We filmed out at the farmhouse today. The main scene they worked on was the one I opened with in the book–where Rachel (Sarah Lancaster) is trying to talk her three elderly aunts into closing the Sugarhaus Inn. They are reluctant to do so, and try to deflect her request. Finally Bertha (Kelly McGillis) agrees to close down the Inn–under one condition–that if God brings a stranger to their door that needs their help, they will not turn that stranger away. In the background is a wooden plaque with the scripture about entertaining angels unaware hanging on the wall. Rachel (Sarah) is not happy with this and starts to protest, but Bertha (Kelly) stands up and in that perfect Amish accent says “This is scripture, Rachel, and we will not compromise on doing God’s will.” With that, yet once again, I was clawing in my purse for a tissue,so amazed to hear words I had written come to life.  One of the crew members, a man of faith, came over, gave me a hung and whispered in my ear “We will not compromise on doing God’s will.”  Of course that made me tear up even more. Honestly–in my normal life […]

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Day five did feel like it started to drag towards the end, partly because we (the extras) were put on standby and were ushered out of the stands. This gave us the opportunity to catch up with one another and groove on what a cool experience we were having. The fire fighters baseball team in the scene truly was the volunteer fire fighters of Sugarcreek. One of Mom’s fans came up to her afterwards asking her to sign his book, but also to thank her for putting Joe on their team, exclaiming “I’m so glad you wrote it with him being on our team, we’d never won otherwise!” It was also a little disheartening to be cheering in the stands knowing exactly which team was going to win! 🙂 My brother Derek kept trying to be the bookie, taking bets on the game claiming that the game wasn’t rigged… Dad summoned his inner pee-wee baseball coaching and started shouting for the players to start hustling and getting their butts down to catch the ball. This was not your typical ball game. At one point they needed to get some close-ups of a real player hitting a real ball being pitched. […]

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So Friday we moved the production office, base camp and set to the Garaway Athletic Fields (Baseball field) (Google Maps Link) to shoot the incredible scene from the book where Joe gives away his identity during the ball game. The day started off early with people coming in from all over the place. We had extras coming from Columbus, Cleveland, the local surrounding areas and even from Scioto county down south! We had a nice size crowd to fill the stands (to give the illusion that we were there to cheer for the teams) The weather was just amazing, and perfect for an outdoors shoot. About 90% of the day consisted of a high-in-the sky thick fog. Some people would think “How in the world could a foggy day be perfect conditions for a bright and sunny game day scene?” When the lighting crew sets up for a shot, they have to put up diffusers, to diffuse or scatter the light so that we don’t have spot/harsh/concentrated lights being cast on the actors/actresses or scenes which can create unwanted shadows. So instead of having to constantly setup diffusers and reflects to get the light where we wanted it, we were […]

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Today was catch-up day… for Mom and I. She had edits due on her next Amish Book Fearless Hope, and I needed to take care of some much needed computer work. But the film crew waits for no man! Well, except for maybe the main character, they’re kind of crucial to the whole story thing, who knew? I can however fill everyone in on the events that did take place today. So a lot of today’s scenes revolved around Joe and Bobby driving in their truck, before it breaks down, while it breaks down, and after it breaks down. We also introduced another character to the story, Eli (Ken) As most of you already know, Eli was the Amish man who helped Joe and Bobby in their many predicaments. Today we got to film Eli picking Joe and Bobby up, a lot of dialogue between Eli and Joe, and just some general Eli driving around in a buggy. Our Eli was an actor and although I did not get to witness it first hand, many of the film crew said he played a very convincing Amish man, and was stopped by a few tourists asking if he was Amish. (I’m […]

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Day three started off with Amish boys chasing after a runaway horse and buggy barreling down Main street at 8:30 in the morning. The locals didn’t think much of it till they noticed no one was driving the buggy… for whatever reason the camera crew tracking along in the camera van wasn’t a dead give away… A majority of the scenes were shot on Main street today, utilizing the local Police dept. who helped block off and detour traffic. Watching Rachel (Sarah) driving the police cruiser around town with a massive camera rig attached to it was very interesting to witness. We also shot Joe (Tom) and Bobby (Thomas) at the mechanic’s garage when their truck breaks down. That shot was going great until the Worlds Largest Cuckoo Clock (click for more details) (which is right next to the garage) decided it was 12:30 and time to do what it does best… Play Polka music! (needless to say, the microphones were picking up the music a little too well) After that we moved to the local family medical center where Joe takes Bobby to be checked out. Then came the moment we all had been waiting for, Serena’s big role […]

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So day two was amazing as well. We shot the indoor/outdoor church scenes, the buggy ride to the picnic, and the picnic by the pond today. Weather was awesome and the talent was even better. Sarah and Tom are doing a great job bringing the characters to life and at one point during the picnic scene, Mom started to cry from happiness over Sarah’s ability to capture Rachel’s emotional telling of her father’s murder. (quote from Mom: “I never dreamed my words would ever be spoken as if they were real!”) Here are a couple photo’s that can’t even begin to explain what Mom is getting to experience here and a picture of Connie Troyer who edited the book and was thrilled she got to be an extra in the movie. (Go Connie!)  As for me, I’m on informational overload and loving every minute of it, and best thing of all, I’m not responsible for any of the technical stuff! Kind regards -Jacob (Outside the church doing close-ups of the excitement over getting to go on a picnic) (After capturing the footage of the buggy connected to the horse, and being driven by Tom (Joe), we needed footage of their […]

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First off, all I can say is Wow! We arrived around noon, Monday, at “Base Camp” and were immediately whisked away to the filming location for that day. The sound manager (who has a Doctorate in sound!) handed us some headphones and we started to watch this chaotic organism come to life. The whole crew was just buzzing around us, knowing exactly what equipment to get, exactly where to set up, and rarely questioning the managers in charge of the different areas. They were all working extremely fast, efficient, and safely, trying to take the vision of the director and make it a reality. Everyone we’ve met has been very friendly and very excited to see Serena. Mom is a little overwhelmed and just received another assignment of edits for Fearless Hope, so I’ll be trying to keep everyone in the loop and will try to post pictures when I can. Kind Regards -Jacob

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So today, I got to see the farm where the Sugar Haus Inn scenes are being filmed. Lots of gorgeous back roads to get there. Cloudless sky. A perfect day to film outdoor scenes. Breakfast was set out beneath a canopy and the yellow jackets were real happy about that. I got to see Kelly McGillis in action for the first time. It has felt from the beginning like the casting director had direct access to how I pictured my characters in my mind, but Kelly as Bertha is an inspired choice. She is in person a beautiful, regal, woman–but with the addition of a cane, a limp, a bonnet, and expert makeup she became my forceful, opinionated, blunt, courageous, Bertha…..one of my very favorite characters of all time. This scene also involved “Rachel” having to wear an over-sized fuzzy bathrobe and slippers all morning–not a particularly sexy outfit even on someone as pretty as Sarah. She laughed at herself to me and the others saying, “Glamour, glamour.” I think that is the thing that has surprised me most about being on the set–it is watching the discipline and sheer doggedness that it takes from the actors to get each […]

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Back in Sugarcreek–this time without my son Jacob, who, when I tried to talk him into coming back with me reminded me that he really does have a job…..and would like to keep it! I had to go home for a couple days to wash clothes, repack, pay bills, and check in with my family. There is no reason that I need to be on set–the crew certainly doesn’t need me there. It’s just that I want to see everything and the producer and director are kind enough to let me watch. The big news today (for me) was that Kelly McGillis is in town. She didn’t have a scene today, so I didn’t get to meet her yet, but I have admired her work for years. It’s going to be difficult not to stutter when I do meet her. While I was gone, they did a scene where Aunt Bertha (Kelly) is holding a sick little boy late at night, and there is an intense conversation between her and the little boy’s daddy. One of the crew told me that while watching that scene they completely forgot that a movie was being made–and just got completely caught up in […]

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