Thanks to Bartow Regional Medical Center

One of our few locations outside of Lakeland was the Bartow Regional Medical Center. The hospital closed their Post Surgical Unit for an all-day shoot. We're sure the many crew, cast, and production trailers looked like an advancing invasion force as they pulled onto hospital grounds.

From entry badges to in-house directions to off-duty personnel, BRMC went all out to make sure patient care wasn't compromised while making the Endure crew feel welcome.

It was a long day in tight quarters, but filming in the hospital will ensure a realistic look for the film. Select BRMC staff spent their off day helping with the film. For one key scene, a BRMC team portrayed operating room doctors and nurses. From setting up monitors to the proper look of wounds, the staff helped out the crew.

I witnessed one small scene where BRMC staff made sure reality was key. A prop crewperson set up a surgical tray and adjusted the instruments "just so." As he walked away, a BRMC nurse casually put the instruments in the correct order. During the scene, she was going to need to grab them without looking and they needed to be correctly placed. Of course, the prop person wouldn't know the proper order for the tools, but it made a difference to the expert.

Every member of BRMC we encountered showed such expertise, patience, commitment, and a desire to help with the film. We are very grateful for their work, and for the opportunity to film at their facility.

That's A Wrap

Endure has finished principal photography. After last night's Wrap party, the cast and crew have moved on to other jobs. Except for Executive Producer Jim Carleton, who changes hats and starts editing the film. He'll put together a cut and then work with Writer/Director Joe O'Brien on a final cut.

Don't expect many changes from the Editor's cut. Carleton said he and O'Brien have worked together for a long time. That familiarity enables him to look at the raw footage and see the scene O'Brien filmed.

Over the next few weeks we'll continue to post articles and tweets from the film. Expect more "thank you" posts for all the organizations and people who've helped and are still helping make this movie a reality.

We'll also post some crew information, behind the scenes photos, and technical aspects about the film.

This story isn't over until the NFocus guys start production on the next film...

Lakeland Local Press Covers Endure

The local newspaper has covered Endure almost from conception. This past week, Ledger writer Gary White focused on filming in the South Lake Morton district of Lakeland:

Over the past two weeks, Lakeland has been transformed into Lakeridge, an outwardly placid small city punctured by unspeakable evil. The lawn of the Lakeland Public Library became a cemetery. The former Southside Baptist Church became a morgue, complete with a corpse on a slab. -- Residents Get a Taste of Hollywood in Their Own Back Yards

Ledger reporter Shoshana Walter has the crime beat, so it was only natural she wrote about Technical Advisor Gary Gross. The Lakeland Police Department Sergeant has been a tremendous asset to the film:

Gary Gross is used to the strange hours, the gore and the stress. The police profession has one of the highest rates of suicide and divorce, so he's used to the drama. Now the Lakeland police sergeant has helped bring it all to the film set of "Endure," the Polk-based crime thriller written and directed by Joe O'Brien. -- Lakeland Cop Fits Right Into Film

Walter also took an interesting look at how Lakeland women have responded to Devon Sawa's time in Lakeland:

Ever since “Endure” began filming three weeks ago, something strange has happened to the young women of Lakeland. We giggle. We blush. We fantasize. Why? Because Devon Sawa, one of the film’s stars, is in town. Our town. -- Girlhood Dreams Return Because of 'Endure' Star

Finally, White also published a series of tidbits from the production.

Mister Fish

Last Tuesday, the Endure cast and crew had the pleasure of filming at one of Lakeland's best known locations: Mister Fish. Using a crane for the shots outside the eatery, Director Joe O'Brien made sure to get one nice shot of the familiar Mister Fish sign. Let's hope it makes the cut.

Lakeland residents make the small corner restaurant a busy place during lunch. Add the public library, a film crew, and dozens of onlookers and Palmetto was a very busy street. The crew barricaded the street -- with permission of course -- to allow our drivers to portray background traffic.

We'd like to thank Mister Fish for letting us interrupt their day, the Lakeland Public Library and the Polk Museum of Art for loaning us a sizable portion of their parking lot, and all the businesses and homes for letting us inconvenience them to make Endure.

After the end of filming, we'll have longer thank you for all those who've helped with sets, street closings, and other inconveniences. Tonight we have to hide away in a basement.

Yes, there are basements in Florida. Here it is...

SHOOT DAY SEVEN, April 28, 2009

Last Tuesday, Ledger photographer Cindy Skop shot a few photos of the cast and crew. I thought you might be interested to read the call sheet from that day.

Scenes: Sets:
75 EXT Daphne's Apartment, Front Sidewalk 1/8
76 INT Daphne's Apartment, Hallway 1/8
46 EXT Walk-up Restaurant 3 2/8
65 INT Macey's Workplace, Macey's office 1 4/8
67 INT Macey's Workplace, Macey's office 2 1/8
66 INT Macey's Workplace, Macey's office 1/8
64 EXT Parking Lot (outside Macey's workplace) 7/8

I won't mention who is Daphne or how Macey's office is important, but you can see how they film scenes out of order.

Yes, I knew you already knew that. But did you know they list scenes in eighths of pages? On Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 8 1/8 pages of script were shot in about 12 hours. They shot about 2 hours of film in that time. Editor Jim Carleton will reduce that to about 8 minutes of film time.