Labor Day was our last shoot day on the Smile project. Some people would say I’ll never be done shooting and my reply to them is, the world is full of people walking and talking and I need them in my doc.  But of course there’s no more money and Michele (the Producer) would kill me if I tried to get them all.

Planning for the shoot started several days ago. I wasn’t involved with much of it and if Michele was blogging you would know more, but you’ve just got me.  But I was involved with a conference call between me, Michele and Dan (the Production Manager) to get on the same page.  On the call we talked about the crew, what we’re going to shoot and other things. At some point in the conversation I said “you know it would be nice if we could get in one of the buildings around Hart Plaza to shoot a big wide shot”.  Mind you, this is late in the game to request something that involves a third party like management companies, building managers or building security or all three. Typically these things take time, because management companies, building managers or building security are not interested in you coming into their building and disrupting their routine. And it can take days to locate the right people, sign contracts etc etc.  

So we started identifying the buildings around Hart Plaza we could shoot from.  Before I go any further, let me say, Michele and I are lifelong Detroiters, so identifying buildings we’ve seen most of our lives should be easy and it was – if you go by the Detroiter nick name for them. And apparently based on your own Detroit experience those nick names can differ.

So said the conversation starts with me asking “What about the building with the Stock Exchange sign on it” and Michele said “what?” “You know, the Stock Exchange sign” as if saying it twice would help. Then I said or “what about the white building with the naked lady outside”  She’s like “white building with lady?” “Yeah, the tall white building”, “You mean the pink building on the corner?” Okay, you see how this is going.  Finally, she stops the madness with “I just Googled downtown Detroit buildings and the building you’re talking about is One Woodward Avenue.” I said, “One Woodward Avenue, that’s the building with the naked lady out front”? She said “yes, One Woodward Avenue.” I’ve been here all my life and didn’t know that was the name of the building. And they trust me to put together a documentary.