Morning!

I am coming to you from the film set North of London (well at the time of writing that is). Yesterday was our first day back and it seems that for the majority of the crew this is a first post lockdown job. The mood is interesting, sort of edging on the excitement to be back, annoyance with all the new covid health and safety rules and a little fear that everything might shut down again unexpectedly.

Honestly, it seems that catching the virus here is pretty much a matter of luck. Of course everyone is trying to be as cautious as possible, but there is no guarantee. On this production we have a COVID safety production manager and a supervising assistant. They are reminding the crew to keep distances and leave rooms if it becomes too crowded, but at the end of the day we are still going home on our own, do our food shopping and so on, so.. It’s just luck really.

The even before work each day we are sent out a form to fill, asking if we don’t have any new symptoms and whether we declare ourselves fit to work. In general apart of this feeling of uncertainty and being extra cautious the film set atmosphere is still the same I know and love. It’s so nice to be back and I finally got a chance to wear my custom made mask I was gifted by our film crew union in Lithuania. 

Let’s hope that everything keeps going as well as it’s started and below is my first week broken down.

Wednesday. Tropical welcome. The moment I stepped off the plane I was greeted with a warm whoosh of 34 degrees air. Impressive for London that’s for sure. A friend of mine, who I’ll be staying with, offered to pick me up from the airport. So sweet of her. She pimped up the room for me too. Full on lux airbnb experience. We had gin and tonics in the garden and went on her usual evening walk with a dog to the park. Very cosy and warm welcome indeed.

Thursday. My official first day back on the production. I got two prep days from home on this one. Was fresh and ready to start, but the scripts were not. Typical. I ended up calling various colleagues who I knew were in London already and just catching up about the upcoming shoot and the delay of the scripts. London was still tropical, so for most part I was hanging outside and we even did a barbecue with my friend in the evening. So fun. Also the scripts came through in the evening, so I knew that as of the following morning I’ll be able to stuck into it. Great. 

Friday. Prep day with the scripts. Found it more difficult to get back into it than I originally anticipated. I’ve been off since March and the full break down I’ve done was almost a year ago for the same project, so those muscles are a bit stiff. Oh well. Luckily I have few more days of the weekend to get into it. The night was pretty quiet and I was in bed just after 10 pm I think. Need to rack up all the sleep I can get now, as we will be starting the shoot with a 6 day week.

Saturday. Quiet start. Did some prepping for the work on Monday. Had a call with a director for the potential shoot later on in the year. Started watching series called “I may destroy you” with my friend while sipping on gin and tonics again (so British I know). The show, left quite an impression. The topic of the series is pretty dark and sadly so very real. Also the way it’s shot feels very personal. I think every girl should watch it, actually, everyone should watch it. The director I had that call with is one of the actors in the series. This is kind of what sparked me to watch it, but I am so glad I did. Very very relatable, modern life tv. Kinda hope to get on that feature even more now.

Sunday. Reformer pilates with my friend. Yes, you’ve read it right. We booked ourselves in a relatively local pilates studio for a class. So exciting. The class itself was a bit too easy for me, but Ive been at it rather intensely for the past two months.. The rest of the group were just coming back after the lockdown, so that’s understandable. Sadly I forgot my go pro, so there are no photos of the studio, but I’m hoping to come back next Sunday too, so I’ll get my chance again. In the afternoon we decided to take the advantage of a sunny day, not as tropical anymore, but still and go out into town. More specifically the Kings Cross area, which apparently became all hipster chic now. I used to live there at the very beginning of my film career and this blog actually. It was quite emotional to see it again after all those years. It has changed a lot actually.. The bench I used to sit on and dream about my career while looking over the first fancy houses being built in this area is no longer there. Kinda metaphorical.. In the evening we watched a short documentary my uni friend, who now lives in New Zealand made. I had a call with him afterwards to give my feedback. I liked it, the topic of the film was interesting. I am pretty proud that he managed to shoot something as a director, rather than just “waiting” for the perfect time or story to do it, as so often happens with aspiring directors. Go Austin!

Monday. First day back on set! My friend drove me over. So so grateful for that. Waking up for 6am departure, just out of kindness of her heart.. None of my boyfriends eve done it for me by the way. I really should put it down on the attribute list, now that I think of it. Seeing everyone again was so heartwarming too. Ahh what a good day full of positivity. Love all around.

Here I am, this is me, theres not another place on earth I’d rather be.

Highlights:

  • Tropical London.
  • Friends friends friends.
  • BBQ in the garden.
  • Kings Cross area.
  • Back on set!

Cheers with the glass full of working elephant!