Reality

Thailand is certainly exotic and tropical and all that, but the truth is that making a movie is stressful no matter where in the world you do it. Today was Day 3 (of 21) and I'm certainly feeling some stress and even a bit of homesickness (I miss my dog!).

Yesterday in particular was quite stressful, because about an hour into the morning my computer became corrupted. As in, I couldn't work on files, couldn't access email and basically was completely stopped in my tracks. With the help of a very lovely PA, I was able to leave set to take my computer to a fix-it place. The two of us rode into Bangkok to the absolute weirdest shopping mall I've ever been to in my life. This place was literally an "I.T." mall - it was a giant 4 story indoor mall with computer and technology shops of every kind - resellers for every brand of computer, tv, accessory, parts, etc. Music blared loudly as we walked through the maze of shops and stands until we finally found a tiny little stall where the computer repair guy was. Of course nobody spoke a word of English so my PA Ja-Oh translated everything for me. It was really scary because even though I backed up my files back in LA before I left, I don't have backups here in Thailand and I use my computer for almost every part of my job. I had to entrust my computer with complete strangers who spoke no English and trust that they would help me for a fair price.






We had to wait a while in order for them to test the computer, so we did a couple of the PA's other errands. One of the US crew was asking for Potassium tablets so we ran to about 5 pharmacies looking for them (we didn't find them). Why can't people bring their own potassium tablets to Thailand, geez? The mall was actually a fascinating place (and there wasn't a tourist in sight) but unfortunately I was too stressed out to really enjoy it.

It was decided that my computer needed a new hard-drive (!!), which meant buying a new drive, backing up the old one, and reinstalling Windows. I didn't have enough Thai Bhat with me so I had to use the ATM (which is unfortunate, who knows how much my bank will charge for that!). Ultimately the whole thing cost me about $2700 Bhat, which is about $85. In the end I got my computer back and so far it seems to work so that is good!





Made it back to set as the crew was wrapping out. The stresses of the film set are the same here as anywhere else - it's always about not enough time or money. I'm not going to go into the details of the daily problems on set because that's ultimately quite boring and I don't want to spill any secrets that I shouldn't be spilling. Suffice it to say, last night I was feeling exhausted, homesick and stressed. I also am having a hard time really fitting into my role here as Line Producer and UPM. The language barrier is such that I can't make phone calls or communicate with any of the vendors or Thai crew, so I leave that to our Thai UPM. Same goes for handling the accounting and budgeting, which are controlled by the Thai producers and accounting departments. I've decided that I'm basically Julie the Cruise Director from The Love Boat - just trying to keep the US cast and crew happy and comfortable. Now that I have my computer back I can keep up with all the paperwork, which is where I am comfortable, but I have a harder time fitting in as the production manager on this particular set. So 18 days left and hopefully I'll find my footing by then.