ENDA Episode 79→ The time when ENDA shares his Production’s Diary (Part 1)

From my days as a producer, I gathered countless stories on handling the unexpected. Sometimes, I experienced them firsthand; other times, I learned from others’ experiences.

Take, for instance, the day we ended up 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 during a graduation short film shoot. Yes, you read that right, and for context: there was no flooding scene in the script… until suddenly, there was.

Everything had been going alarmingly smooth. “No problems” should be good news, right?  How naive young ENDA was…

When a film shoot sails along too perfectly, it’s a sign that trouble is coming. I stepped outside for two minutes to say goodbye to a friend who’d been helping us. Upon returning, I found chaos: the art department sprinting around, the art director half-frantic. When I asked him why everyone was so stressed, his answer was:

“I don’t know, I’ve just been told we have to flood the entire living room!” he exclaimed, not sure why himself.

Turns out the director and DP had cooked up a last-minute idea they were convinced would improve the film. After a serious discussion and evaluating the risks, we had to proceed. So we adapted on the fly: call the homeowner, set up barriers to contain water, ensure no short circuits ensued, etc.

In the end, we pulled it off, and no damage was left on the property. But most importantly, ENDA learned two important lessons:

➡️ If a film shoot is going too smoothly, brace for disaster.

➡️ Leaving your creative heads unsupervised for too long might or might not make them start crafting impossible ideas that you’ll have to bring to life.

However, this doesn't compare to the time when a group of friends were confronted by a SWAT team in the middle of their film shooting....

But that's a story for another episode.

The journey continues…