When you're making a movie on a super ultra mega low budget, you learn how to cut corners. You learn to hire people who can live on Kirkland soda and Cheetos. You learn how to build and dress practical flats for less than a hundred bucks.

You also learn what you cannot be without during production.

There are two crew members who made this project so fun and easy for me (and I really hope they had a good time, too).

Apparently, that guy who maintains your sanity? He has a name. It's Assistant Director.

To be totally honest, when I started to put together this project, I really wasn't too concerned about the crew. I knew I was going bare bones, I knew I'd bear the brunt of the work when it came to production.

I posted a message on the local indie film forum on MySpace for a cast and crew call. A guy I'd met in passing a couple times messaged me back saying he was interested in the AD position. I signed him on, set up a meeting, and then went back to burying myself in pre-production.

Come production time, I hadn't given him much to do. When people are being nice, they'll say I'm a little OCD about things. On the first day of the shoot, before anyone arrived, I was mucking about, getting things ready, excited but a little nervous, kind of stressed, but happy that the day had arrived. Once Jon, my AD, showed up, I realized why the position exists. Because, when you have a great AD, you have time to focus on directing.

And it was like that every day of the shoot. I'd be running around, by myself, fretting about the little things that might not get done, and then he'd show up and make it happen. Jon is a guy who loves movies and loves making movies. And it was obvious. He was on time and well prepared. Seriously, 9 times out of 10, I'd say, “Man, I wish we had a _________.” and he'd say, “I think I have one in my trunk.”

I really lucked out, and if he hadn't stepped up, I think my entire experience on this film would have been very different.

Sometimes a Script Girl really is a girl with a script.

Even though I stumbled into a swell AD, I had my sights set on a specific person to take on the thankless role of script supervisor.

I have a friend from the theatre circuit, who is always eager to participate, either on stage or behind the scenes. She's one of those people you pretend to hate just because she's so happy to be involved. I knew she'd done some stage managing, which, in the theatreverse is a very similar position to that of script supervisor.

And, when I asked her, she was, of course, just happy to jump in and be part of the production. The thing is, she was really, really good at the job. My editor still keeps complimenting her notes.

I thought I was being clever when I bought three different notebooks, a generic pack of mini Post-Its, and a small variety of colored pens. On day one, Virginia showed up with her own giant notebook (with the script in plastic sheet covers), brand name Post-Its, and her own arsenal of writing utensils.

Other than the fact that we managed to forget a small scene (which I actually blame on myself and the fact that I got the flu three days into shooting), she did a bang up job and is already slated to work again on another film (due to a recommendation from, guess who, my editor).

I appreciate everyone who came out to work with me, but these two kept me afloat. When I got the flu, it was bad news to the point where I didn't even have the voice to call action and ended up ruining some shots because I started coughing so badly. But, between Jon and Virginia, it got done. And, for that, I thank them.