Behind The Scenes: Couch Cases

Amy’s newest patient is having problems in the bedroom. Special Guest Star Vito La Morte as Tony. Watch it at www.couchcases.com or most video sharing sites. 

It’s here at last- our preview website. Visit www.couchcases.com to watch the trailer and learn more about our new show Couch Cases.

That’s right, the production phase of our project is complete. And we’re up for all the world to see.

This begs the question- what’s next?

The answer is, a lot! We’re finishing up a full-length pilot episode of Couch Cases, working on our character bible, prepping for meetings with people who can help us take Couch Cases to the next level, and working on two brand-new feature screenplays.

This journey is a lot of fun.

For those just now joining us, Couch Cases is a short-format comedy series about a neurotic therapist who can’t follow her own advice. We made it for 1/1000th the budget of a typical network television show (per minute of airtime), and it rocks!

Two nights ago—after watching the rough cuts of all four episodes of the show with Patrick, throwing around ideas together for the trailer, and letting the ideas simmer for a few days—I had an epiphany. The pictures and words came rushing to me like a flood. I shared my ideas with Patrick and, like the awesome partner he is, he jumped right on board to surf the wave with me. Our trailer was born.

We worked like mad last night to assemble a rough cut, and it looks incredible. (Patrick is a fiend in the editing suite!) We even chose some cool music to set the tone. Come on! Two musicians could never get away with watching a rough cut of anything without a soundtrack playing in the background!

Afterwards, we went out to celebrate with margaritas. We had worked it out together. It’s a beautiful thing to see your story unfold in a totally different way than you originally expected. To me, our trailer is like a fifth episode, only better. We put together a puzzle with pieces of the show and formed a completely new picture.

The process has been really rewarding to us as storytellers, and working together is also lots of fun. Occasionally, we have creative differences, but they’re usually temporary, and in the end, the decisions we make include the best of both of our ideas.

Our goal is to get the trailer online before we leave for SXSW next week. Good luck and see you in Austin! I’m headed back to Texas, baby!!!

Well, we’re still editing. Things are still going well, too. We make each other laugh a lot with the performances we’re putting together. That’s good, right? In the past I’d be so sick of the project by now that I’d just want it to be over.

Our goal is a trailer by SXSW. We want to show off our comedy, and I think we’re on target to make it.   

Well, we’re getting there! Editing at night, in between client jobs and such just isn’t the easiest way to go. But we’re scrappy, and I have to say editing is going well. We have rough cuts of episodes 1 & 2 completed, and we’re about halfway through #3.

We’re even writing some music for the show. Pretty cool.

I’ll also say it again- I’m extremely proud of how good this project is turning out to be, and I’m thankful to our actors and crew for the professional ‘tude and hard work.

Thanks to Nic Adams for these awesome shots and hard work.

The final day of principal photography was awesome. Thanks to Lisa at Nights of Neon for the incredible Fortune Teller sign, and much thanks to my excellent cast and crew. Jen came in while editing her film to be my assistant, and Ernest came in off a feature film to run sound (You guys are incredible, by the way!). Rosie was our talented makeup artist, and while it was her first day on set, she fit right in. Nic not only got some great photos of the day, he also helped us out as lookout for our street scenes (shot guerilla style on the streets of LA) and slated a lot of the time. 

Marina blew our socks off with her characterization of the Fortune Teller, and Sabrina and Kathi were excellent as always. I’m lucky, we got some great people to work with on this show. 

The things I remember about our last day most are: 

• This was the first and only day I got to sit down at all. I was given a director’s chair a few years ago, but we’d been using it as our makeup chair. This day, I got to sit in my chair and work with the actors. It was really nice.
• I finally got to get out my steadicam rig and have some real fun with the moving camera. Every other moving shot in the show was on a dolly. But we didn’t have the time or permits to lay down dolly track, so we had to go light and trust that the steadicam would be good enough. It was.

Not everything was perfect, time and daylight were against us, so we lost our natural light for a scene in the building lobby. But we regrouped and brought in lights to nail that scene. The dailies look fantastic, as usual.

Kathi and I will be going into post with Brandon Balin (our crackerjack co-editor)shortly, but I want to thank everyone who has been a part of this show. Thank you all, there’s no way I can put into words how much I appreciate each and every one of you.

Well, I am pleased as punch to report that we have officially wrapped Season 1 of Couch Cases (save a few exterior shots). After almost 4 months of production (including a couple of hiatuses over the holidays), we are ”in the can” as they say in the biz (silly Hollywood slang!). We had a fun shoot yesterday with Heather and Amy at the Fotune Teller’s getting a reading. The psychic’s room was definitely the most fun set to dress. Patrick got us this cool neon sign from Nights of Neon in Van Nuys, which made the whole room come to life. Well, that and the cool lighting design we worked on together… and the neat props we got from a gracious friend and her mother. It all came together so beautifully in what I hope will be one of the most entertaining and funny scenes of the whole series. Marina was great as the fortune teller, and Sabrina as always as Heather– we definitely had a lot of fun!! 

Although I will miss our cast and crew, I am excited to start editing everything together. It’s 2008, a new year, and time for a new phase of our adventure. We’ll be starting on post-production pretty soon, and then we’re headed to SXSW in March to start promoting the show. I’m really excited… it’s my first time at the SXSW film festival, plus my brother and sister live in Austin, so it’ll be fun to hang out with them.   

Happy New Year to everyone! Check back for more updates and pictures from our last shoot date.