My New Phone Number

hi,

a mass message, classy i know..

anyway my new mobile phone number is 04-1196-5556

have a good day

Jake Heinemann.

p.s. i am back from my 7 month trip.

My Final Day In New York..

well.

 

my final day in NY. i leave tomorrow 19th of November and arrive back in melb on the 21st......

 

i have a very strange feeling in my stomach. i am a little scared and nervous, but yet also exited to see everyone back home.

 

tonight i am seeing my friends here for the last time. first we will play some pool then move on to this little bar. then tomorrow i get all my belongings together and take the A train out over the bridge, with a final look back at Manhattan. then a long 24 hour trip, but very kindly, Kerri bought me an ipod shuffle so i will have music for it.

 

i think it is going to hit me the most tonight, around my great friends i have made here. but i know i will be back here one day. i have good contacts and friends here so i know the door wont shut behind me.

 

i cant wait to see my little brother (who i hear is growing very fast) and my dad(who should be the same height as when i left). and then to see my awesome friends in Australia, who i have really missed.

 

i want to thank everyone in new york who have gone out of their way to help me, with accommodation, work, friendship and advice. i feel i have learnt a great many things and i have had some amazing times.

 

i want to thank Steve and Sarah for putting me up, and putting up with me. i had some great conversations with Steve and Sarah about all kinds of things and i thank them for that as well. and thank you Krista for helping me organise the trip!

 

Ajay thanks for letting me be a part of a life changing event - ashes. and i know we will work together again someday.

Attila, for always looking out for me and helping me out all the time, your a bloody legend and it had been great tearing up the set with you.

gelo for your hospitality and the great nights we have had out on the town.

and to gorgeous Kerri. i was touched that you invited me down to carver to hang out with you and your awesome family and since, i have really liked getting to know you more and i will miss you.

 

good bye NY,

 

Jake

Vodka

Hello,

 

Well I finished my work on the commercial for Rabiah. It was good. I started on Wednesday, doing mainly props work. Going out to stores all over the city to buy wood, ladders, drills, brackets, bike pedals, fake blood etc… I had to construct a ladder, which had small wheels on the bottom so it could spin around, so I attached castors to the legs. On Thursday I picked up a van we had rented and rabiah and I made quite a few more pick up's in the city, including the director before we headed out to Staten island to check out the set. It was a massive abandoned hospital which had hundreds of rooms still containting out dated equipment, it was paridise, I wish I could take half that place back to Melbourne. My job on this production was Assistant Art Director, and on a shoot this size means I do most of the construction of sets and prop handling and set dressing. After we check out the place and get everything ready to build on the day of the shoot I drive back to manhattan, then Brooklyn… what should have taken 15 minutes from manhattan to Brooklyn it took me two hours or more. I got horribly lost when I missed the Hamilton ave exit and ended getting of in some dodgy place in queens. I tried to get back on the highway but somehow got into a tollbooth and had to pay $5 to use it. Suddenly I am under the east river driving on the tunnel and I come out the other end in mid town (a long way from where I want to be). I drive down town and get back on the Manhattan bridge out to Brooklyn, this time to be safe I decided to get off on exit 26 instead of the now almost fictional 28 ^th. So now I am in Brooklyn and am not sure of how to get to Kerri's. I drive around Brooklyn for ages, seeing street names that I know lead in the direction of Kerri's but going the wrong direction, it took along time and all of my patience but I finally get there. It is about 10pm or so and I am tired with a big day ahead of me.

 

On the final day of the four-day production, and the only day we shot the commercial happened to be Kerri's birthday. I woke up at 5:30am and picked up rabiah and we make our way to set in Staten Island. We get there after an hour or so and I begin construction of the set and the props. We had to fasten a few aluminum hollow bars to the roof and have a light fixture come through it etc… so I got the ole' drill out and tried to remember my brief fling with wood work class back in year 4 of Steiner school, my only memory was crying for some reason, so I had to learn as I worked. The rig worked well and on time so I was happy about that. For the next shot rabiah, our art department team and I started turning one random room into a science laboratory, we used many beakers and random equipment found in the hospital. The scene after that I broke a lot of glass to use as props for the hammer scene, which involved fake blood. After the martini shot we cleaned the place quickly as I had to try and get to drinks with Kerri and her friends and I had already missed the all you could eat sushi dinner at this great Japanese restaurant… I would have killed an 84-year-old Egyptian man for that meal. So I drive people back to Manhattan, help rabiah move the equipment back into her apartment, drop the van off in midtown, at about 11:30pm (what a long day!) skateboard to the bar where Kerri and her friends are and drink red bull to keep my self awake. Fell asleep pretty quickly at 2am when we got back.

 

Yesterday Kerri, her friend katey and I went and saw Borat, and we had to wait in this huge line; the film did very well which is good. It was very funny, and shocking too! Today I relaxed and slept in.. To a whole 10am. Watched the graduate today, good movie. Tomorrow is the elections for senate in America.. Steve and Sarah are down in Nevada doing last minute campaigning for jack carter, Sarah's dad. So lets hope the democrats can gain a majority in the senate so bush doesn't have a rubber stamp in passing legislation, or at least so there is some sort of evidence of checks and balances in American politics…

 

Signing out,

 

Jake.

 

p.s. dave i bought a jacket, a lether jacket ;) thanks again mate.

Vodka..

 

Hello,

 

Well I finished my work on the commercial for Rabiah. It was good. I started on Wednesday, doing mainly props work. Going out to stores all over the city to buy wood, ladders, drills, brackets, bike pedals, fake blood etc… I had to construct a ladder, which had small wheels on the bottom so it could spin around, so I attached castors to the legs. On Thursday I picked up a van we had rented and rabiah and I made quite a few more pick up's in the city, including the director before we headed out to Staten island to check out the set. It was a massive abandoned hospital which had hundreds of rooms still containting out dated equipment, it was paridise, I wish I could take half that place back to Melbourne. My job on this production was Assistant Art Director, and on a shoot this size means I do most of the construction of sets and prop handling and set dressing. After we check out the place and get everything ready to build on the day of the shoot I drive back to manhattan, then Brooklyn… what should have taken 15 minutes from manhattan to Brooklyn it took me two hours or more. I got horribly lost when I missed the Hamilton ave exit and ended getting of in some dodgy place in queens. I tried to get back on the highway but somehow got into a tollbooth and had to pay $5 to use it. Suddenly I am under the east river driving on the tunnel and I come out the other end in mid town (a long way from where I want to be). I drive down town and get back on the Manhattan bridge out to Brooklyn, this time to be safe I decided to get off on exit 26 instead of the now almost fictional 28 ^th. So now I am in Brooklyn and am not sure of how to get to Kerri's. I drive around Brooklyn for ages, seeing street names that I know lead in the direction of Kerri's but going the wrong direction, it took along time and all of my patience but I finally get there. It is about 10pm or so and I am tired with a big day ahead of me.

 

On the final day of the four-day production, and the only day we shot the commercial happened to be Kerri's birthday. I woke up at 5:30am and picked up rabiah and we make our way to set in Staten Island. We get there after an hour or so and I begin construction of the set and the props. We had to fasten a few aluminum hollow bars to the roof and have a light fixture come through it etc… so I got the ole' drill out and tried to remember my brief fling with wood work class back in year 4 of Steiner school, my only memory was crying for some reason, so I had to learn as I worked. The rig worked well and on time so I was happy about that. For the next shot rabiah, our art department team and I started turning one random room into a science laboratory, we used many beakers and random equipment found in the hospital. The scene after that I broke a lot of glass to use as props for the hammer scene, which involved fake blood. After the martini shot we cleaned the place quickly as I had to try and get to drinks with Kerri and her friends and I had already missed the all you could eat sushi dinner at this great Japanese restaurant… I would have killed an 84-year-old Egyptian man for that meal. So I drive people back to Manhattan, help rabiah move the equipment back into her apartment, drop the van off in midtown, at about 11:30pm (what a long day!) skateboard to the bar where Kerri and her friends are and drink red bull to keep my self awake. Fell asleep pretty quickly at 2am when we got back.

 

Yesterday Kerri, her friend katey and I went and saw Borat, and we had to wait in this huge line; the film did very well which is good. It was very funny, and shocking too! Today I relaxed and slept in.. To a whole 10am. Watched the graduate today, good movie. Tomorrow is the elections for senate in America.. Steve and Sarah are down in Nevada doing last minute campaigning for jack carter, Sarah's dad. So lets hope the democrats can gain a majority in the senate so bush doesn't have a rubber stamp in passing legislation, or at least so there is some sort of evidence of checks and balances in American politics…

 

Signing out,

 

Jake.

 

p.s. dave i bought a jacket, a lether jacket ;) thanks again mate.

it's a wrap

hi,

 

well we shot the last few days of Be Kind and it turned out great. the great thing about working on set is that you meet and become very close with a bunch of people in a short amount of time, and then when the project is over, you barely see them any more and it takes some time to float back down to earth. it's like you live in this world we create for the movie which is very different from the real world and adjusting back is hard for most people i have spoken to about it. the last day of shooting came and it was a sprint to the finish. we were shooting in manhattan and we had two locations, a shop on the corner and an apartment adjacent to the shop.the grips brought in a big truck with an arm and they tried to pull the branches of a tree out of the shot and it was crazy and no one knew what they were doing and it was a hectic last shot. but as soon as mr hausmen said thats a wrap everyone just smilled with the realisation that it had been a successfull month. we all gathered for lunch in the church and wrap gifts were flying everywhere and people were hugging, they announced the card wraffle winners and i came second and won $150. all the walkies were checking in, time cards done for the final time. we eat our last meal together and then started heading up to the gaelic pub on the corner. after an hour or so the bar was full with the stories and laughing of this great crew and joked about things that had happened on set and things people had said, or close calls etc... and discussed what projects were people going to after this. dave fisher gave me $40 to buy a coat (i had been cold all the time as NY is getting really cold at night) so i plan to do that tomorrow. fisher is a legend and along with atilla they abtain the highest honour in the Jake Heinemann book of cool people. after the bar i was sitting in mcdonalds with kerri and i had thousands of things going through my mind. about new york, about the film industry about my family and friends, about my friends in ny etc... things are good.

 

on friday we had the wrap party. free drinks was the answer to a long time of no partying. it is allways good to see peoples different sides. i chated with people who i almost dident recognize off set and under bar lights. i dident stay for too long though, and i went to the tape deck to meet up with steve before we went up to harlem. that was at two am and steve dident want to leave til 4;30am as he was working on the jack carter ad campaign for us senate. yesterday i worked for about 5 hours on the film again as we were doing an incert shot with the helicopter again and we needed to block of streets. so i got up at 4am for that, but got alot of slep after that, in fact i cought up alot so i am happy. rabbia, one of the costume designers on ashes called me yesterday and wants me to be a PA and a set dresser for three days on this television comercial, so that is what i will be doing this thurs, fri and sat. so i am getting work... well not getting paid but getting experience anyway which is good.

 

melbourne victory beat NZ 4-0 goals to archie, allsopp, fred, caceras.

 

jake.

Be Kind Rewind

well, it has been a long time since i last wrote a blog entry, and i am glad to inform you that it has been quite an exciting time here for old uncle jake (i am not actually an uncle). well i was living at angelos but i had to make way for his pregnant friend. so i have been staying in between Kerri's and steve and sarah's. well mama's boy was ok, wasent the greatest film ever made but like allways on the set there is one or two real charecters who give me a good belly laugh.

so since the last blog entry i have been mainly spending my time with Kerri, watching arrested development, going to the cinema, reading, hanging out with steve and sarah, checking melbourne victory relatede articles etc... but the best hing that has happened is this new film i am working on. it is called "Be Kind Rewind": it is a $30million budget movie staring Jack Black , Danny Glover , Mia Farrow, Mos Def, Sigourney Weaver and other actors, who prehapse you dont know by name but i am sure you would recognise their faces. it is amazing.

i am the youngest person on set by about 6 or so years and everyone on the crew have worked on big movies, etc.. our very famous director, michel gondry directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Dave CHapelles  Block Party and done a lot of music video's for groups like massive attack and the Chemical Brothers... i am looking at you tom reynolds. our 1st AD (1st assistant director: the man who basically controls and carries out the directors wishes, top 3 most important people on set) worked on spiderman three and i believe boyz in the hood etc... guys who have worked on cruel intentions and meet joe black, the godfather III. carlito's way: rise to power. the hours, stuert little II, queer eye for the straight guy, the producers, law and order, third watch and about every other major tv show around. the departed, the life aquatic with steve zizzou, royal tenenbaums, you get the picture... 

Atilla is the Key PA and hired me on as an aditional PA. they had been cycling through about ten or so before i joined and i have been asked to stay on, i guess my point is i am working really hard and i am sure that those who doubted my work ethic (very understandibly) would be impressed. the first day i joined on the shoot it was allready 30 days shot from 37 in total so i am on board for the final week. so the first day i get up at 4:30AM or theirabouts and get to the pick up van. get to work out in New Jersey and start doing my thing on the set. it was a pretty good day, got to meet Jack Black, Melanie Cruz and Mia Farrow. i worked hard and earned a call back for the next day. i get of the drop of van (coincidnetly the same vehicle as the pick up van) in midtown and i make my way up to harlem. i arrive at about 9:30PM after a long days work. but steve and sarah are not there. so i sit out on the stoop for about 2 hours before i fall asleep on the cold hard steps. litterally accross the road is some kind of crack house or some kind of illigal doings are happeneing their. i have personally seen the place get raided by cops twice. there are allways guys out the front on lookout. i woke up at around 12:30am by steve and sarah, and thier suprised look on their faces, actually now that i think about it it was more of a smile as they were taking pictures of me sleeping on the steps. i checked my pocket, my wallet was still their so i was happy. we go up stairs and they want to watch LOST, so they put that on for a few hours so i got to sleep on the couch at around 2:00am or so.

apparently steve woke me up at about 4:45am when my alarm went of but i dident wake up, and i dont remember him trying to wake me up. i guess i must have turned of my alarm in my half asleep faze. anyway he wakes me up again at like 7am and i rush to get ready. i missed the pick up truck so i have to make my way into Passaic (a notoriously dangerous city within New Jersey). so i go to the station and i am walking around to try and find the best way of getting out there. so i ask this random guy walking next to me where the bus depot is and he is answering me when we get pulled over by the police within port authority bus and subway terminal. the cops pull us over and one is holding the guy and another one is talking to him. one cop in plane clothes is talking to me... they interogated/questioned me for about 45 minutes. i wont go into what they said or what they were suggesting but as it turns out, this guy was a convicted rapist. i was "shocked and awed" by this little experience with the NYPD's finest and NY's most unsavory, but in the end it turned out to be a good excuse for being late. so i find the bus and i get on and land in Passaic 50 minutes later. it is a very hilly area and i had my skateboard. i almost crashed into one of a stream of cars turning up the steep hill on which i was comming down, at breakneck speed. i was praying that there would be a gap in the proccession of cars turning onto my street as i was going too fast for my crappy skateboard, the trucks are loose so it wobbles and is very unstable. luckily i go speeding in between two cars and make it to the traffic lights without falling off, so i was happy. i get to work finnally after skating around passaic lost for a little while.

i worked hard to make up for lost time. had a chat with Jack Black for a while. danny glover patted me on the arm, mia farrow asked me where i was from, i had a nice chat with melanie cruz about australians. kerri came and helped PA for the seconde half of the day. i went back to kerris afterwards as i dident want to have to sleep on the harlem steps again haha. she woke me up this morning at around 4:30am and i got ready for work. today was a pretty good day. as soon as i got there i was on breakfast duty which means i had to recieve the orders from the actor PA and the set PA and work with craft services to make the 20 or so orders i had. zak, another PA was sent over to assist me in this task. i delegated all the drinks and cold food while i organised all the hot food. i checked my orders and he checked his. we jumped in the van and got taken to the set where i took all the orders inside and started handing them out, zak comes in and takes over and says i should take the rest to base camp where the actors are. i get there and put out all the stuff and christina looks over it and starts getting mad that alot of the order is wrong. the hot food was fine but zak had completely screwed up his half. he had not got the banana, he had only one cup of OJ, no honey on the museli etc... 80% of what he did was wrong and of course as i was the barer of the food i got the WHOLE blame.... extrememly aggrivating. so i had to go and undo all zaks "work" so i get the rest of the order and fix the problem. i hear later on the radio that christina is talking to atilla saying that she wants zak to liase with her at the honeywaggons and not me. i kept the rage inside and am most likely growing a large tuma as we speak because of it. anyway the rest of the day went well.

 

(above was writen yesterday but i was so tired i had to sleep)

(below, today)

 

kerri woke me up at 4:30am and i get out to the bus. i get to work out at this train station were we were shooting some scenes. atilla was very aggrivated today as for some reason they hired two more PA's who were the most incompetant people on the face of the earth. they were more harm than good. i get to work coordinating with the other PA's to block the train area, control and position the 40 or so extras and do general PA work. after we shot their we had a company move back to the main set in passaic. we had a water truck to spray the ground to appear like it was rainging. we had around 70 extras at this stage and i helped organise and position them, and block the set from cizilians. liase with catering and craft with food and drinks for crew and cast and do my usual running around making sure things run smothly, running around letting each department know of the plan of attack, e.g. "clear the frame line for the next shot, then load up for the company move, go to catering for lunch, meet at the van at a certain time etc...". when there is nothing for me to do, which is very occasionally as i am atilla's go to guy, i find things to do like make coffee's and offer them around set.

today i made about 10 coffee's and started offering them around set, but atilla nd dave wanted me to delegate this lamo job to one of the new idiot PA's as he was ment to be blocking of the corner, not allowing civilians to walk on to set and brush past the cammera, and of course he was doing a horrible job. so i go to him and give him the coffee's explain what he needs to do and i block the street. i watched as he dropped half the suger and stiring straws right on to the set, in shot, stumble around for a minute or two then put the coffees down on the ground and take the milk back to catering. walk about 30 metres away from set and chat on his cell phone... umm i mean mobile phone... moron. dave fisher (2nd 2nd) who recently was the first person killed in martin scorsese's new film The Departed is a legend and i really enjoy working for him. so on todays shoot we had cop cars, a massive train, a water tanker, a steam roller which was cool, but still my favorite was my little power trip when i ask the police who are on duty watching over the production to stand back and clear the scene, which they did quickly and appologetically.. hahaha.

well it is saterday night now and i am sitting on kerri's bed typing this, she has gone to the bar to meet some friends but i cant afford to waste precious hours of sleep for such nonsence (rolleyes). it is actually quite interesting talking to the stars and seeing what they are like when they are off camera. danny is really tall as is sigourney weaver.. i mean she is really tall!

 

so yeah that is my good news i guess. so we have one day of this week, on a tuesday so no rest for the wicked. it is hard and sometimes arduous work but i am enjoying it as i am doing well and making great contacts. atilla for example is fantastic at his job and i believe he will go far and he says often that he doesent want to work on a film without me as i get what he needs to be done, done. well this was a long post but it was about due and containing my good news so it's all good.

 

 

Jake.

melbourne victory 7 wins from 7 games WOOOO!

we beat Newcastle yesterday, two goals to Allsopp.

 

i worked on a film called Mama's boy with Attila the other day. we came on board right at the end of the shooting schedule, the last two days of shooting. it was about the same budget as ashes it seemed, maybe a little less but they did have a fantastic dolly rig and tracks (like train tracks so the camera can move smoothly). the movie is about these two gay guys who have something to do with this other guy who gets kidnapped by his landlady and kept in a cellar or something like that.... strange. Kerri gets back to NY, again today so i will see her before i go to Steve and Sarah's for dinner with Isla Fisher (wedding crashers)  i haven't seen her for many years so that will be cool. i keep getting headaches recently which is very annoying. i have been conserving money pretty well recently. haven't been going out on the town very much which saves alot of money. i made a big mistake the other day. i still had Steve's key to his apartment and i was meant to call him about it but i was so busy at the set that i didn't get around to it. as it turns out he needed the keys more than i thought. he gets to Harlem and Sarah isn't their so he had to wait for an hour before deciding to go back downtown to get the keys from Sarah. i cringed hard when i got that email. things are pretty damn good here, other than these headaches. how is everyone back home? wont be too long now before i see you all. i got a lovely message from Barry yesterday (chookie, my grandad but he looks like he could be my brother, fit old bugger haha).

 

catch you later.

 

jake.