Filming outside of Old St Patrick’s Cathedral
Things have been quiet around here. Although we have a few more locations to shoot, it’s been raining almost every other day in the Tri-State Area (we had golf-ball-sized hail the other day!!), so we’ve had to hold off on our outdoor shoots. Of course, I should be writing my remaining scripts, but I guess I’ve been allowing myself some respite from earlier hard work. I’m sure I’ll regret it, as my delivery date to the network draws near.
I find that the absolute hardest thing to do with this show is to start something. I’m great at doing, it’s the starting that always gets me. So now, I find myself in between projects—I just finished shooting a bunch of locations and writing a bunch of scripts—and now there’s a lull in my energy level. Ugh, I hate that. And so, in an effort to kick myself into action, I’m gonna post another To Do List (I do love lists). Perhaps you all might find it interesting to find out what goes into creating one of our shows, so here goes. Un petit pour vous, un petit pour moi. 🙂
Since the locations for Season One have already been chosen, I’ll skip what goes into that, and wait until I start planning Season Two (I am so optimistic!).
Now, I have four more shows to script:
- Newark, NJ’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart
- Baltimore’s St. Alphonsus Church
- Philadelphia’s St. John Neumann Shrine
- NYC’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Before I write a script, I have to do my research. For some locations, this requires more work than others. For instance, for the Blue Army Shrine in Washington, NJ, I only researched about a day or two, given that I had pretty much grown up hearing the story of Our Lady of Fatima and her apparitions to Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta. The hardest part for that script was deciding what to write about, and what to leave out. It’s such a long story, and all of it feels so important…. But for the SS. John Neumann, Katharine Drexel, and Elizabeth Ann Seton scripts, I had to much more research, as I didn’t know much about these saints before visiting their shrines.
For Newark’s Cathedral Basilica, I’m thinking of focusing on Jesus’ Sacred Heart—what it means, how he talked to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque about it, and about First Friday Devotions. I also plan on discussing the architecture of the Cathedral Basilica at length, because it is SO beautiful and ornate. This script shouldn’t be too hard to write, once I force myself to start.
For Baltimore’s St. Alphonsus Church, I plan on focusing mostly on its two saintly pastors, St. John Nepomucene Neumann and Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos. When Blessed Francis is canonized, this church will be the only one in the U.S. that had two saints as pastors! How cool is that? Also, the church is amazing, with a beautiful French Gothic style that just takes your breath away.
The script for the St. John Neumann Shrine here in Philly is already written, but I wrote it years ago (really), so I want to have another look at it, and rewrite it, to make sure it fits my current style. Who knows, it might be fine. But perhaps it isn’t long enough… maybe I’ll start there, since that’s an easy task. Although the upper church is pretty, I wouldn’t say this shrine is architecturally unique, so I’ll most likely focus on St. John Neumann and how amazing he was. Did you know, he spoke, like, TEN languages, so he could hear the confessions of the many immigrants in the US? He was awesome.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral will take some work. Partly because I have about five books about it that I have to read, or reread, because I read them a while ago and have since forgotten what I read. Partly because I’d say this will be one of the most important locations we’ll be including in Season One. Not because the others aren’t important, but because when we get our DVD into the gift shop at St. Pat’s in NYC (God willing), it will be seen by the most amount of people. SO many visitors come to St. Patrick’s throughout the year, and last time I checked, they don’t have a DVD about the Cathedral, so ours will be the only one!! So you see why I just have to be absolutely sure it’s perfect. But I know it will be, because I’ll be praying up a storm before and while I write the script. God won’t let me down. 🙂
Then we’ll need to schedule and film these locations…
We have a few locations where we must return, to get some footage outdoors. As soon as it stops raining, we’ll be scheduling those. This list includes:
- Blue Army Shrine, NJ
- Seton Shrine, NYC
- St. Peter’s Church, NYC
- Baltimore Cathedral of Mary Our Queen: we need interiors for this
- Katharine Drexel, PA: a few random driving sequences
- St. Rita of Cascia, PA: opening sequence (maybe)
- Seton Shrine, Emmitsburg: shots of Emmitsburg and Gettysburg
After all of that, it’s on to editing the shows. I’ve gone through some of the footage we’ve shot so far, and it looks good. I’d have to say I’m mostly pleased with it. My hair is usually a mess (since I do it myself and lack the skills of a hairstylist), I’m no size two, and my wardrobe certainly isn’t high fashion, but I figure, WHATEVER! I doubt the talent on most TV shows also have to do all the things I do for one of our shoots, including carrying around heavy equipment and making sure everything is ok during the shoot. Not that I’m complaining, I’m just saying, it’s hard to be glamorous when you’re working hard. And I figure being glamorous is the least important thing about this show. LOL.
Before I go, I must share this amazing drink recipe I just made yesterday. If you recall, I had a virgin raspberry mojito during a recent visit to NYC, and I was so dying to have another, I made one yesterday! I’m sure if you wanted to un-virgin it, you could, but the virgin version is refreshing and summery, and just makes you want to go outside and enjoy the greenery (even if the mosquitos are eating you alive…).
I didn’t bother using measurements for this. I just made a bunch and saved the leftover for later. Make this to your taste. if you love mint, add more, and so on with the other ingredients.
Virgin Raspberry Mojito
Raspberries (fresh or frozen), a few handfuls
Fresh mint, about 1/4 cup leaves
Lime Juice, from about 2 limes
Sugar, 2 to 4 tablespoons
Put all of the ingredients in a blender and blend. You’ll end up with a raspberry puree. Add about 1/2 cup (or more, to taste) to an 8 oz glass, then top off with seltzer water (I used lime-flavored seltzer), or even Ginger Ale. Mix, add ice cubes, and enjoy! Save the rest of the puree in the fridge for later enjoyment or share (if you must!).
Now, I’m off to enjoy a Virgin Raspberry Mojito and start my To Dos. I love being motivated!