Creating an Independent TV Pilot: Finding Locations

When I put myself through my self-guided film school, I researched the crap out of how to make a film. I watched dozen of classic movies, learning what was special about certain cinematic shots and what they were called. I learned about the act structure of the story. But most importantly, I learned how production works, both from a studio and independent perspective.

I stumbled across a great book on the craft at my local library. It’s called Making Movies by Sidney Lumet, who directed classics like Long Day’s Journey into Night and Network. Network was actually one of my favorites from my classic film odyssey, so I thought I would see what ol’ Sidney had to say about the industry.

It was a treasure trove of information. There were actual call sheets from his projects. He talked about shooting schedules and working with talent. He encouraged directors to eat healthy and take naps during lunch breaks on the studio lot. I was 100% on board with his attitude and style, but I was a long way from working on a studio-funded production.

So, I pivoted to looking for resources about how to make independent projects. I read books like The Guerilla Filmmaker’s Handbook and Rebel Without a Crew for tips. These how-tos encouraged independent filmmakers to write their own scripts and intentionally pick locations like a friend’s house, the woods, or some public spaces.

Why is that?

Locations outside of the above list usually add more time, risk, and cost to a production. Private (and some public) spaces require some or all of the following:

These additions are all important to consider (for example, I do releases for all of my locations and participants). But they can become barriers to finishing a small production because it might tip a filmmaker’s budget over the edge, or it could force delays in the schedule. These are usually things an independent creator can’t afford.

Breaking the Rules

I have known and practiced the rules for years. When I write a script, I imagine a location that I am quite sure I will be able to gain access to. I live in a rural community with small businesses that are generally willing to open up their spaces. I have been here a long time and have connections to a lot of people who are very supportive of my artistic pursuits.

At the time I wrote the script for DS Birch Carlson, however, I paid no attention to the rules. It was 2020 and I was creatively bored while cooped up in lockdown, and I decided to write DS Birch Carlson for friends to read. And I had no intention of producing it, because who knew if and how we would create shows and films in this ultra spreadable disease-filled world?

When I received my Minnesota State Arts Board grant to support the project, I was faced with a predicament — should I rewrite the script for more approachable locations, or challenge myself to get creative?

Pushing Myself Outside My Comfort Zone on Locations

I did end up doing some rewrites, but those were mainly focused on introducing some great characters from later episodes who weren’t mentioned in the original script for the pilot. The script got a little longer, and I left the locations alone to see how I could pull them off in my local community. The 45-page script had scenes in the following locations:

yoga studio
restaurant
police station (including reception area, office, elevator, server room, and interview room)
apartment
a fancy house with a study
morgue
indoor shooting range

I started working all of my connections to see what the possibilities were for using existing spaces around Northfield, Minnesota.

Yoga Studio: Heartwork Yoga

The conceit of the plot for this episode revolved a story once shared with me by my friend Sian Christie. While we were serving on the Northfield Arts Guild board together, she told me a little anecdote about her yoga studio. Sian was a very active yogi at Heartwork Yoga in Northfield, and she told me the case of the missing Dansko shoes. One day, two women came to the studio for class and left wearing each other’s shoes, as the crowd was prone to wearing the same kind of footwear. They quickly realized their error and the shoes were safely returned. Since this story inspired the episode, I knew I had to start by asking Heartwork Yoga if they would agree to “star” in the production.

I reached out Heartwork’s owner, Amy Shonka, who was open to the discussion of using her space as a set. I set up a phone call to go over the details, and she laughed when I told her the subject of the pilot. She imagined I was shooting peaceful meditation recordings or perhaps a commercial, and I asked if she was game to shoot a crime comedy about a murder at a yoga studio.

When I told her Sian’s story about the missing Danskos, she was delighted. She said that incident was actually the only time someone walked away with the wrong shoes (which she said was remarkable since thousands of classes had been taught there), and that it certainly did not result in a murder. Nevertheless, she was game for an adventure and we agreed to work together.

I was lucky that Amy was incredibly flexible as we planned production. We had over a dozen cast members that needed to come to this shoot: the murder victim, the police staff inspecting the scene, the yoga class instructors, and the yoga students (all of whom were suspects in the case). That meant coordinating twelve busy adults to show up in at the same time for a six-hour shoot.

A quick aside: I have a cardinal rule of never going over four hours for a production day when I create independent work. This is because many of my actors and crew are paid very small honoraria or are volunteering their time. They don’t do this for a living, and neither do I. Most of my shoots are on the weekend and I want to be respectful of the time I am asking to take out of my fellow artist’s free time and family responsibilities. I also find that after that four-hour mark, people rightfully get tired, and performances start to suffer.

Again, another rule was broken. It would make things more expensive to break up the shoot into two days. I would trespass on Amy’s and my crew’s goodwill, asking them to show up an extra day.

So I made it my goal to find that magical six-hour window when all of these schedules aligned. And it proved to be a difficult goal to reach. We were close three times, but unfortunately things came up and we had to reschedule. First off, an understandable childcare issue. The next a family funeral (my grandma’s). On the third go-round, I got COVID and had to cancel. But fourth time is a charm, right?

It absolutely was. After all of those trials and tribulations, we held the shoot in April 2024. Amy Shonka was an amazing hostess, giving us access to her AirBNB (do yourself a favor and stay at The Snug) for our green room, letting us futz with the lighting in the yoga studio, allowing us to use her meeting space as the studio check-in desk for a scene, and even going so far as to beautifully arrange the snacks I had brought for cast and crew. Our six-hour schedule featured a built-in break for lunch (that beautiful snack bowl was emptied) at the two-hour mark. This kept energy up so we didn’t experience that fourth hour slump. Thanks for the tip, Sidney. We stayed on schedule thanks to my taskmaster AD Ingrid Nordstrom and awesome crew (Kent McInnis, Heri Rosas, Fox Setchell, and Kevin Krein). We even finished EARLY, people. That was an experience that made me proud of how far I’ve come as a filmmaker.

Restaurant: Ole Store Restaurant

I have done one other restaurant scene in the past, and it’s super fun, but definitely creates more work for production. The restaurant needs to be closed for business during your production schedule, because paying customers tend to chafe at directors barking at them to be quiet. When you film in that closed restaurant, it should be filled with people to look right, which means you’ll need to recruit extras to decorate the scene. Those extras should probably have tableware and food on their plates for things to look convincing, which is another layer of complexity.

The script specifically mentioned the Ole Store because it’s so iconic to the town, so again, I had to reach out to the owner. Kendall Murphy happens to live nearby and knows my husband, so I worked up the courage to ask her if we could work in her space. She was open and excited to join in a creative venture, and was so helpful throughout the process. She suggested a time and date that worked well for her (her restaurant only does brunch service on Sunday, so that meant the space was open for use after 2pm). She offered to leave the plates and leftovers on the table from brunch service and clean up later, which was a huge help to making the space look more authentic. She even jumped in and played the hostess in the scene!

The only major challenge for this scene was recruiting the extras to fill the background. I had a lot of people who stepped up and were open and willing, and I was so grateful. The challenge lay in communicating with everyone so they knew when to arrive, what to wear, and what to do, which takes lots of time and attention.

Police Station:
Northfield Automation Systems
& Neuger

Using an active police station for a location is out of the question. Police are emergency responders, they are never closed, and they can’t have their spaces filled with a bunch of people working on an art project. The good news is that the interior of a police station tends to look like most office spaces (and thank goodness I didn’t write any scenes located in a prison cell).

I mentioned my filmmaking side hustle to Mark Wegner, owner of Northfield Automation Systems, a local designer and manufacturer of custom process automation equipment. They were a client of mine in the past, and I once had a conversation about my art life with Mark at a company client appreciation outing. He generously offered to let me use their space if I ever needed it, since they have open floor space that could be available between their big projects. Little did Mark know that I would cash in his offer so quickly.

The interior of Northfield Automation Systems was perfect for a police station. Cubicles could be used for detective’s office spaces, there was a big open corner office to stand in for the chief’s office, and there was EVEN a front check-in window built into the reception area. The only thing it didn’t have was a windowless room for the suspect interviews, but that’s where the open floor space came into play. They gave us access to giant pieces of foam core that Northfield Automation Systems had on-hand to provide a backdrop while photographing their equipment setups. With those building blocks, we constructed a mini set in their open workspace. In a corner, we propped the white foam core against the left and back walls, and constructed a new wall of foam core on the right. The front of the space was open so we could move the camera freely. It worked great, looks awesome in the camera, and I guess now I can stay I’ve done a shoot on a soundstage.

The elevator and server room were a cheat — they were not in the same space as the rest of the police station scenes (that’s what we call movie magic). Those were locations at Neuger. I worked for the wonderful Dave Neuger at Neuger as a communications expert for twelve years. Dave and the team have given me lots of support in my artistic endeavors over the years, and I have endless gratitude for them. The elevator and server room are in the Northfield location, and Dave graciously let me film in there on a Saturday afternoon when we were closed for business.

Apartment: Hillcrest Village

My vision for DS Birch Carlson’s apartment was a sad shack with a mattress on the floor. A friend referred me to Lori Foote, a local property manager, who tried to get me into an apartment that was slated to be torn down. Unfortunately, the new owner looking to demolish the property wouldn’t allow us to be in there. Lori offered another solution: Hillcrest Village, a new transitional housing development designed to passive housing standards. I was very familiar with Hillcrest Village because I had made a short documentary about the project a few years back.

My only slight disappointment in this solution was that Hillcrest apartments are gorgeous. However, with Lori’s hospitality, it was a wonderful and easy experience. Good news though, DS Birch Carlson’s lonely and destructive behavior in those scenes sets the right depressing tone without the space echoing that sentiment.

Fancy House: Leona’s Home

When I wrote the script, my vision of the Choo home was something very modern on a hill, which would match the character’s wealth and position. If you’ve searched for property in Northfield, however, you’d know that anything with more than two bedrooms and some charm is worth a pretty penny.

My friend Leona invited me to her home once for cocktails on her screen porch, and a highlight of her home tour was her study. The decor, the double doors, the floor-to-ceiling shelves — they all had the makings of a potential set someday. Leona trusted us to take over her home one autumn morning, and all went off without a hitch. Except for when Vespa the cat instantly scooted out the door when we arrived, that is (worry not, everyone made it home safely).

Morgue: Shuttered Funeral Home

This location was by far the greatest challenge to secure in the entire project. A lab is extremely hard to procure because:

They are often full of expensive equipment, and definitely require production insurance
They usually contain patients
HIPAA privacy laws make everything hard (no snooping for patient data while you are there!)
Everything needs to be clean and sterile, and playing around during a film shoot could compromise that

I tried lots of different ideas. Labs at the local colleges. Secondary school labs. A veterinary clinic. All dead ends.

On my walk to work one day, I noticed that a funeral home located in the center of town was closing. I wondered if there was an embalming lab inside that might fit the part. Blue Water Properties, the new owners of the vacant space, really came through for me in a pinch. Brent let me tour the space one afternoon and it was perfect. I would, of course, have to bring in lots of set pieces and props since the space was empty, but it was the right look and feel.

Quick aside #2: when I toured the space with Brent, I definitely sensed a heaviness in there. It was a funeral home, after all. That feeling followed me back to work and home that evening, and I almost thought that the spiritual vibe could be a dealbreaker. What if it impacted performances of cast and crew members?

The community came together a few weeks later and blessed the space since the property, where hundreds of losses had been acknowledged and lives celebrated, was no longer going to serve as a funeral home. I have to say that after that blessing, when we held our shoot day a few weeks later, that feeling did not return.

Indoor Shooting Range: A Friend’s Basement

This one was so ridiculous I didn’t even try to make it happen as scripted. The original scene called for DS Birch Carlson to head to a shooting range and unload clip after clip into a target until a low scream erupts from her soul and she realizes she needs a better way to destress.

First of all, I am not comfortable around guns. I am willing to be adventurous and try new things, but not when I am responsible for the safety and wellbeing of others on my set. The Alec Baldwin incident was still ringing in my ears, and I was sure that filming at a shooting range would be another insurance nightmare.

So I did what any logical person would do. I brainstormed with a few friends and turned it into a comical target practice scene (inspired by Men in Black). Instead of guns, DS Birch Carlson employed a series of sharp weapons, including throwing knives, an axe, and a big hunting knife. Her targets were absolutely absurd. Get ready to watch DS Birch Carlson take on foes including Bad Guy, Murder Baby, and Satan.

It all went down in my neighbor’s basement. If only the Bensons knew what was happening down there while they enjoyed family dinner …

A Pain in the Ass Transforms into Gratitude

Looking back, I am not sorry I took this on. Don’t get me wrong, it was really hard. Issues with locations forced me to extend my grant period, and at times, I wondered if I would be able to pull this off. The already exhausting process of creating a film became exponentially more difficult given the complexity of the script.

But, if I can find a silver lining, it’s that we all had a blast on set when everything came together. More importantly, I feel supported by my community. Remember Catalyst’s mission that says we should all be able to do what we love where we live? That really rang true to me during this process.

And that’s why I will continue to tell stories about where I live in the place where I live.

Premiere Event

Interested in seeing the final product? Come to our public premiere party in-person and on Zoom on June 14, 2024.