Finding Joey’s House
This week, we’ll be location scouting. Like pretty much everything these days, the first steps aren’t in person.
They’re online.
Scrolling through short-term vacation rentals, a sudden funny thought occurs. One of the strangest parts of filmmaking is that we don't look at houses the way everyone else does. That’s because when we're perusing Airbnb and VRBO, we're not planning a vacation.
We're planning a movie.
The perfect home isn’t the perfect set. Nor is the best little cottage the ideal production location. Because all the things that might turn away a traveler provide vidid possibilities for a filmmaker. And when you’re transforming a story based on one of the creators’ lived experience, details matter.
Spencer will pause when we find a slightly dated kitchen. Smile at the overgrown backyard, the shadow cast by a drooping hoop that’s survived storms and sun.
On random short-term sites, there are living rooms sporting faded wallpaper. Well-worn hardwood floors that remind us of the lives lived, the children stomping through with their shoes on and their outdoor voices at full volume.
You can almost hear the echoes.
Your house could be Joey’s house!
Our growing team is searching throughout Wilmington, New Hanover County, and the surrounding communities for authentic homes that fit Spencer Reed's story.
Of course, we’re dreamers by design. It’s in our DNA. So we look at the starred properties, the ones where a day or two would pay for a week at the more modest homes. In this coming-of-age film, the main character encounters the basketball court of his imagination, constructed outside the sort of home where the floors are polished and the foyer could contain his entire house.
The dream house disappearing into a lush landscape.
And there it is as we stumble across a property that feels as though it stepped directly off the pages of our screenplay. It's hard not to imagine Joey taking hundreds of jump shots there while the sun goes down.
Of course reality in the form of the budget returns us gently back to earth. Most of our search is for something far more ordinary.
A secluded wooded property with mature trees and of course that basketball hoop which is our version of a dream catcher. A place with a porch where the siblings look toward a horizon of possibilities. Inside, is the grandmother digging through kitchen cabinets have seen a few decades of family dinners.
Those details can't be manufactured. They have to be discovered.
Even online location scouting through Vrbo and Airbnb for the perfect vacation rental becomes its own adventure.
The perfect bedroom where furniture can be moved to make room for a camera.
The dining room where we could gather for a table read, the den that doubles as our production office. The kitchen for “catering” and “craftie.” for a day.
Like the McMansion with its fresh basketball court, the reality of vacation sites means sometimes forgetting the most important truth. Someone owns these homes, someone who maybe didn’t imagine them as short-term rentals. They lived a life in these houses.
Inviting a film crew inside isn't a small thing.
Fortunately, we're producing a short film with a focused schedule, a professional crew, and a great deal of respect for every property we're fortunate enough to use.
The campsite principle applies equally to filming locations.
Leave every space better than you found it.
Now...
About that basketball court….
