It’s 3:00am and everyone is asleep, crashed out on floors, couches and beds in a small two bedroom apartment above a convenience store in San Jose, California…everyone except independent filmmaker M. David Lee III. While his cast and crew of his latest film, "3 Days…3 Hours…3 Minutes…3 Seconds…" is out cold, no doubt dreaming of more sleep in the near future, David is working on the schedule for the next days shoot in one bedroom that for this weekend is an office, a storage area, a film changing room, and occasionally a bedroom.
"I haven’t slept in 24 hours. I’m always too
excited the night before a shoot. We
got some good stuff tonight, but tomorrow we really get started." Says
David as he works to reschedule the next days shooting schedule.
David’s latest endeavor is a small film that has an unusual hook. He and his posse are trying to shoot an entire feature film in just three days.
"After my last film, I sat down with another filmmaker and wondered out loud what the shortest time you could actually shoot a feature film in. It was almost like, Name that Tune. I said six days, he countered with five, then I said three. At first it was kind of a joke, but then I went home and wrote the treatment for this film and the next thing I knew I was getting ready for production."
"3 Days…3 Hours…3 Minutes…3 Seconds…," chronicles the life of three individuals who live a life of drugs and prostitution over a three day period. At the heart of the film is the question, what happens when the light finally comes on and you want to change.
"When I first heard about the project I was skeptical of David’s plan to shoot it all in three days," says Wendy ML Collins, CO-producer. "But after reading the treatment and outline, after talking with David at length I changed my mind and said, ‘hey this really could be good!’"
The structure of the film is quite unique. David had the story idea, wrote a scene by scene outline and then through rehearsals had the actors develop their own dialogue.
Amy Watt, who plays "Leslie" in the film says, "It was really exciting having the chance to build a character from the ground up. It’s the first time I’ve really been given that type of control with a character before. Most directors would never give up that much power, but David did."
"Letting my actors build a lot of their own dialogue was important to the film as a process as a whole. Whenever you make independent films, you really have to involve people in the project so that they believe in it as well. You spend too many long hours together not to like the film you’re working on. If an actor or crew member has a stake in the film from the word go, they tend to stick with it front start to finish."
For David, making independent films is more then an occasional hobby, it’s his passion. But like most independents, David pulls double duty working anywhere between three to six hours a day on his films, sandwiched around a twelve to fourteen hour day earning a living as a local sports anchor.
"I’m really fortunate in that I have a job that I really do love. I get up and watch sports and meet with athletes for a living. If I wasn’t getting paid for it, I’d be at home watching a ton of it anyway so that’s nice. It’s also nice being in the television business because you meet a lot of great frustrated, closeted filmmakers and you have access to equipment."
Which is always a problem for independent filmmakers. But oddly enough finding good talent isn’t as hard once others know you’re really doing something. Director of photography, Chip Holley explains.
"When I signed on to shoot the film, I hadn’t been using my camera much. Mainly I had been shooting car commercials at the same station David works at. I wanted a chance to get back to my craft. Working on "3 Days…" wasn’t going to be a long commitment and I was going to be around creative people. My creative juices started to flow right away."
A quick check of the clock reads 3:30am, David is tired and has finally decided to go to sleep. In addition to being the producer, director, writer and eventual editor of the film, David is also in charge of craft services in the morning.
"I’ll start coffee at about 5:00am. After, I’ll start preparing breakfast, it’s eggs, bacon, toast and bagels…oh fruit and something else, I can’t remember. At about 5:30am I’ll play a little, "Bolero" to start waking people up slowly, call time is 7:30am."
And why does David bother with such an elaborate breakfast on a small film?
"These people have given me three days of their lives to help me work on my dream. Losing a little sleep and treating them like human beings is the least I can do…until I become a huge success then I can be a dick!" David says smiling as he turns off his computer to try to catch 20 winks before filmming, or hell as David and his posse lovingly refer to it as begins again.
November 4, 1998