just like the raid on Entebbe

Because Hatboxes is operating on a fairly tight budget, we have to be creative about envisioning and choosing shoot locations.  The Daley Courthouse, for example, charges $3,000 per day just to film inside it, and that doesn't include any of the labor or other fees, so...outside it is.


Daley Plaza, Chicago (© Burmese Tiger Trap)



One scene takes place in a grocery store, and it turns out that the first store we approached is never actually empty—even when it's closed, workers are stocking and rotating the produce.  Another store has agreed to allow us to shoot there, but it has a more boutique layout, which may entail more intensive set dressing, which means more time spent doing that in a compressed window.


The raid on Entebbe comes to mind:  Israeli commandos had a partial replica of the Entebbe Airport to use for drills before their dramatic rescue of 102 hijacked hostages in Uganda in 1976.  Once we confirm where we will be shooting, one way we can speed set dressing would be to create a partial backyard replica of the produce department to design how we want it to look ahead of time—how high to stack the apples, what pricing signage should look like, where to place the extras.


Susana Darwin