The Weekend of 420: Probably Not the Best Time to Film in a Head Shop

It was Friday, April 18th around eleven o'clock in the morning. The morning and evening before, I'd called a local head shop smoke shop, Pipe Dream, only to get the runaround. At 11:00 AM, this Friday morning, I was determined to get a location set up for the final scheduled shot--the first shot of the actual film--for My Mom Smokes Weed. I called the Gas Pipe and immediately I was interrogated: was I part of a news crew? After briefly explaining that I was merely part of an independent film production, the manager assured me he'd get an answer from corporate, by the end of the day. The end of the day came and went, and still no answer. Clay physically went to an independent shop in Deep Ellum, The Deep End, and got permission to shoot there. The morning of our shoot, I also secured the Gas Pipe as a back up. Thanks go out to both of these fine establishments.

Here are some stills:

Clay Liford films nervous Nate Rubin as he passes the head shop. Barak Epstein on sound and me wrangling! Thanks Yen Tan for the photo.

Deep Ellum's own, The Deep End, ended up being a better location; and we got to support a dying neighborhood that frantically needs our help.

Clay and Barak filming Nate walking up to The Deep End.

Scary, tattooed man, James M. Johnston scares little-pansy-boy Nate in this clever piece of foreshadowing.
Finally, a brief photo study of Yen Tan:




See additional photos on MySpace and/or Facebook.

Also, Check out writer/director, Clay Liford's MMSW blog post!