The Big Shoot

I left early to go meet my friend Norman for breakfast, and there was a car parked outside my gate. It wasn't an Indian (I always loved that line from "Key Largo").

It was a man in a security guard uniform. He said he was sent by "Burn Notice." They forgot to tell Wifey and me, though --apparently it was to be the day of our gate's debut and starring turn.

I left to meet Norman, where we had our usual great talk, about old and new. He's going to guest DJ on the campus radio station, WVUM, today. I told him I'd call in and ask him to play Misty for me...

Back at the house, Wifey got up and watched the gathering crew. By 10 am, about 15 vehicles were there, including a food service and bathroom truck. We strolled around and observed. I met a fellow who was a Miami Dade paramedic --he had been doing film and tv work for years -- we chatted about the Miami Vice crews, both for the tv show and movie. He told me Colin Farrell was never more than 10 feet away from a bottle OR a hot lady...

The scene they were shooting involved a black suv being chased by a brown Chevy van. The suv was to make it through the gate of the Venezualan "compound," the gates were to close, and the van was to bust through the gates.

3 off duty Pinecrest cops kept the streets clear. When I parked and walked back to my house after breakfast, they eyed me suspiciously. I told them I was the star of the show --the gate owner. They laughed, which is not too common for cops, although these guys were making time and a half for overtime.

The Director, Artie, drove up in a huge black pickup truck with a big trailer. His ATV was in the trailer, all tricked out with camera brackets. He drove around like a general. Cool looking guy --probably early 60s. The paramedic told me he had done lots of movies --many for Disney in Orlando.

The stunt actors walked around --looking quite fit. The paramedic told me they make around $200k per year, but then get residuals if the show goes to re runs, so a show like "Burn Notice," now in its 5th season, leaves then "done financially."

That explained why one of the actors asked me about the house next door for sale, and didn't flinch when I told him they were asking nearly $2M for it. Now THAT would be a cool neighbor to have...

D1 arrived, and we hung on the porch of the house across the street, in the shade, and watching the several takes. They shot each vehicle separately, then the chase. Each take they called for a "lock down" which I took to mean keeping idiots like me from strolling into the path of speeding vehicles.

And indeed there seemed to be about 10 folks whose only job WAS to keep idiot like me out.

Another thing became clear: why cities fight over having films and other shows shot on their location. It really IS a huge financial hit. A scene that was going to take no more than 10 seconds on film caused a whole day of a huge cast and crew to spend time and money...

Finally, about 330, it was time for the money shot. The crew buried a tiny high def camera in the gravel behind the gates (they had removed MY gates and replaced them with "break away" models. They also covered the "Villa Wifey" sign.

They placed another camera high on a ladder next to a tree, and two cameras on the street. The brown van sped up to about 40 mph. Boom! A succesful gate crash.

Afterwards, the crew seemed happy with the result. They all left as quickly as they came.

The construction guys had bad news for me, though --the gate anchors had been broken, and they couldn't fix them. They'd need to send a gate company out Monday.

The nice Asst. Manager Aaron came by. He had my check for $2500, and offered to pay the security guard to sit outside until the gates were repaired. I laughingly told him no --we had a safe 'hood, and the gates function more to keep our dogs in than bad guys out. I could survive just fine for the weekend, gate-less.

D1 had left, taking the Spaniel, so Wifey and I decided to walk the other dogs (oh yeah --there's a new dog in the house --more on that later). As we left, another crew fellow drove up, to replace the "Pare" signs they installed (the shot was to take place at a Venezualan compound) with our original "stops."

We got home, and, thinking about what I learned about Colin Farrell, I poured myself a Middleton. My hot babe was in the next room. Ah, Hollywood...