Locations · Filmed in Nevada County | Today (2015)

Brendan knows many people during his time in Nevada County, so acquiring a porch where it was quiet, he hoped, to do the night scene for Bobby & his dad — the vineyard house late at night — was not a problem.

This was our first day of production, and the cast was meeting the crew, other than the director, for the first time. New to the crew list and new to filmmaking was Robbie Vierra as Second Assistant Camera and his girlfriend Jessica Wilkes as our Script-Supervisor, as well as, the daughter of owner of the location Amanda Buehler helping out Jessica as Assistant Script-Supervisor. Gerald Martin Davenport — our First Assistant Director, Line Producer, Production Manager, and Editor — was very impressed with both of them. New to our production team but not new to filmmaking or video production — being behind a camera — was Mark Triolo. A very talented Camera operator who is always busy and we were lucky to get him on this production.

Regulars for Aria Pictures, Breckport Media Solutions, and Double BB Productions was Jim Heck on Camera 2, and a not so frequent visitor, but exciting he was attached to the project, Steve Stubbs, a master of audio. ⇪

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Hayley Pritchard, our female lead, was not the first choice when Brendan wrote TODAY and when he was casting. What he learned, as all passionate filmmakers do, is that you do not always get what you want like locations, performances, and yes, actors.

A big thanks goes out to Kyriè Sierra Davenport for telling her dad about Hayley when she over heard him saying that the movie still needed a female teenager who could play guitar and sing. He sent the news to Brendan who contacted Hayley and asked her to join the production as Nancy Rains the singer/songwriter sensation.

Little did Hayley know what she was getting into on top of volunteering her room as Nancy's room when we were still looking for locations. Her parents were welcoming, but we could tell they were a bit confused as to what we were actually doing, but then excited to be in the front row to watch the production take place in their home. THANK YOU PRITCHARD'S. ⇪

Stories take place somewhere: a bedroom, kitchen, or a vehicle, even out in space, but there has to be a location where the characters assemble for the action and dialog. Where that location is, is up to the writer; whether the scene takes place on a train, plane, in a diner, or in a closet depends on the story and what mood the writer wants to create about the characters. When the Director and Producers get the story they may decide to take that scene in the diner and turn it into a walk in the park — yes, they can do that they are the people in charge.

There is no reason why Brendan Brooks, the writer of Today, chose to have Bobby's Dad as a winery owner other than he knew Gary and Christine Smith of Smith Vineyard & Winery very well, and that the vineyard was a beautiful backdrop on camera. So he wrote it without knowing he could use the location, but could easily change it if needed — which is one of the cool things about being a writer is that you are not stuck with a specific location; although changing locations, if it is crucial to the story, can drastically change the story, but Today is not about wine or winemaking, just a backdrop for the action and dialog to take place.

Thanks to Gary and Christine Smith for allowing us to use Smith Vineyard & Winery in Grass Valley, California to make this picture; although you do not see much of it, what you do see fits the story and the characters. ⇪

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With little to no time to find a nighttime location where Nancy and Booby were together alone talking, Brendan decided to use his front yard/driveway in a pinch.

What he really wanted was a place that overlooked the city, town, or area that had a cliff. We have plenty of them in Nevada County, but again this was in a pinch to capture the scene that was important. and since the rest of the production was hectic and stressful, doing it in your own front yard makes things more at home. ⇪

Jim & George Ann Heck opened their beautiful home — estate as Jim calls it — to Brendan and his Today movie team, but it almost did not happen. The day of production was the day that the fire down the hill began and the future was not known whether Jim and George Ann were going to have to evacuate let alone lose their home.

Saturday, they day before, we began the day at Smith Vineyard then headed over to the Metzers place and that is when we noticed the dark smoke clouds in the sky near Nevada City. Production continued but the buzz and thoughts were on the fire as word trickled in to where it was located, Jim, became distant and finally headed home to take care of George Ann and get a first hand look at the situation.

Jim informed us that he was evacuated to his sister-in-law's just for precaution and would let us know as soon as possible if we could use his house on Sunday, but plans were already in the works to use the Brooks residence for the interiors. Are prayers were not on wanting to use the Heck estate but that their home would be safe from the fire.

The next morning Jim let us know that it was safe to come and use it, and we tried to tell him we are going to use Brendan's house, but he insisted that we come out. Other than a little smoke in the distance and the large planes dropping retardant, the sky was clear and the production continued into the night where we could see the glow of the fire. ⇪

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