JR seemed like a nice guy when I met him at the preproduction meeting. But he’s a friggin maniac when you let him loose!

I actually thought we’d be done early when the husband cracked. JR managed to pull the rabbit out of the hat though with those other guys he found.

I wish I was in the doghouse business 'cause David will need one tonight. I feel sorry for that guy. His wife had that "wither a man at 50 yards" kinda  look. JR instantly recruited two party dudes and now you know the rest of the story.

Met some colourful French people on the hill...too bad JR doesn't speak French...they sang something to us...something about soccer.  Then JR almost put out the eternal flame.  No, not really, but it was funny to write.

We met our first star at a bus shelter and followed him to where he was going on the bus. 

Nightmare #1: at one point we lost some crew members along the way...some were on the bus, some in vans, and still others were crammed into the back of the star's car. 

Nightmare #2: no one got a release form for his little girl...which means that legally we cannot show any of her footage.

Nightmare #3: not only did the star's wife refuse to sign a release for her daughter, but she also refused to be on the show herself...and her husband!  Production was shut down.   We were without a star, and therefore without a show, and did I mention the crew hadn't eaten for 7 hours?  Had a few head-scratching moments of sheer awfulness.

Today we shot the first episode of Be Real in Canada’s capital city Ottawa. It was my first time working with all the crew members. My overall impression for the first day of production made me feel happy to be working with the crew, because everyone got along well. Even in hectic situations everyone worked well together. There were some pretty hectic times on the show. Like when we had to bring all the recording equipment and wardrobe rack onto the OC transpo bus after we found our new star at the bus stop.  Later on after getting off the bus and running after our talent I realized I dropped my cell phone and I had to go looking for it while everyone else ran into the Orleans mall. In this episode the guy that we made our star dropped out halfway through the show. Then as the crew pondered on a solution for our incomplete episode, these 3 guys chillin’ near by became our new subjects. They brought a lot of energy to this episode. Driving some go-carts, drinking some beer to celebrate the grooms last night of freedom before his wedding the next day.

GONG SHOW #2! Oh God…. I know now not to be optimistic when we find our stars quickly! John, or should I say John’s wife, kyboshed the entire thing halfway through our day… and we didn’t eat anything because we didn’t want to loose him… whatever good that did… anyway, there were some nosy/amazing neighbours across the street who were keen, so we filmed them instead, giving them the time of their lives! Good save!

Well, my first day as a grip! We all meet as a crew for the first time. We head to Parliament Hill to shoot the opening and do a bit of trolling. We head to a OC Transpo bus stop, find our first STAR, works for about an hour ‘til we get back to his place and his wife shuts us down.  That’s the risk of shooting a show like this; but with luck on our side another STAR falls right in our lap. Day turns out good, except for the fact we ended up in a bar. Bar scenes are hard to shoot. Late nights are not a problem. Our STAR gets married the next day. Hope it works out.

“The Last Night of Freedom”

Ottawa is a crazy place.  Following J.R. is like being attached to a long bungee cord.  He keeps going and going and we have to spring to catch up.  Where does he get the energy? 
I think the most interesting part of the day was hauling our flimsy wardrobe rack up a set of O.C. Transpo stairs.  The unfortunate part was having too switch our subject at about 6pm at night because we didn’t get pre-clearance from the first guy’s wife to use their child in our production.  What is up with that?  Anybody should be jumping at the chance to be on Be Real.

Whipped vs last night of freeeeeedom!!!!!