So any time I think that I'm in a good place and that I can finally turn my attention to long-neglected tasks that MUST happen before the shoot, such as actor and crew contracts, everything blows up and I have to put out fires again. This time, everything blew up right as I got to work this morning. The girl playing Nora dropped out. So now I had to recast Nora (again!). This is the third Nora and we are getting really close to the wire. So I asked my coach, Bob Luke, for help because he works with a lot of young actresses.
Then I had to solve the problem of finding an affordable way to furnish the set. The new location is a vacant apartment with no furnishings, so we have to get furniture for the set. My production designer went to Rent-A-Center, but they wanted way too much. But then someone offered me the use of his furniture for free so long as I paid for the van rental. Done.
My boss was SO irritated with me today, because I spent half an hour putting out fires rather than fixing the fax machine. But my phone was going off like crazy with people needing my input RIGHT NOW, and it couldn't wait. But when I was finally to put out the fire, I did fix that fax machine.
As I was leaving the office, Bob called me and told me he had a good actress in his studio, so I took a cab to his studio so that I could meet her. She was fantastic. But then it turned out she had tech rehearsal on April 7. She's going to see if she can get out of it, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Frustrated, I bitched on Facebook on hard it was to cast a 13-year-old girl, and a mother I've known for a few years suggested her daughter. So we Skyped tonight. One way or another I'm going to have a new Nora by tomorrow.
On the way home, I bought a first aid kit for my 1st AD and went to the library to pick up a couple copies of the Scottish play for use as a prop.
I came home exhausted so I drank a lot of tea hoping that I would get a buzz so I could get some paperwork done. NONE OF IT GOT DONE. I ended up having a Skype audition for the other Nora candidate. I don't know how it will shake out, but I should know by morning.
And the tea isn't working. I just fell asleep on the toilet and I'm nodding off as I type this. I guess I need to go to bed. So much to do.....