As the Turnip Turns: First week of catering for Demonica

Rachel “Mrs. Turnip” Lunsford

I’m back and I have fantastic news: the cast and crew of Demonica should be well fed this weekend. That is, if they like well-rounded meals. (Ahem Mr. Director) I have two goals in mind: attempt to feed everyone on less than $25 a day and provide something filling, delicious, and perhaps a bit nutritious too.

The $25 limit is what’s in the budget. I might go over… and that just means I’m donating more to fund Demonica. When I broke down what ordering several pizzas might be, the $25 would barely cover two large pizzas which would not feed a cast and crew of up to 30 people. I knew that if I was going to make something close to that dollar amount I would need to make a lot of stuff from scratch. Lucky for me, the Assistant Director lives with me so I have help at the ready.

I also wanted the cast and crew to get foods that would keep them fuller longer. I wouldn’t want any Demons to pass out on skates and screw up their pretty little Demon faces. Well… maybe that makes it better. Er you get the point. So I won’t say the menu I put together is healthy, but I will say it should be sustaining. And that’s exactly what we want – satiated Demons.

In the coming weeks, I will be way better about actually breaking down costs and anticipated numbers I am feeding. This weekend is the first weekend, so I’d expect a bit smoother sailing next weekend.

The Menu:

Friday Night Dinner

• Grilled Chicken or Portabella wraps with lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes
• Side of Apple Chips
• Homemade strawberry fruit roll ups

Saturday Night Dinner (late night)

• Tapas-style Meats, cheeses, veggies, and fruit

Sunday Morning Breakfast

• Baked Oatmeal to Go

Snacks any time

• Homemade Granola Bars
• Nuts
• Fruit

To all the cast and crew of Demonica—break a leg!

And don’t you forget you can still donate to this movie. See that thermometer other there? Click it and donate some dough. No, not bread dough… you know cash.

See you in a week!

Mrs. Turnip

Mrs. Turnip is Rachel Lunsford. She is a pedigree geek with a deep love affair with chocolate, baking, and, of course, her husband Chris. You can follow her more mundane experiences at Life in the Middle (link: http://lifemiddle.wordpress.com/)

The 80′s are back – Oh. My. Gawd!

Jill “BaconEyes” Emmert

Neon colors, side ponytails, boat shoes without socks, off-shoulder shirts…I never thought I would see the day that the 80′s came back into fashion. But here we are…just in time for Demonica to begin filming!

When I was asked to costume this movie (along with the brilliant Katie Miller) I was like, totally excited. Dreams of jelly bracelets, big belts, Madonna and Miami Vice danced in my head. I couldn’t wait to get started playing dress up with my own life-sized action figures…and this task should be simple. All of the secondhand stores should have tons of high-waist, acid wash jeans and linen suits–right?

Boy, was I wrong…but I will get to that later.

Before casting started, I spent my time making friendship bracelets and pins while watching the classics for inspiration–Back to School, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Dragnet, Cool as Ice and more had multiple viewings in my apartment. The sounds of Kashagoogoo, Duran Duran and Flock of Seagulls filled my apartment. For added inspiration, I would throw on my best 80′s clothes and sport my favorite hairstyle–the ratted side ponytail.

Once casting was complete, the shopping began. When I set out on the first day, I thought it would take me two, maybe three, days. I visited every pawn shop, flea market, Goodwill and Salvation Army in the Des Moines metro area. Two weeks later, most of the employees have started to recognize me because of my regular appearance in their establishments.

Alicia Bricker as “Monica”

Then, to add a bigger challenge, I was told that the title character Monica is “Proto-Goth”–but we can’t dress her in black. Um…what?!?

Challenge accepted. In what has now been dubbed “The Great Acid-Wash Hunt of 2012,” I have come up with only three pairs of acid washed jeans and two pairs of high-waist women’s jeans. “Hammer Pants” are nonexistent. The socks we used to layer in our Keds are impossible to find. Cheap jelly shoes only existed in the 80′s.

With the resurgence of the 80′s style, new clothes are in abundance. But with a budget that comes to less than $8 per costume (shirt, pants, socks, shoes and accessories)–and the need of multiple identical outfits–this turned out to be quite a bit harder than anticipated.

I guess it is a good thing I enjoy the hunt and have plenty of time to shop. Demonica will not beat me!

Until next time…

-Jill “BaconEyes” Emmert

 

The difficulties of rebuilding the 80′s…

Chris “Turnip” Simmons

I was born in 1981. The 1980′s and their aftermath (commonly known as the 90′s) were a big part of my life and they are generally a time in history I remember fondly, if a little dimly, through the rose colored glasses of my youth. Long after that decade faded I could still find junk cassette players and cordless telephones clogging the aisles of 2nd hand shops and flee markets. So why is it that when I go to try and buy props for a movie set in the 1980′s I can not find a single stupid boom box in all of the greater Des Moines area?

I guess the 80′s are well and truly gone. In a larger sense of time passing I knew that of course. But I don’t know if I was prepared for the day when even the relics of that by gone era are nearly impossible to find among the junk stores all across the land. In years past I would see these items and know that they were obsolete but their mere presence meant that they weren’t TOO far gone. Basically what I am trying to say is that hunting for props on a budget is a pain in the rear end.

Linnea Quigley

Also in the news this week is that Prescribed Films has officially locked Linnea Quigley for the role of Gypsy Woman for Demonica. Linnea has been seen with Prescribed Films previously in “Legend Has It.” We are beyond excited to have her on board!

Join us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as Chris “Turnip” Simmons relays the often rewarding but sometimes harrowing journey of an indie film from page to screen to release.

Introducing: Turnip Truck Catering

Rachel “Mrs. Turnip” Lunsford

Hi there! I am commandeering the PF blog (probably once a week) to chat with you about the most important part of any project, but especially in creating a film: feeding the masses. As wife to First Assistant Director Chris “Turnips” Simmons, I have a front-row seat to the film-making process though I rarely get involved because it is Nips thing. BUT I love baking and general cookery, so I thought I could volunteer my services as caterer to Demonica cast and crew.

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am that I can participate in this film in a way I can really contribute!  I enjoy crafting food that people can really enjoy. Baking helps me relax on the weekends after a week full of figuring out if code was developed correctly and things were deployed to the right servers and so on. I’ve also learned that well-fed people are generally happier and easier to work with than hungry, starving people.

I do see some challenges to my valiant volunteerism. First, I have never attempted to scale my cooking and baking to upwards of 35 people. I know I can easily make one meal into several for me and Mr. Turnip, but 35 hungry people over a jam-packed weekend of filming? I have a few strategies in mind – including making lots of low cost snacks pack with protein to keep them full a little longer – but scaling recipes up is a challenge I’m looking forward to.

Second, I already know some of the folks who have different food preferences (and allergies… yikes!) like a vegetarian or two. I am excited about this challenge because it means I get to try out recipes that might not debut in our home otherwise. I will of course be weary and diligent about any food allergies as to not poison and/or kill the cast and crew of Demonica.

And last, I am going to attempt to stick to feeding the cast and crew on roughly $25 a day. I think this will be about 2 meals a day plus snacks. Economies of scale will be my friend, here. Chris already re-upped our Cost-Co membership so I can purchase raw goods in bulk and produce delicious goods in bulk.

I plan on blogging here every week with the meal and my approach to feeding so many hungry, talented folks. If you have suggestions for meals, feel free to send them my way in the comments, via email, or find me personally on Twitter at @PhoenixRachel.

Until next time,

Mrs. Turnip

Mrs. Turnip is Rachel Lunsford. She is a pedigree geek with a deep love affair with chocolate, baking, and, of course, her husband Chris. You can follow her more mundane experiences at Life in the Middle (link: http://lifemiddle.wordpress.com/)

 

Demonica Preproduction: The Reading

Chris “Turnip” Simmons

As good as you think it is when you write it (usually) it is never as good as it will be once the actors get a hold of it and start to read it and bring it to life (again, usually.) Yesterday we had our first script reading with most of the cast of our upcoming film Demonica and, for the first time, it really feels like we’re making this movie.

One of my favorite moments of any script reading is the first read through. The delivery can still be awkward and stilted but you start to learn what works and what doesn’t. For instance, the humor. What is in the script has been filtered through two writers and two more people who helped workshop this script but being funny is a tricky thing and you don’t really know if you’ve got it right until a bunch of people bust out laughing when an actor reads it for the first time. There is certainly some validation there.

Another favorite is getting the cast and crew together for the first time. I looked out at the thirty or so faces and saw that most of them didn’t know the others. Knowing PF by the end of shooting about a month and a half from now that will all have changed and they’ll be just another of the film making families that have passed through Prescribed Films over the years.

I want to thank everyone who made it out yesterday and I can’t wait to continue working with you.

Now, another point of order before I finish out this post, time has run out on our Indiegogo page and I want to thank everyone who donated to help make Demonica happen. I’m sure there is a special place in whatever afterlife you believe in just for you. To all those who didn’t, the fundraising train doesn’t stop here. We still have the thermometer to the right of the screen that you can click on to continue to donate. We had great success so far, but we need more to reach the finish line. Please donate to Demonica today.

Demonica Preproduction: Post 10

Chris “Turnip” Simmons

As is standard we are still raising money for Demonica. You can donate on our indiegogo page or to your right by clicking on the thermometer. We’re working really hard to get this movie and we need your help. Please donate today. Every dollar you donate goes to putting this movie together and making the best movie we can.

I want to start off with apologize for not posting on Wednesday. As busy as working on the film gets, real life still marches on and eventually catches up with you (me.) That is, unless you hadn’t been here since Monday in which case you missed a really awesome post that I was forced to take down due to its sheer awesimatude.

Now, moving on, things are really starting to cook on Demonica. This Sunday we have our first script reading where we are getting most of the cast and crew together. I for one can not wait to hear the dialogue out loud. You can write and rewrite but until you actually hear someone speaking it, you don’t really know whether or not it sound totally absurd.

I’m also look forward to see the actors start to develop characters within the lines we’ve given them. A cold read at an audition is not really an easy place to take the role and make it yours. Don’t get me wrong, we had some great auditions. It’s because of that that I am excited to see what these actors can do when you give them some time and some more direction to work with.

Truly and inspiration to us all.

Now, as I started last week, it’s time to call out a PF’er that really makes all of this come together. Today I would like to follow our recognition of Katie with Cory “Cakes” Canny. As Katie handled to the people in the waiting area, Cory was tasked with hanging out in the audition room and going to get the call backs and let Katie know we were ready for the next person. He hoofed it back and forth the whole day running at our beck and call (not really…well, sort of.) Cory is a long time Prescribed Films alumni who has helped out on several pictures, often he is responsible for being the sound guy.

Demonica Preproduction: CAST LIST!

Chris “Turnip” Simmons

As is standard we are still raising money for Demonica. You can donate on our indiegogo page or to your right by clicking on the thermometer. We’re working really hard to get this movie and we need your help. Please donate today. Every dollar you donate goes to putting this movie together and making the best movie we can.

We had a great (and difficult) time making the decisions on casting and I want to congratulate all of these people on putting in a great audtion and I can’t wait to work with each and every one of you.

Now, on with the cast list!

“An after hours party at a skating rink is interrupted by something sinister, leading to a hellish roller derby showdown for the survival of humanity. The only thing worse than demons is demons…on skates!”

Richard Tenney – Joseph Roark

John – Daniel Hampel

Laura – Katie McDowell

Sara – Cassie Johnson

Monica – Alicia Bricker

Wendy – Elizabeth Dehne

Vicki – Jaclyn VanAhsen

David – Sam Garles

Mr. Tenney – Mark W. Burk

Terri – Leah Morrissey

Tim – Mason Ferguson

Stranger – Mikeal Burgin

Bartender – Paul Huych

Asshole 1 – Nick Zmuda

Rebecca – Nalani Proctor

Asshole 2 – Cody Burk

Samuel – Dustin Neill

Teenager 1 – Cody Burgin

Teenager 3 – Evan Runkle

Teenager 4 – Tim Mantil

Other Teenagers – Jacoby Clingman

Alex Burk

Winston Relph

Jesse Breckenridge

Join us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as Chris “Turnip” Simmons relays the often rewarding but sometimes harrowing journey of an indie film from page to screen to release.