Here I am in London and Pavaline asked me to shoot you a blog from the cold streets of London flooded with black taxis, double decker buses and an occasional red fox.

This is my first time shooting outside of the US and I’m here for my documentary film: HOW SHAKESPEARE CHANGED MY LIFE.

I must admit there are obstacles I saw coming and ones that blindsided me. Before I left NYC, I was in contact with a London Production Company that produces small ads and videos. They offered to loan me a camera package at a fair rate because they knew my DP.

However, when I got here and tried to reach them for 2 days they finally let me know Friday night at 11pm that they didn’t want to loan me the gear. The company is basically a husband and wife team and the husband had said YES but the wifey said NO.

Well, this isn’t Hollywood where I could get a kit at a company on a Saturday or Sunday since my key interview was in Stratford (about 2 hours away) on Monday morning, I was scouring the internet looking for rental houses that could be open.

Luckily, there was another local producer the DP had worked for that I was going to rent 3 lights from so we went to his flat on Saturday morning and told him of my drama and being the gentleman he was, he allowed me to rent his SONY HD camera and anything else I needed.

I officially dubbed him: Sir Save Myassalot.

My week is far from over and I’m sure there will be more tasty surprises but I guess the lesson I’ve learned is to reach out to people who love making movies as much as you do because they have been where you are and you might catch a break when you need it the most.

By the way, everything went well for the interview and it will be the jewel of my film.