Mike Sellari

Less Than Hero Shenanigans

As of late, Less Than Hero has gotten chaotic. We have about 6 more days of shooting comprised of 4 locations and numerous scenes. We have just gotten reorganized and except for the party scene know when everything will get done.

Our last shoot occured on Sunday March 20 in which a skeleton crew aimed to film 4 scenes in the Public Gardens. However due to a scheduling conflict with Srda, we had to miss 2 scenes. We will be making them up shortly. Everything we shot went smoothly the biggest issue came from audio since we were shooting outside and had to contend with crowds, firetrucks, motorcycles, birds, and a one-man band.

Rewrites have been underway as well. Episode 3 has been corrected so that we are shooting during the day instead of at night to make the shoot possible. Before we were planning to shoot during the night at the docks, but lighting would have become an issue. Dan Hanson and me also worked last night on rewriting 2 scenes from the 6th episode (now 5th episode due to the dropping of episode 4).

We have had to also deal with massive crew drops, so we have scrambled to replace people. The interesting thing is that by the end this project will have seen its way through 4 gaffers - Kyle Daly, Mike Stay, DIllon Poole, and Steven San Miguel.

On Saturday we will be shooting all of the scenes that take place in the dorm rooms. Keep posted for stills and for how it goes. After Saturday our next big shoot will be taking place April 9 and 10. After this day Jeremy will be wrapped.

What is good is that after this weekend Episode 6 will be officially shot out. We’re getting there. It’s crunch time and things are crazy, but fun.

Greek: Series Finale - Legacy

Rating: B

Spoiler Alert:

For the last 3 years Greek has been arguably the best show on ABC Family (This is not saying much because of its competition). This is due to the shows way of dealing with its characters. In a world where it would be very easy to rely on stereotypes about sororities and fraternities, the show dug deep and showed you the skin and bones of each one of its main characters, allowing them to become well rounded over the last 4 seasons. It has come to close as of last night, but not before a few monumental things happened to close the series.

Yes, in the final episode, Cappie finally graduated, Casey and Cappie left together, the KT house was destroyed, Rusty and Ashleigh got together (finally), Dale got a girlfriend, and Rusty was made President of Kappa Tau.

The episode featured the return of former guest stars including Jen K, Lisa Lawson, Wade, and Frannie to come back as they do in series finales. We also got a little guest appearance of Tom Lenk (of Buffy and Angel fame) as a tour guide.

The episode on a whole was used to please the fans giving them exactly what they wanted. Everything wrapped up nicely, all of the bitter feuds ended, and the right couples came to be.

There were a lot of great moments including the revelation of Cappie’s real name: Captain John Paul Jones. Also clearly, Jake McDormand who plays Evan broke his hand before shooting the episode and they wrote it in. Throughout they ask Evan what happened to his hand, and he tell Rebecca that he punched a wall. This seems to be the only explanation.

The plot was a little weak. It was nice that everyone worked together to break into Lasker’s office (in a highly impossible plan) and when everyone stood up the bulldozers, so much so I was shocked with the leveling of the house. Still Casey is on the fence about helping out Simon, her professor for fear of loosing her chance to be a lawyer, but this doesn’t actually make sense. It also made Lasker Parks out to be the biggest douche of a father that he would destroy the house his son hoped to live in one day and that the had so many memories in order to leave behind his memory in the form of an athletics complex. What a selfish pick.

Another issue I had with the episode is that Rusty and Ashleigh started dating in the last 10 minutes of the episode. We’ve been waiting to see this ever since they went to the formal together a year ago. 10 minutes does not do them justice.

However through all of this sentimental, neat and tidyness I am still concerned with What’s Next? While this is always an issue in TV shows and while I agree that Casey and Cappie’s stories are told, the rest of the cast has a way to go. When the show first began Cappie was the president of KT, Casey in the run to succeed the throne of ZBZ, and Evan as the second in line of Omega Kai I knew that our 3 younger characters (Rusty, Rebecca, and Calvin respectively) would all succeed their older counterparts. This ultimately happened because all three of them have been President at one point or another. Still we start the show with Casey already having a working legacy and Rusty working on forming his.

Now that the appropriately named title of the finale has ended we know Casey and Cappie’s legacies they left behind, but thats the issue. They left behind Rusty, Dale, Evan, Rebecca, Beaver, Kathryn, Peter, Ashleigh, and the houses behind. These people still have their stories to be told. In my opinion the show could have pulled a Friday Night Lights and continued with Casey, Cappie, and Calvin making guest appearances eventually.

Rusty says to the beaten and downtrodden KTs that he will get them a new house and make sure they continue on. Rebecca and Evan have cleared the air. Dale has a girlfriend. Ashleigh and Rusty are dating. There is so much rich conflict to continue the show on that I honestly think should happen. The main cast can be composed of Rusty, Rebecca, Dale, Evan, Ashleigh, Peter, Beaver, Heath, and Kathyrn and still be interesting.

Cabin Fever

It’s only been 3 days since I’ve been back in Jersey and I’m going crazy. Aside from making sure everything is set for my adventure at the Cannes Film Festival, planning Less Than Hero shoots, writing TV spec scripts, working other ideas, and working on my screenplay for Writing Feature Film Workshop I have been slowly driven insane by boredom and the craziness that is my family.

So far the boredom has gotten my through the following movies:

• Rudy
• Hard Candy
• Persepolis
• Thank You For Smoking
• The Sweet Hereafter
• Catch Me If You Can
• Friday Night Lights
• Ocean’s 11
• Tales from the Script
• Winter’s Bone

Needless to say I need to be A) more productive B) do something exciting. Ugh Spring Break needs to end.