Kelley and I headed down to a section of Manassas, VA in the heart of tick country to check out a horse farm and some potential equine co-stars for the pilot. We met three massive draught horses named Delilah, Gunny, and Lexi. The pictures don’t do justice to how absolutely huge these guys are in person. Kelley and I were like a pair of fourth graders on a field trip. We also met two white Arab horses, Dahara and Atali. Funny enough, they’re a little snobby and don’t care to muck in with a lot of the other horses. They struck me as the Targaryens of the farm.

We’d love to have these beautiful animals be part of the production and it’s all down to a successful Kickstarter campaign. So help us give these guys their acting debuts.

When I originally got the idea to do a medieval style fantasy project, one of the big hurdles was finding locations. There aren’t a lot of places that suggest “medieval” in a country that’s only been constructing building for a few hundred years. So I tried to write as much of the script in two medieval looking locations that we could actually find: a field and a forest.

This past Saturday, after screening my film 6 Nonsmokers at the Frederick Film Festival, producer Kelley Slagle and I headed up to the Frederick Watershed to do some scouting. The directions we were given told us to be on the look out for a cabin and a footbridge. Seeing what looked to be a footbridge, we parked at what looked to be a cabin, crossed the bridge, and started heading uphill.

We walked for a bit, through swarms of insects, stopping for a few pictures of a very nice creek. The road continued up a rather steep hill, which was more than we were willing to climb. So we decided to head back to the car and drive up. Unfortunately, we drove straight into some private residences and we couldn’t reach anyone on the phone for directions. We decided to cut our losses and head back.

On the drive back to downtown Frederick, however, Kelley suggested looking for an alternate entrance on the internet. We found one, but it was on the opposite side of the Watershed, several miles west of where we were supposed to go. We started in that direction, but talked ourselves out of it and decided to stay the course for downtown. However, I neglected to make the appropriate changes on the GPS, and we ended up going to the other side of the Watershed anyway.

Several miles of driving, a dubious consultation with a park ranger, some fiddling with Google Maps, and driving through a creek eventually got us to the spot we were looking for… a few hundred yards from where we initially gave up.

My location scout today in Woodbine, Maryland was substantially less problematic. And it’s now the frontrunner for our primary location. Plus I got to ride around on a Gator and see some horses.

In addition to locations, the quest for appropriate and affordable costumes continues. Also during our time in Frederick, Kelley and I paid a visit to star Bette Cassatt’s considerable costume collection. We were able to pick out several pieces that would be useful for the production.

But before production begins, we’ll be doing a photo shoot with the supremely talented Roy Cox in Baltimore. So our #1 costume objective has been to clothe our three actors who are taking part. Costume designer Eli Reeves is at work on tailoring several items. I have a box with a gambeson waiting for me at UPS. And our king’s crown has arrived from Morgana’s Collection in Quebec.

The producing never stops.

Next time (most likely), a recap from the studio of Roy Cox.

-Francis

Location scouting in Manassas