Leesa Dean: Adventures of a Web Series Newbie

Chapter 41 – The Year of Yes?
by Leesa Dean

Hope everybody had a great New Years! I did, went to two great parties. Great food, great mix of people, just what I needed to start the year off right.

And in the middle of it all, guess what? We got a celeb to work on the show! Wow.

After about a month of trying, it worked so easily. Contacted his manager, he had seenChilltown, loved it and wanted to be involved. No, he’s not a huge household name, but he has enough of one to add some more credibility to the project (the BIG TOP SECRET PROJECT I’ve been mentioning here).

We actually had our first meeting yesterday, went over the script and have the studio booked. We’re shooting at the end of the month and I couldn’t be happier! Will this be the Year of Yes?

Also booked the studio we’re shooting in. We checked out a few, but they were, in general, too pricey for my (nearly non-existent) budget. After tons of googling, found a small place in Tribeca that’s perfect. It’s in an old school building which means, sharing the same floor are button manufacturers, small businesses doing God knows what, a small Private Eye office (!!!!!) and the studio.

I was ready to go with them on the basis of that alone. Luckily, they were filled to gills with equipment, monitors, cables, booms, everything we needed. The only catch? Occasionally, the pipes clang when steam is sent up, but we were there on a wickedly cold day, hung out for 45 minutes and didn’t hear anything. If it happens during the shoot, I’m just gonna find a way to work it into the script. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is guerilla filmmaking.

Doing all of this made me realize something: I need to bone up on cameras/lighting. As a director, my focus has always been animation. I know how to direct actors, how to set up shots, pacing. But now that I’m dipping my pinky toe in the live action waters, while I don’t want to be a DP, I do need to understand the technical aspects of it all better. Even if it’s just a better way to communicate with DP’s. I’m lucky that my producing partner is a really skilled cameraman. But to take it to the next level, I need to understand that stuff better. Plus, I think it’ll be fun.

So, in a few months, on top of everything else, I’m probably going to take a small course on cameras/lighting/shooting.

This year is gonna be SERIOUSLY interesting.

Author: ChilltownTV

I'm primarily a writer. Sold a few series to tv networks and production companies but never had anything get on the air. So I taught myself how to animate and completed 3 digital series, launching two. The first, Chilltown has been named one of "Five Web Series That Should Be on Your Radar" by ABCNews/Univision and a "Show to Watch" by Tubefilter. The second, Lele's Ratchet Advice Show, garnered a fanatic cult following. As a result, I now do Lele's 60 Second Wrap Up, a weekly comedic entertainment report (which I write & perform) that airs on urban radio stations Rhythm 105.9fm and the Just Wake Up Morning Show on WWRNfm. View all posts by ChilltownTV