Killers of the Flower Moon

Along about March of 2021, there was a casting call for Killers of the Flower Moon. My movie partner Don Krejsek submitted for it, but didn’t get it.

Then they had a casting call for drivers, for the old time cars, for Killers. Don messaged me that he wanted to submit. He made a fast run to my house, and I called my day job to arrange to go in an hour late. We got the submission made, and yipee! Don got chosen for the audition.

As usual, Don was early for the gig, and he was in the parking lot and saw the neat, cool old cars being driven around. Finally he went into the holding area, and they had some old cars inside. Now, keep in mind, these old Model T cars aren’t like modern cars today. Don saw one car that had a sign that showed the pedal layout. The left pedal is high/low. The middle pedal is reverse. The right pedal is the brake. When telling me about this, after the fact, Don had said to himself, “That is good information!”

When it was finally his turn, he drove the car. And received an A+ rating.

Then we get word that he was hired as a driver for Killers of the Flower Moon, which is going to be the biggest movie of the year!

This is during the height of covid. Anytime you reported to set, you had to go in the day before and get covid tested. It’s a two hour drive to get there. There were wardrobe fittings and preproduction meetings.

April 2021 rolls around. Don gets called in. He was there on the first day of filming. The scene was the still set, and he was in the middle of all the action. He was given a costume to be a bootlegger.

And they kept calling him back. He worked on this movie for many many days. He was there on the first day of filming, and there on the second to last day of filming out at the oil field set.

Of course, Don being Don, he made friends everywhere he went. He is fun and charming and pleasant to be around. On a film set, he pays attention. He follows directions. He is on time. He is a professional.

And the hard work and professionalism gets noticed.

He kept getting called back. And he was chosen to play Leo’s driver in one of the last scenes that was filmed in the movie.

In one of the trailers for Killers of the Flower Moon, at 1:27 in the trailer, Don is driving the car on the left.

Don Krejsek and Leonardo DiCaprio

Don Krejsek and Lily Gladstone

Don Krejsek and First AD Adam Somner

That fall, after Don had gotten so much work on the movie, it occurred to me, that maybe, somehow, I might be holding Don back. We do not have an outside agent or manager. Everything we have done in the film business, we have done for ourselves. We promote ourselves, and if that was something that was a mistake, then I needed to let Don know. I said something on the lines of…”if you want to go get an agent, or work with someone who can get you to a higher level, then go ahead. Don’t let me and my decisions hold you back.”

Don looked me in the eye and said, “I just spent the last five months working for Martin Scorsese. It doesn’t get any higher level than that!”

Compliments!

Sometimes people remember your work, even when you are not out doing all the promotion.

People in our community have recently opened a new AirBnB. Since they want to promote our community, they asked me if I would put my books in the facility. I said I would be happy to make a donation, and that I was THRILLED to be remembered and included.

They asked me to sign them, and…even after all this time, it is still a thrill to sign an autograph.

Under the heading of compliments…

A couple of weeks ago, at the day job, a person I did not know kinda looked at me. I said, “May I help you?”

He paused and said, “Do you sing opera?”

Me: “No. But I sing everything else.”

We got to talking, and the man said, “There is a lot of talk going around the community, that you are a real good singer.”

Well, I am here to tell you, that makes my day!

I hope you all are well and safe and happy.

Sending lots of love out into the world, from my small corner here in the middle of nowhere.

amandaball.com

daynegearner.com

leanncoston.com

Tulsa King

2022 brought the filming and premiere of the tv series Tulsa King to Oklahoma.

Guess who I saw on my tv last night!?!?!?!

My business partner Don Krejsek is in the premiere.

How cool is this!

He has worked so many gigs these last couple of years, and his movie career is taking off (in front of and behind the camera)!

It is super fun to be along for this ride, and he is so kind to include me and share in his career and movie activities.

So…when you watch Tulsa King – and Stallone’s character arrives at the Tulsa airport – Look for Don. He’s the tall man in the cowboy hat, kinda a little to the left in the shot.

Skyrockets in flight

Don‘s acting career is taking off like a skyrocket. The last two years, he has booked gig after gig after gig. Two weeks ago, he had acting gigs on three different productions.

This week, he booked a gig. He needed to go a day ahead for covid testing. We had been talking about wanting to go out and celebrate a milestone of the number of views on the Chisholm Trail – Past and Present video.

So, he booked the gig. We left at 8am. Got to the covid testing site at 9:51. They open at 10. We wait and wait and wait. And wait some more. You are supposed to stay in your car. It’s drive thru. We wait some more. They test two people from two other cars. But, for some reason, they looked at our car (the only other car there) and just disappeared. So, we were there 28 minutes.

There is a sign there, that has a phone number where you call them to say you are there to covid test.

Finally, we got done. Whew!

Most of my movie work of late has been office/promotion/sales/business papers. That doesn’t make for interesting blog posting. But getting to road trip with Don, even for one day, is super fun.

Went shopping, then went to lunch.

Don at Cattlemens

When you are in OKC and you want to celebrate. Where do you go?

Cattlemens!

Chicken fry!

We both got a chicken fry. I can’t tell you the last time we went to Cattlemens. It is sooo worth it. But, we aren’t the only ones who like it. Guess who else likes it? Just guess.

Give up?

OKC skyline

Friends

Don submitted for a gig and got invited to submit a video audition. Luckily on this one, we had a whole week to produce this. But due to other commitments on other days of the week, we needed to get our part of the submission produced in about a day and a half.

Our friend Mark Klein has a really nice place. It occurred to me to ask if he might allow us permission to film at his place. There would be minimal setup on our part, and we’d have room to move around and work. Mark, bless him, said yes.

Mark and Don

Mark has worked on moviemaking in the past, so that’s why I took the chance and asked him this time. He told me stories of when he and his friends were shooting movies on 8mm. You had to send the film off to be developed. And wait for it to come back. You didn’t even know what you had till days after the shoot.

This is digital filmmaking. Each format has its strengths and weaknesses. But for us to be able to shoot a scene, then look at it and make adjustments immediately – for that aspect, I am grateful.

Don did all the setup and planning and math and figuring and angles, blocking, scene setting. Everything. It is a dinner table scene, and he needed to play against people, even if they were not interacting in the scene. Mark agreed to help, sitting in the scene, and giving Don something to act off of.

Mark and Don in rehearsals

What’s my role in this gig? Cinematography.

Oh yeah. Someone needs to read the other actor’s lines off camera. And time them to the scene. I did not do a good job.

Don did. With minimal information, he turned this scene into a SCENE. He found ways to act that I never would have thought of.

It’s pretty amazing to watch.

This is Don. On so many of the headshots we take and submit, he is stoic. This is the real him. He is always laughing and smiling.

Chisholm Trail – Past and Present is now on YouTube!

Chisholm Trail – Past and Present is a documentary about the 2017 cattle drive to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Chisholm Trail. It is produced, directed and edited by Amanda Ball and Donald J. Krejsek.

There are a lot of behind the scenes stories and still photographs on this blog. Search the September 2017 archives.

Don and I had a blast out on the trail. We are thrilled and honored to be included in this slice of history.

The list of drovers can be found at the movie’s IMDB page.

When you are a filmmaker, you have to make many, many decisions. One of the decisions was…what do we do about the music?

Do you use old time songs that are in the public domain? Do you record new material but make them sound old? Do you use entirely new modern material? I was discussing this with my Dad, and he said, “All I can think of is Momma’s song.”

My grandmother, Mattie Belle Keenon Ball, passed away in 1979. When my Dad was in Vietnam in the 1960s, he purchased two early model reel to reel tape recorders. He took one overseas. The other he gave to his parents. They used these early tape machines to send letter tapes back and forth. Only one of these tapes survived. And on this tape, both my Granny and my Granddad talked and told my Dad stories. On this tape, my grandmother sang the song to my Dad that she had sung to him when he was a boy.

“When the work’s all done this fall.” The song itself is in the public domain. The fact that we have this recording that was made by my grandmother, over 50 years ago, makes my heart runneth over. (And makes my eyes puddle up.)

Kansas Sunset

I was in Kansas Tuesday evening, and the sunset was breathtaking!

cloudscapes, sunset

Autumn

Autumn, fall color, Missouri, Photos

Don Krejsek – the audition

Don has been working as an actor on a movie for the last five months. When that wrapped last week, we were on the hunt for the next acting gig.

We found a great project and put together a submission. And he was invited to make a video audition.

Now…it was late Friday when the notification came through. Deadline is 4pm Monday.

And we have to create this whole self-tape video audition from scratch.

If it was a matter of getting the sides, recording the vid on a phone, and uploading, that would be easy. But in this case, he had to choose a character, perform its sides, put together two improvs, edit all the segments into one vid, and then upload. That is gonna take some time.

Part of our equipment is at his house. Part of the equipment is at my house. He came by Saturday morning to pick up equipment, in case he got enough of the planning done in order to work Saturday night.

On the last movie he worked for, they shaved his moustache. I am like—can we go take some quick pics. Out the door we go. And the memory card wasn’t in the camera. I had less than 30 minutes before I had to leave for work. Needless to say…rushed photography didn’t give me too many good pics. But we got the one below.

Don mentioned trying to film at a bar that one of our friends owns. But I kinda freaked out. We are on such a tight deadline. And all the computer equipment is at my house, and who knows how this will go or what we will need. I said I wanted to work at my house. Could we meet 10am Sunday? He said that was fine.

All I can think about is – the limitations of my house. Small rooms. Bad lighting. Angles. Once we get vids, how much batch conversion am I gonna have to do? What output settings will work for the finished upload?

Don and I had a phone conversation somewhere in the middle of this rushed madness, and I asked what his plans were? He was working on the issues of…what character(s) to audition for? What monologue? How to play the monologue/set it up/perform it/sell it/nail that punchline.

And me…being on the technical side of this equation – since I am only the director of photography and editor…totally forgot what it is to prepare an acting performance.

Don has to do ALLLLLL the thinking on this one. He has to pick his improv monologues, write the lines, set the timing, get the props, rehearse it, revise it, ACT IT…and all in less than 48 hours.

I am exhausted even thinking about doing that amount of work in such a short turnaround.

5:30 am Sunday. I am wide awake, still computing angles, worrying about lighting, worrying about the computer settings for my responsibilities on this gig.

7:45 am Sunday. The power goes out!

Crap!

Now what?

We are on a deadline. Hopefully the power will come on soon. The wind is low. Could we possibly compensate by filming outdoors? At least I won’t have to worry about the lighting in my house!

So, I text Don, who texts back: “Crap!”

He gathers equipment and comes to my house.

And…luck was on our side…the power came back on before 10.

I had set up my music room to use as a possible studio. I go to hunting for my lighting rig. Can’t find it. I don’t remember seeing it for awhile. Don is already on his way. When he gets here, I ask if he happens to have our lighting rig at his place. Oh yeah…he does. Too late now!

I ask what is the plan?!?!?!

Don in thinking mode

He likes to joke with me. There is a place when you are working at the top of your highest level of mental function – concentration is complete. And he can say words to me – things that have nothing to do with the project at hand – and I have no room for any outside distractions. He would say something like, “A bomb could go off next to Amanda, and she wouldn’t notice.”

But this time, the tables were turned. I was setting up camera and microphone and adjusting settings. And I said something to him, and he was all…”Shut up and let me think!” I had to chuckle.

We ended up turning my living room into a pseudo pub!

And it is showtime!

Every single take, he is a different character. He played six, count ’em, SIX characters in this audition. I have watched this man act in real life for the last couple of decades. He will tell a story and “become” that person in the story. Then he can switch it off, and go to a different tangent.

His acting talent floors me.

And here we are – doing this on camera – trying to get him a role in someone else’s movie. With less than 48 hours notice, he created six characters, figured out their motivations, speech patterns, timing, beats, and HE SOLD THEM ALL!

Easygoing pub guy

Military general

Then it is time to do my work.

I get the footage into the computer and into the editing software. And I start putting it together. And I realize I misjudged the sound. The video was reasonably okay – considering our location constraints and limited time. And you have to make a bunch of technical decisions very quickly.

And I misjudged the sound. But you can still hear Don, and my mistake didn’t detract from his acting. I told him what I had done. (And I am pretty sure neither of us has the energy, nor internal fortitude to shoot this again.) We sure enough don’t have the time to work this another day. I ask him if he is okay with going ahead and using this footage, even with my sound mistake. And he said yes.

I edit as quickly as I can. At this point – when we know we are not going to shoot it again, I said that if he needed to leave, it was okay with me. I knew he had a ton of work to do in his personal job. (To the extent that I had asked, “Do you have time to do acting right now?” Short answer – yes he did.)

He stayed with me through the first render. Again, there are so many technical settings, and you try one thing, then try another.

I said I was going to tweak it and render it again.

Oh yeah…did I mention that we set this up on my day off? And I got called in to work at my day job Sunday evening? DP (cinematography) and editing takes ALL of my brain. When that day is done, my brain is done. And now I have to switch gears, switch modes, and switch personalities and go to my day job!??!?! Can we spell E-X-H-A-U-S-T-I-O-N?

Just what we needed. More reasons to rush. More opportunities to make mistakes!

I did the third render. Decided to use it.

Uploaded it.

Got the confirmation. Texted Don that it was done!

And we made it 23 hours ahead of deadline!

Now we play the waiting game…

Does he get the gig?

Stay tuned…

July skies

Hello!

Just a few sky photographs. I can look at one of these and take a deep breath and enjoy the “wide open spaces”.

Creativity has been at a total standstill in my world and in my head. In fact, I had my still camera lost for about six months! Thank goodness I found it.

I miss creativity, but that part of my brain is taking a vacation. When it turns “on” again, then I will be back at it.

I hope you are all well and happy and safe!

Peace!