It’s one thing to travel and visit somewhere, experiencing a
place and it’s people, the culture that thrives and the actions that push it to
existence. But it is an entirely different thing to move there for a few months
at a time. Though different doesn’t always mean a bad thing, it’s not always a
good thing either.
One of the
perks of filmmaking is that you may live in Los Angeles and be working
constantly but most of productions on a mass scale are elsewhere. The biggest
reason for this is the expense of putting on a production in California is much
higher than anywhere else in the country and therefore you are going to be
filming sometimes in the most remote area simply because it is cheaper than any
other part of the country.
This is why
you will find me with my travels in Oklahoma City of all places. The capital of
Oklahoma feels a lot different than you would expect for a capital city to feel
like, there is ONE “skyscraper” that is as tall as one of our regular size
buildings in Los Angeles (and to top that off it even looks like a head of
wheat in the distance, lit up at night to make sure that you don’t forget what
city you are in). Though not dirty, the city feels dusty – like the prairie was
swept up with a broom and the pile of dust got blown all around the houses and
in between every crevice. Despite this blatant Midwest appearance, living in
the country where you can see for miles and practically feel the long grass
blowing as you step outside, never feels more like what home should feel like
than what you have experienced before.
Working on
production you have a lot of perks, such as daily money you can spend, a rental
car, an apartment that you get to call home for two months and the freedom to
do whatever you wish in your off time. Though there wasn’t a lot to necessarily
“do” while in Oklahoma, there are places to go where you can make fun no matter
what situation you are in.
My
apartment sits on the outskirts of town, latterly on the edge of civilization –
you drive just one minute north when you get out to the big street and you have
reached farm country. This day was a good day, waking up and making myself
coffee an hour before having to leave for work, I wrapped up in a blanket to
watch the sunrise. Yes, it was two hour ahead of Los Angeles, which meant that
I was technically getting up at three in the morning but the sunrise is the
best part of the day in Oklahoma. I held my coffee as I felt the air get warmer
with the sun making its slight appearance on the horizon over the field. The
beam of light broke directly over the land a lot less like a light switch and
more like uncovering you head from under the sheets. The brilliant red, yellow,
pink, orange and blue that was just waking up molded into each other and
created my mood for the day. This week was beginning of production and I needed
the extra lift.
Walking into
the office this week I felt more confident than before, the environment having
been a rush to get deadlines met before production started, and me having
absolutely no idea how I am going to make it through these next month – this
should be interesting. Wendy and Sha’ree greet me as I walk through the door,
smiling at my sluggish appearance knowing that I will probably be permanently
in jet lag since it’s been a month and I still cannot get used to waking up
early. Mark waved at me while he chatted on the phone and wardrobe passed by in
a heard to go shopping with the new measurements they received last night. John
greeted me briefly before disappearing into Nathan, our unit production
manager’s office. The director walked out of his office with a steaming cup of
coffee being his only lifeline to reality, he didn’t say a word as he rounded
the corner and from what I could imagine, huddled himself in a corner to wait
for people to leave for set. It was start of production alright.
Sabrina
beamed at me as I made my appearance in our office. She was a beautiful woman
in her early forties who had been working in film for years now. Very rarely
will you catch her without a smile on
her face.
“Good
morning!” she sang as I sat my stuff down and unpacked what would be my life
for the next month.
“Let’s get
this day over with.” I dropped my large production binder on the table and we
laughed as we both got to work. Jocelyn and I were the accountants of this
massive production, the only two people who tracked the money being spent. I
was the one who made sure the people that were spending the money were being
tracked and she worked on payroll.
“So. Old
Faithful took me out last night.” She turned her body towards me to break for a
moment, leaning towards me with her gossip grin on. Every day she started out
with some story about what had happened to her the night before, like she
didn’t want anyone to miss what was happening in her life for one moment? Those
people are my favorite because they always have something to say.
“Old
Faithful? Which one was that?”
“Girl, you
know, the one who I dated seriously back”
“Oh right, the old guy.” I giggled.
Sabrina had a roster of men she was dating, she nicknamed all of them so it
would be easier for people to remember. She jumped into her story as I grabbed
the first envelopes of the day, filled with receipts for me to track.
“Kelli, I need you.” John stuck his
head in the room then disappeared again. His office was just around the corner
and I could hear him speaking in the other room on the phone. He nodded at me
in acknowledgment while I waited at the door. The office space that we got was
barely even finished, it was a massage parlor before we moved in and it was
still being renovated. Some of the walls were not painted and even some rooms
didn’t have carpet. We had seven rooms in all and every one of them was packed
with stuff for production – wardrobe, art department, Nathan’s office,
accounting, the director’s office, John’s office; everything was completely in use
and a full blown machine at this point. We had been working for about a month
straight and nothing has slowed down in the slightest.
“Com in.” He finally motioned for me
to enter and I smiled as he sat down in his swivel chair.
“What can I do for you.”
“I need you to figure out how to
register LLC’s and Corporations businesses here in Oklahoma, we need all “Above
the Line” entities completely registered as foreign entities.” My head spun a
bit and I had very little of an idea what this would entail.
“Here is a list of everyone that
needs to be filed. Oh, I have to take this, good luck.” And like that I was
pushed out of the office without any direction except “good luck.” That isn’t
surprising in this industry but it does give you a challenge – which was
exactly why I loved my job. I quickly walked back to my shared office, almost
plowing down Josh with his hands full of baby dolls and an expression that
frowned “don’t ask.”
“What was that all about?” Sabrina
asked, not looking up from her computer.
“I have to register these.” She
laughed while she kept her eyes glued to her computer.
“Good luck.”
“That’s what John said.” I
grimaced.
Fourteen missed sunrises later I
found myself driving up 23rd Street, a stack of half-finished papers
in on my seat next to me and the windows down while I tried not to scream at
everyone that I saw. It was “rush hour” and there was hardly anyone on the
street that led to the capital building of Oklahoma. You honestly would not be
able to tell that you were coming up to it if you didn’t know where you were
going. Mostly you feel as though you find it on accident when you come out from
the tunnel under the highway. The great white building standing monumental
against the clouded-cuddled sky looks a lot smaller than you would have
imagined it to be. There are hardly any buildings that surround it directly and
you feel like an intruder for pulling up right in front of it, like you aren’t
supposed to be there.
While pulling around to find the
visitor’s parking the lot is eerily empty at 4:30PM, the parking spots all
labeled “senator”, “representative” and so forth, just tempting you to park
there for a few moments just to see if it felt any different. I finally found
the visitor’s parking and let out a sigh as I reached for the papers that had
slid around a bit. The check safety tucked away in an envelope was put into my
wallet and zipped to secrecy. Seven stacks of papers, fourteen weeks of hell
waiting on them to be completed.
I stepped out of my car and turned
around to look at the capitol building for the first time outside. It was a lot
bigger outside of the car than when inside. I gulped loudly before following
the path that led across the street to the courtyard of the capitol. A Native
American woman boldly looks south as the day continues on; she is not sad, she
is determined, looking away from the politics out to the prairie, as if she is
leading the politicians to remember the native land and seek towards
thankfulness of it. She was beautiful in that way.
There was scaffolding that ran
along the sidewalk, hemming you from walking up the steps of the building that
seemed to be growing larger than imagined with every step taken. Ladies dressed
in their professional attired made me feel quite small and embarrassed, wearing
my jeans with holes in them and a flannel tied around my waist. In my defense I
didn’t know I would be coming to the capitol that day but still, I felt a bit
like a disgrace.
The entrance to the capitol was a
small, unassuming door on the side, what seemed to be underneath the stairs. I
entered the marble building, which felt less like a tomb than I was expecting,
and more like a museum that was heavily guarded. Having flown more than a
couple dozen times in the past couple years I knew the drill – empty your
pockets and take off your jacket, thank goodness the shoes could stay on. It
doesn’t matter how many times you walk through those metal detectors, it is
always a small form of relief and accomplishment when you don’t beep. If
nothing else went right that day I could at least rest in the fact that I
succeeded in not setting off the alarm at the state capitol of Oklahoma.
Great paintings and sculptures were
scattered in this labyrinth beneath the capitol, I followed the directions that
the security guard gave me and reached the door proclaiming “Secretary of
State.” Finally, I could dump these off and get back to work.
“May I help you?” a very
uninterested African American woman sitting behind the desk greeted me without
looking up from her computer. The small entry room was packed with people
sitting in the chairs and it took me a moment to soak in the environment.
“Uh, yes, I need to file these
corporations?” I don’t know why I stated it as a question, insecurity at it’s
finest I guess.
“Have you filled out the form?” she
glanced up at me above her glasses with a half-scowl on her face. Though she
seemed stern she seemed like the person you would want to be friends with after
work was over and you needed to relax.
“Here,” I dropped my stack on the
desk, beaming at my accomplishment.
“THIS paperwork?” She pointed with
her pencil at stack of clipboards that let them know what was being processed.
“You know we close in ten minutes, right.” She said, grabbing my stack of
paperwork and flipping through it. I sighed, as I understood what that meant.
“Is there a way to file these today
still?” Hoping for a small ray of sunshine on my day that had “poofed” out of
existence. She pointed to the large sign on her desk that read “No filings to
be accepted after 4:30 PM. No exceptions.” I closed my eyes for a moment before
looking back at her again. She was just doing her job; I had to keep reminding
myself of that.
“See you Monday then.” My shoulders
shrugged as I took my papers from her hands, defeated by the day, knowing I
still had six hours left to go at the office. She smiled up at me for the first
time since walking in,
“Don’t be late next time, honey.
I’ll be waitin’ here for ya.” She joked and went straight back to work. Even
though the day was going rather different than hoped, I still felt that it
could get better just from that interaction. The best moments of the day are
always at the darkest points where nothing good happens and you hear more bad
to pile on top of your humble pie.
Working in a new environment is
difficult, figuring out what to do in each state, and sometimes different
countries, is a hassle but it is eye opening to the freedom that America has.
There are different rules for different states and in more ways than one I was
able to figure those out and why they are set in place. It was encouraging to
see the different reality that is in Oklahoma as opposed to other states, they
have stricter rules about how to do business than California but also have more
lenience on other issues. Experiencing how life is lived in Oklahoma on a day
to day basis has made this a trip to remember.
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