we shot at the beach I think it only begins to capture what we’re trying to do. The beach is such a public place and some of the stuff that goes on in the girls bedroom and at the hot tub that can’t happen in a public setting. Maybe a better title would be “Summer Loving” Anyway, enough blogging, back to editing season II.

Day 2 of production Sunday was a fun one. We started out at Tiffany’s House, then moved to the beach, and then to the Hot Tub. We knew the bedroom scene’s would come out well and they did. I’ll try to post on them tomorrow. After lunch we went to the beach to film but were confronted with a busy lakefront. The police wouldn’t let us drive anywhere close so we had to unload and walk about a mile to the sand. We did find a spot with a good backdrop and plenty of sand (and only a little glass) We had the morning scenes behind us and an actual rehearsal so we were able to move through the scenes pretty well. I’m not a stranger to filming at the beach after filming RiffRaff last summer, but I still managed to get a terrible burn from my shoulders down. At least I was wearing my cubs hat so my scalp didn’t burn. Don made a good creepy guy who is the perfect reason you would visit a site like lonelybloggers.com to find a mate rather than leaving it to chance. Dustin played a nerdy but hot brother in an awkward love tringle. Eva’s new friends played by Amy and Grace made a great threesome but I mean that in a hundred percent wholesome non sexual way.

Had a great first day shooting the new season of Pitchman on Saturday. We filmed three principal locations for episodes throughout the season. APARTMENT, POOL, & PARK. Each of them were near each other which was great. Thanks to Pat and Rob on the crew and everyone at the location. We got a slow start but picked up speed before lunch and actually finished early. The consensus highlights of the day were definitely the scenes with Linda, but I really thought that Faith who plays Religious Kim hit it out of the park. Kyle, Ian gave their typical stellar performances and cameo’s by Rob and the other Pat. Renee overcame the distractions at the pool and even though she didn’t want to fall in the water she was able to improvise two new scenes at the end of the day. Don’t forget to check lonelybloggers.com for updates as to when and where the episodes will run.

Here are some pictures for the two of you who can’t wait for the edited versions to start airing. Don’t forget the pilot episode of Pitchman airs Friday at the Music Box Theater at 10:30pm.

There’s six hours and change until the new episodes begin filming and other than being awake when I should be sleeping everything looks pretty good, extremely good considering the scale and budget of the shoot. I’m not in over my head but I’m up to my shoulders at least. The actors have been rearranged again for the last time. I did some set dec which is one of my weaknesses. dressing one of the rooms that we’re filming in on Sunday, a girls bedroom which is tough for me. I can imagine most of the scenes in my head and they feel pretty good. I really want to pick up the pacing of each segment and really come close to the vision so that we lay the groundwork for future episodes. I’m impressed with some of the new cast and looking forward to seeing how they mesh. The timing is potentially an issue as we may not get all the coverage to really create a performance if it isn’t there. I’m going to try to get some rest. It’s 2am, the begining of a long long day.

I’ve taken another stab at the script for Pitchman II with two days to go before filming. Things are coming into place, Ian’s back in the fold and most of the cast is ready to go. Kyle’s in New York for a couple of days and will be back Friday night so everything looks good. When I was doing my breakdowns off of the old script I was having a little mini battle over how to shoot some of the scenes. Some of the sexyness was overshadowing the comedy and it was becoming clear that there were some cheap thrills in the script that didn’t need to be there. I still have a few regrets that the “Naked Yoga” clip, which is neither “Naked” or has “Yoga” in it is a little graphic. It got a lot of clips and maybe helped guide viewers to the rest of the series so it had it’s benefits but it went maybe one step too far. We’re still finding our place and a lot more thought has gone into part II than part one so that’s a good thing. I can’t wait for Pitchman part III.

Dave

I’m noticing an interesting pattern as I wait for Saturday and Sunday when we shoot Pitchman II. I should be more worried about the weather and it raining when we film at the beach but instead I find myself worrying about something else I can’t control, ACTORS. It’s not necissarily a bad thing, and part of it might be in my head but I’m a little worried that everyone who’s signed on to be part of the series shows up. I can get a back-up plan for one character, possibly two but as scenarios roll into my mind I’m finding myself coming up with various alternatives. I have two versions of the script now, with four variations for different scenarios. One is in case Ian who plays Dave isn’t available. (he’s at the Steppenwolf acting program right now so I’m not in as much contact as I wish I was) I actually solved some problems with the new version and would be alright if it worked out that way. I’m also adding mock interviews with some of the new characters. Even though the content for the interview portion isn’t written yet, I’m visualizing some of the editing in my mind and they’re coming together as great transitions between episodes.

I also came to the realization that we’d be filming the “girls bedroom” scene at our house and not at a set. I’m going to have to move a bed upstairs move out a table, get a lot of stuffed animals and girly stuff plus a computer, monitor and webcam plus whatever else I can find at the thrift store to make it look real. I’m doing it myself so I have to set it up and get it ready before Thursday so I can focus on the rest of the weekend.

Casting is so crucial right now and I confirmed a couple more parts and now I’m down to finding a Tiffany that fits what I’m imagining. I had an actress come into the office today with her mother who was so nervous. I knew right away that even if someone looks the part it’s only part of the package. I wrote a couple more small roles around people that I’ve seen who didn’t fit any other roles but were still great characters. I’m worried about somebody cancelling but so far things have happened for the best. I can still shift some of the roles but if the changes happen closer to filming the results might not be as positive but I’m sure we can work with whatever happens.

More good news is that Pat and Rob signed on to be on the crew both days. They both have a few lines in the behind the scenes script. In one scenario Rob would have a few more lines which got me a little nervous but he says he’s fine with it. It’s tough to have the responsibility to be on the crew plus having to deliver lines but I think it’ll go good. I talked to Lindsey a bit about coming onto the crew to help make some of the girls more comfortable with some of the Racy scenes. Hopefully she’ll work out. If not, at least some of us have worked together so that should help, and Michelle will likely be around on Sunday for the Bedroom scenes. Time to come up with another back up plan.