Margo Price “Letting Me Down”

"A Pandemic Proof Production"

I was asked to do this video for an early March shoot in LA. It was awarded and we were in pre-production when Covid 19 shut down the entire industry. For months, I watched as the business I love completely disappear, leaving so many of my colleagues, friends, and family out of work. With unemployment being denied to many, the Paycheck Protection Loan going to large corporations instead of small businesses, and the confusion and fear growing in the people I love, I started strategizing on ways a small production could happen with a minimal crew. When the label reached out to see if I could find a way to do a “pandemic proof safe production,” for the video, I welcomed the challenge. Yes, I would be a guinea pig.
The idea centers around a camera constantly rotating around a room with multiple Margo’s placed throughout- A rollercoaster of emotions serving as a metaphor for the isolation we all were feeling stuck in our homes without an outlet for our creativity, without human interaction, sometimes without hope. We wanted to speak to what was going on at that moment, to a world that was/is shut down, to the fear we all feel, and to the hope of breaking free.
When I turned the idea in three weeks ago, the label asked how we would pull this off. Good question.
My life partner and producer Ian Blair had just the solution. What if we drove across the country with a travel trailer to Nashville and filmed it ourselves, just the two of us? We owned most of the gear we needed. He's a Producer and knows enough about cameras and lighting from years of shadowing the world's most talented DPs/crews, and I am a director who has production designed out of financial necessity in the past. We figured, what we didn't know, we could phone in friends in the industry to advise us, and there is always trusty youtube tutorials. We had been quarantined for two months, following all of the safety protocols, and I know Margo and her family had been doing the same. So, we bought a cheap 80's travel trailer with a bathroom, kitchen, and a propane powered refrigerator, hooked it to our van full of camera, lighting gear, and props, and set out on the 2000 mile road trip to Margo's house.
The room we filmed in had an outside entrance to Margo's house and was sterilized before we got there. We were able to abide by the 6 feet social distance CDC recommendation as we set up a remote head for the camera that we operated from a closet outside of the room. We wore masks the entire time and Margo supplied us with multiple bottles of hand sanitizer and spiked seltzers. We parked our RV in her driveway and worked solely out of there and the room we were filming in, as well as moments in her "Cadillac of Hot Tubs."
We completely redesigned her room taking it from a blue room with cement floors and white ceilings and doors to the room you see in the video. We had the wonderful furniture designer and woodworker Hugh Masterson and Margo's fellow bass player Kevin Black come in before us and lay the hardwood floor and the paneling. Margo's sister Kylie was in town and had been quarantining, so she became our third tripod leg of the production as she is a Dancer/Choreographer and Hair/Makeup artist. Between the three of us, we handled the entire production with Margo working with Kylie on Hair/Makeup/Choreography. Ian and I know the basics of lighting, but we called in our buddy Todd Banhazl who just shot the movie Hustlers and he helped make a lighting plot point for us as a guide. He was also instrumental in helping us pick filters, lenses, and guiding us through color from afar. I reached out to my good friend and stylist, Christina Flannery, and she sent the wardrobe and zoomed with Margo and me to pick out supplemental pieces from Margo's wardrobe.
We knew we wouldn't have much time for post, so we squatted in Margo's driveway for another week to finish the edit and to show her real time cuts.
After 3.5 weeks from conception of the idea, we turned in the final piece. Are productions possible during this time... yes, but you have to find the right team, keep it small, follow all the protocols, add more time to the schedule, and get tested! We can start filming again, but it's going to be a slow process and will take a lot of patience from all of those involved.

Directed and Production Design By: Kimberly Stuckwisch
Produced, Edited, and Cinematography By: Ian Blair
Production Company: Invisible Inc.
Choreography, Hair, and Makeup By: Kylie Price & Margo Price
Costume Design By: Christina Flannery
Visual Effects By: Ryan Ross, Jeff Desom, & Ian Blair
Art Direction By: Hugh Masterson
Scenic By: Kevin Black
Locations & Concept Inspired by Photos From: Jeremy Abbott/Abandoned Nashville
Color By: Alastor Arnold at Fotokem
Socially Distant Remote Cinematography Advisor: Todd Banhazl