Home of Peace

Before we conclude the Search for Shore, let's take a look at what else was going in pre-production.

Michael put together a shooting schedule that spanned seven consecutive weekends, beginning March 10. The key location, I felt, was the Jewish Cemetery. When I first wrote the script, I envisioned not just any Jewish Cemetery, but the Home of Peace in Los Angeles. In fact, that was the cemetery that inspired the script. That was the cemetery in which my mother was buried ... the cemetery which conveyed peace, beauty, history, and a window to heaven.

I was so happy and relieved when the owners of the Home of Peace agreed to let us film there. Many other movies had also filmed there, so they already had a Location Agreement available. They also required that we get a filming permit from the FilmLA office.

Our shooting schedule designated a minimum of three full days at the cemetery. Because this included two simulated funerals - one outdoors, and one inside the chapel - I felt it best that we film on Saturdays, when the cemetery was closed to the public. Number One, we needed to make sure the chapel was available to us on a pre-designated date. If we planned to film on a Sunday, and someone died on a Friday, their service would bump us out of the chapel on Sunday, no matter whether we had it reserved or not. Perfectly understandable.

Reason Number Two - the cemetery is supposed to offer a quiet, dignified, peaceful atmosphere to visiting mourners. We did not want to interrupt this atmosphere with our film crew and equipment.

Reason Number Three - we wanted to film a few scenes within the cemetery office. Again, best done when we weren't underfoot of the staff and visitors. No one wants to be discussing the final resting place of their loved one with shouts of "ACTION!" and "CUT!" in the next room.

The cemetery owners wanted to do everything possible to make our shooting experience a success, so they approved our schedule.

My next step was to start recruiting extras to play mourners in our two funeral scenes. A natural first step was to contact all my friends and family in the greater L.A. area.

That's when the sh*t hit the fan.