Shoulda been a cowboy

Setting up a shot for Gold Creek

At 7am on March 30, Gold Creek wrapped principal photography. Keeping a schedule of 16 hour work days (allowing only 8 hours for travel, sleep, breakfast, et cetera) for 13 straight days is exhausting. I am not sad for this project to be over, although I am glad to have had the experience. How often do you get the chance to make a western/horror/bigfoot/period piece movie? Yeah.. I'm pretty sure we just invented a brand new sub-genre.

Living and breathing a character for nearly all my waking hours for two solid weeks really allowed me to dive deep into the character, her world, and her relationships. As an actor I have learned a lot and increased my ability to create depth that the camera can pick up.

There happens to be quite a few talented musicians on this set including Danbert Nobacon from the band Chumbawamba ("I get knocked down, but I get up again, no body gonna keep me down!")



Other musicians include Terry Hardesty, a songwriter and long time friend of country music legend Merle Haggard.

Here are some more photos from the shoot:

Me in the trailer between scenes with Sali/Sarah's gun and hat

Horses just hanging out

Authentic 1890's wooden wheel wagon I rode on for some shots

Horses like to watch other horses do stuff

"Kit" and "White Deer" riding - Ignore the telephone pole :)

Danbert Nobacon and me

Danbert/Danny getting "killed"

The dream of the 1890's is alive in Winthrop

An update from the set of Gold Creek in Winthrop/Twisp, Washington. Make no mistake, this is a straight up horror film about Bigfoot. It's not pretending to be anything else. That being said, it's going to be so cool when it's finished!

Here's a little preview of our little mining camp set built for the film. Brrrrr.......  

Me in costume. Except that's not my gun....

Russell Hodgkinson as Kit

Our little mining camp set

We're really just playing Cowboys and Indians professionally

The wagon is coming in...

Beautiful horses pulling the wagon

Wagon

Sali Sayler and I in costume

Set

Set

Deer everywhere!

Craft Services, staging, set construction, etc.

Russell Hodgkinson (Plays the role of  Kit) outside the cast trailer

Bigfoot came and hung out in our trailer for a while.

St. Patrick's Day some of us had some free time so we went into town in search of a Reuben sandwich and Irish Car Bombs. Success!  

I forgot how much I suck at the whole Irish Car Bomb thing...

A genuine cowboy/cowgirl town

Sali Sayler (one of the movie's leads) and I at the Liquor Agency on St. Patrick's day

Had to do it...

That's it for now. More later!

Day Zero

It has only just began but the last 24 hours have already been an adventure! It took me over seven hours to make the drive to Twisp, WA, where basecamp for the shoot is located. The drive through the Cascades was stunning. These photos don't do the mountains justice (I was not looking where I was pointing the camera when I snapped these- I was focused on the road).

Around hour five, I ran into some trouble. I hadn't seen a gas station for hours, it was beginning to snow, the sun was setting and I was running on empty. Luckily I found a restaurant with a pump just in the nick of time!

Upon arriving at basecamp, it was to the wardrobe dept. immediately for fittings and contracts.

My room for the next two weeks:

As I was falling asleep I heard yip yips, movement, and howling. Pretty sure a wolf pack was right outside my window!

This was outside my window in the morning: The lower car is the one I arrived in just hours before:

That was yesterday.

Today at 6:00am the cast and crew began shooting. I'm not on the schedule until tomorrow morning, and since today is St. Patrick's Day, some us might head on up to Winthrop for some holiday food and beverage at the old-timey tavern.

Meanwhile, I'm making use of my time off by finishing a research paper for school, and running lines.

More to come,
Emily

Into the woods...

I have been very busy with little time to post about anything lately. I have been finishing up two business degrees and working as a Marketing and Generalist intern at the Business Outreach Program at PSU. I have really been enjoying this work, while fitting shoots and auditions in between it all.

Tomorrow morning I take off on a 7 hour drive to The Middle Of Nowhere in very Northern Washington to shoot a western period horror film for a couple of weeks. There's going to be horses, guns, burning buildings, and all sorts of Oregon Trail fun! I've got to learn some native Salish phrases for my character on the drive up there. Should be quite the adventure! I hope I'll have time to post some updates and BTS photos while up north.

Sorry about the lack of photos. Next time!