When a squirrel pees on your floor, you know it's going to be a bad first day...

Day 1. I was told to expect everything possible to go wrong on the first day. Truer words were never spoken.

Jay, Mick, and I start the day in the living room, going over lines. The front door is open, and Kilo comes in for nuts, as usual. I guess now would be a good time to mention that Kilo is the head of a family of squirrels living in the tree out front. My roommate and I provide him with nuts, and he provides us with entertainment. (He once did a flying roundhouse kick. I swear.) I tell Mick and Jay to just ignore him, and we go back to the script. And then, Mick speaks.

"Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"The squirrel is peeing on your floor."

And that was how the day started. With a squirrel showing me that when he wants nuts, he expects nuts.

We got off to a slow start, but that was expected on the first day. We all go out back to film scenes for "Headshots", only to find that a flock of birds has taken up residence on the nearby power lines, and they're singing to their hearts content. They clearly weren't going anywhere, so I decided to go ahead and begin filming anyway, and fix the sound in post.

Also, Mother Nature decided that today would be a good day for a spike in temperature in Los Angeles. It's hot. The actors look like they're hot. So I decide to add in a line of dialog referring to the heat. Since this is the argument episode, it'll add to the tension. I even envision giving the episode a nice yellowish hue in post. Problem solved.

Next, I realize that Burbank airport must have changed some flight paths, because there is a bit more air traffic overhead than usual. Whatever. More pauses between takes. I'll deal with it. But the day is starting to wear me down. And the hot day is definitely getting hotter.

It was about this point that I realized that this was the worst episode I could have picked for the first day. I had planned to shoot this one very loose and improv in style, in regards to the cinematography. I was going to go hand held, to give everything a sense of immediacy, and just circle the actors as they delivered their lines. So I didn't plan a shot list. Problem is, I also didn't block the shots. BIG mistake on my part. When the actors ask me where to stand, and the look on my face shows that I have no idea, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Also, this episode, along with "Decisions", is the hardest for the actors. Lots of emotion, Lots of dialog. I realized too late that I should have given them the chance to ease into their characters more before picking this to start with. These two things are definitely making the day more difficult.

So, we film a few takes, and then a small passenger plane begins circling overhead. I figure that it's just waiting for clearance, may be about twenty minutes, and then we can move on. We all head inside to take in some air conditioning while we wait it out. Twenty minutes later, still circling. An hour later... Still circling. Oh, and someone begins to use a jack hammer across the street.

It was at this point that I gave up. The day was a bust. I knew it, and I decided to call an end to the debacle. Let the actors have their afternoon back, and let me prepare for day 2. We shot two of the three character posters, so the day wasn't a complete waste. I expected the neighborhood to go completely quiet as soon as the actors left, for that one last kick while I'm down. But the plane circled for another hour, and then some local gardeners started in with the leaf blowers. It made me feel a little better, at least, to know that I made the right decision in sending everyone home.

Uncontrolled environment + bad planning = Off to a bad start...