On Location for Coyote Girl : Monday 01.05.15

January has been an amazing month for Outcast Café! We have spent the past two and a half weeks officially entering the production phase of making our second short film, Coyote Girl, the poetic version of the 90 minute play script Riley Ann Visits the Outcast Cafe. After spending about two weeks on location in Westfield, Illinois the team has dispersed and continues to work on post-production for the film as well as upcoming projects for the company. Here is a daily log of our adventures on location from the perspective of company member Gail Shalan (Riley Ann, Coyote:

 

Monday 01.05.15 

4:16 a.m. – Dropped off at Logan airport. COYOTE lays comfortably amidst many sweaters (brrrr, mid-west in January) and will be checked for the flight to Indianapolis. I carry on a copy of the Coyote Girl screenplay, a pillow, and a big pair of headphones attached to an audiobook version of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, read by Jim Dale.

8:40 a.m.– Southwest Airlines delivers me safely in Baltimore for my transfer, while COYOTE coasts somewhere amidst many suitcases. See you in Indy, COYOTE!

10:55 a.m.– We have arrived! Biggs and Sims meet me in the lobby of the Indianapolis Airport. We head to baggage claim to pick up COYOTE and all those sweaters and hop on the highway for the last leg of the trip to Westfield.

11:58 a.m.– Having driven two hours to Westfield, we gained one back with the entrance into the Central Time Zone. For me, it’s like driving through a new country. My first venture to the Mid-West is alien. Flat land and ghosts of cornfields for miles and miles. Mostly semis on the road with us. We passed a coyote that had been hit on the side of the road. A good omen? We stop to get some gas and look across the the road to see a Fireworks Emporium. Interesting placement. Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.

12:16 p.m.- We meet our generous hosts, Terri and David Biggs, for lunch at a family owned establishment, Richard Farms right outside of Westfield in Casey, Illinois. Richard Farms is a traditional mid-western restaurant build of re-pourposed barn wood. They will cater our shoot and we are happy to be on the ground and eating well.

1:48 p.m.-  After swinging by the Home Place, our location for shooting and where half of our cast and crew is living for the shoot, Biggs brings me back to Terri and David’s house for some much needed rest and relaxation before we depart. I check on COYOTE, who is doing well, clean up and settle in. Tomorrow our adventures begin.

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IMG_2131 Gail and COYOTE get ready for their big adventure in film. All packed up and ready to go.