Chuckles The Frowning Clown

This project had many obstacles and challenges to make it happen. Filmed in 4 days, "Chuckles the Frowning Clown" was a project I was asked to direct. I was excited to direct a story of surreal comedy and drama, with real heart behind it. That is as I saw this project, but this project could have never happened without an amazing crew!

This project was from PMP and we were initially told there would be compensation for our time and a budget we could work with, but these all fell through. It's tough to get anything to happen without a budget.

Again, luckily I had an amazing crew of people to work with, along with my creative problem solving. I understand that directing is not just a title but a responsibility. It’s a responsibility to your crew, actors, etc. and with this project this was seen as a means to help get us all work as it was sold to us. Our diverse team of people all sharing a passion for film.

We had a very tight turnaround for this project. It was about a month of pre-production, rewriting and formatting the script, location scouting, casting, design, etc. and a month of editing.

With the money no longer available it is nothing short of a miracle we got the locations, actors, equipment rented, props, make-up, and costumes.

When I looked at the project concept it was clear that there was not a real consideration for the budget. Four big things I saw were the locations, and costume/makeup that comes with the Clowns, and very heavy on the props, and the large amount of extras.

In the end there was much of the crew digging deep and helping out where we could. I ended up spending a decent amount on rentals, equipment, props, food, costumes, paint, etc. I tried to do whatever I could to keep the finances from falling onto the crew, and in the end because if we were to meet these deadlines it needed to be done.

Many who were part of the crew already were dealing with tight financial situations, myself included. Initially what made such a project enticing but we still had our passion.

Financial hurdles are hard to overcome when plans are made with an initial budget in mind, but we adapted and made it happen!

A big part of the job is keeping spirits high, as filming at its best is still incredibly demanding work. Throughout the entire process I made a point to keep my crew happy and do what I could to help remove any unneeded stress.

When you don’t have money or time, creative problem solving on the fly is no longer just a tool you have but the means to making something like this work. Knowing where to compromise and where not to. It’s key to not having a project fall apart.

I was touched by those who volunteered their time to help. From Booker T. Washington school for the Performing and Visual Arts, some people I use to work with, to friends and colleges. I met Allen Crowley at DIFF 2022 and was a joy to work with.

Two of our locations were made available to us by some of team:

- Cameron’s uncle was a Doctor who owned an OB GYN Clinic that allowed us to film at their offices. We were given pretty much full reign of the place.

- Imani got us to the Black Box Theater at the South Dallas Cultural Center they worked at.

Chuckles (Chuckie’s) costume was a custom tailored job from BTWHSPVA.

My vision for Chuckie was for his outfit to be striking, vibrant, and very traditional. We see hints of this with the color of his hat worn at the doctor's office. Blue and Red. Contradictions working together; hot and cold, life and death, to show the struggle inside out character. Eventually these colors go from being his bleeding heart to a rebirth, a Phoenix from the ashes of despair and a new & bright future ahead for them. This was partly because of the make up design, and a very old school special effect I wanted to do. When we see him Backstage with the red and blue lights, depending on the makeup color, would either make some of his makeup disappear and emphasize it. So on one side of his face we see his makeup/mask is of a smile, while on the other side we see only his expressionless face with what now appears as bags under his eye.

Make up was very important in the project, not just for our lead but because many of the leads are clowns along with extras.
Creative minimalistic designs were needed to cut down on makeup turnaround time but to help quickly convey aspects of the characters.

The sweet and bubbly nature of his mother to the old grizzled clown Wackee.

Alec had the rough position of being a clown that can’t smile. He’s a tremendous actor and can not stress how I feel for someone with such range to have to dial it waaaaaaaaay back to portray this character. He even took a pie in the face from me, so you know he’s dedicated!

Yes, that was me who hit him the face with the pie. Not because I wanted to but Lanney was not available to film that scene… but we did have the wig and outfit we could use!

Wackee I find was a roll that could only work with one man, Phil Hernandez. He was someone I had the pleasure of interviewing for a documentary short I was filming in 2022 and was my top choice for Wackee, even after we did an extensive interviewing process and casting call.

No one could tell but I asked him how he felt after his interview and even after his first day how he felt… he told me “Oh, I was scared $hitless!” People were saying “He must be a pro!” “Yeah, he does a lot of work around town!” but This was his first acting gig in over 15 years. He did some acting in high school but went into the Air Force after that. When I interviewed him, I could tell he had great potential. I even tested the waters with him doing a little skit, he’s the real deal. All our actors were amazing but Phil stood out as he was not actively acting or trying to achieve “Fame” but he’s a natural and passionate. He took direction incredibly well. I could tell he was a little nervous his first day on set, but when he was acting it all just went away for the camera. After each take he got more and more comfortable too. Each actor needs directing tailored to them but it really is something special with Phil. No ego, just passion. I hope he continues to act… and I hope to work with him much more in the future.

His mutton chops were perfect to help visually sell the look in my mind too. Hey, that’s production value!

We had many things as a team to deal with to make this work. On a small production though many will fall on you as head of production or director to deal with.

Some noticeable fires I put out:

- We had our actor who was playing Doctor Thuhman tell us the night before we were filming his scenes early the next day that he got covid and had to cancel. With no wiggle room given to us, rescheduling the shoot was not an option and managed to get a last second replacement in one of the longest hour or so of my life.

- Found out we had someone on set trying to poach talent/crew while they were on set not working.

- Having to remove a creep from the set. Crew and Actors safety is one of the top priorities.

- Actors having to cut their day short. On such demanding time frame with no flexibility given, losing someone for a day or most of a day is rough to say the least.

Some of the crew was feeling down hearing that while they weren’t getting paid that next year's group would be getting the funds to pay their apprentices. I did whatever I could to help the crew find jobs, providing glowing recommendations for them.

Though this might sound like it was doom and gloom, we managed to keep spirits high and have many fond memories of our time working on this project.

Again, I can’t tell you how proud I am of my team and how much hard work we all put in.