11/04/2023
Behind The Scene Story: Sarkodie - Till We Die ft R***r 👇👇👇
✅ Crazy story about how I had to find crew for via IG in between States. Power of social media. I had to convince Sark it’s possible schedule wise. We had the time, but will R***r be available? 😂 herh! & I had tour videos to edit and release less than 24hrs per show.
✅ Heard , I said ‘Sark let’s shoot’ bcuz R***r has a show 2 days after us in same state. To convince him, I quickly put together a mood board. He liked it & he went to work. He had to let R***r know the possibility [1]
✅ The mistake would have been me waiting closer to the possible date to start looking for crew & location, so I hit social media with search phrases “Bar/Pubs in NC”, found a couple but a Vintage smoke/bar/Pub got my attention. Had to secure the date of possible shoot [2]
✅ To secure, they suggested I pay upfront, but experience had taught me to see space, plan & map shots or it’s a waste. But Sark needed to tell R***r a date. Pub needed security money 😂. Pressure! Went ahead and gave him a date and lied about booking the space {not advisable} [3]
✅ This was a calculated risk, & now I need crew and models. That’s another story. But sark is now telling R***r date that didn’t exists 😂 and he R***r was at the beginning cool with the date. Anyways I started hitting model dms. Few got back but wasn’t responding quick enough (4)
✅ I figured a female photographer will have models and it’s easier to have them connect and instruct, so I searched specifically for a female photographer in NC and I found Breonna. Her BIO caught my attention: she’s a stylist {ppl fix your bios} don’t put just anything there (5)
✅ At first Breonna delayed in response,
So I had Sark hit her up. He gave me the game. He said the blue tick works quicker 😂 and behold, Breonna replies less than a minute 😂. Anyways I connected and asked for 2 models. She was skeptical so I needed to convince it’s real [6]
✅ I sent her the mood-board and gave her the possible dates. She connected me to Luna (Producer) because she was busy. While This was all happening, I sent a dm to Ben (DOP) and he responded, but he was out of NC until 2 days before shoot day. We took off to the airport [7]
✅ Then Sark makes a call to R***r with the possible date. He was cool, then he calls next day saying the date won’t work, but he can do few hours the next day. Ok no biggie. I got to NC and met Breonna and Luna. Cool vibe, we took off to location. It worked, so I secured [8]
✅ Luna send me pics of models and we got 2. Ben DOP came through and we met at location and planned out everything and guess what? R***r cancels again saying tight schedule. Nah I wasn’t gonna cancel shoot cuz we’ve paid for things so he had to make it. (9)
✅ The night before shoot, we went to R***r’s show. I asked his manager everything is set and he can’t cancel. All I need is 2hrs tops and he can leave. They agreed and we went to work. (10)
✅So now we are done with the pub. We need to move to the car scene, but the driver/owner won’t pick up. I Canceled shoot for another day with a car. It was gonna cost me & we had to leave for the next State tour the next day. So Romie said he knows a guy with a car (11)
✅Who is Romie? He’s a film maker based in NC. He hit my dm and OFFERED me his time to cover a second angle at our show. He was ready. All I needed was to give him access. This is a lesson I’m sharing “don’t ask for what you can TAKE, but what you can GIVE in DMs. (12)
✅ Romie went from show coverage to getting on my set and now he got me the car and location for the next day. Everything was set, but then the RED camera rental was not available for next day. I had to use my (that’s what shot all the car scenes)
✅Morning of day 2, it rained for longer period and car wasn’t available after certain hours 😂, so I convinced everyone we try the morning knowing we had a flight to catch and everything needs wrap 2hrs before checkin time Chale I’m glad I went ahead and used my (14)
✅ Thanks to everyone who made it possible Chale. I share so others can learn. Over 23yrs and I’m still learning. Take away is always stay ready so you never have to be ready. Know how to improvise and adapt to changes cuz life doesn’t come with guarantees chale! (15)
✅ How I even got to the tour itself is even a crazier story, and I documented it all. From getting late call up to missing flights…It was all worth it. Crazy ride (The End)
✅Written by Director OJ ✅
