Discovered!

We were in the midst of a busy weekend in Dallas this past week when an e-mail came through from Maggie's puppy manners class teacher. A local producer had contacted her looking for a puppy for a short film that was being shot in Austin, and she referred her to several puppies including our very own Maggie. I sent an e-mail back saying we wouldn't be back until later on Sunday but if they could accommodate our schedule we'd be happy to offer up Maggie's services for a couple of hours. One of the producers called back asking for photos, and about two seconds after I sent over a couple of my favorites I got a call saying "The director says he must have that dog!" Ha! And so we drove directly from Dallas to the shoot, and thus a star was born.



The movie is a short film called "Do Over" that some local Austin filmmakers are putting together with the hopes of showing it at local screenings and eventually getting funding for a full length film. The basic plot revolves around a young guy who is trying to get a date with a pretty girl. He keeps messing up when he goes to her house to talk to her, and then asks for a do over. At first he shows up with flowers, then a cake, etc. etc. until he finally offers up a puppy -- and that's where Maggie comes in.



The film was shot over three nights (Friday - Sunday, 6:00 pm - 6:00 am) in a really pretty Hyde Park home. We were there on Sunday night, and Maggie was in three scenes. Or maybe it was three shots that make one longer scene? Something like that.


We were on set until about 11:45 pm, although a lot of the time was spent "Standing Down" while the crew got got ready to shoot whatever shot was next. Overall Maggie did really well. She whined. A lot. In fact at one point the camera guy said, "We don't have a single shot where she's not making that noise." Whoops. But apparently they can fix that through the magic of post production editing and she looked adorable and for the most part was still and behaved well the whole time, so everyone seemed pleased. Which is sort of a miracle given that she is a rambunctious four month old puppy and we arrived straight after a three hour car trip!

As for the perks, they promised us a copy of the DVD as well as to keep us posted on future screenings. They also gave Maggie a small check for her efforts, which we happily donated to the Austin Hound Rescue. All in all it was a pretty fun if totally random experience.


In wardrobe with Deneice the producer


The talent takes in a few notes from the director


Clay and I were each given the title "Animal Wrangler" on our consent forms


More notes from the director


Some of the cast and crew of "Do Over"