Oh for Christ's Sake! The real way to drop out.

So, yesterday put a few years on me...

I was feeling good about the prep for the movie. Everything was falling in place nicely. All was under control.
I was feeling so good - cocky even - that when Final Draught called and asked if I could be on the panel on short notice, I said 'yes' against my better judgement. But I knew that they were really strapped. I was already booked to panel in two weeks time, after the film was done. I knew they knew I was busy and that they wouldn't call unless they really were in a tight spot. On top of that, I used to be a member of the Final Draught executive. I used to be in charge of assembling the panel. I was sympathetic to Bob's plight - and further, Bob has agreed to be an extra in the film, so I owe him one. I even figured that it night be a good place to recruit more extras. So, I said 'yes.' Bad choice.
Yesterday afternoon, around 4pm - WAY too late to cancel on Final Draught without being dead - Jeny called. The film that she is being paid to work on has changed it's dates. It CONFLICTS with ours.
Well shit.
It needs to be said that the day she agreed to be my First A.D. she also told me that she was involved in this project (as a puppeteer) and that it could conflict. They finally set the dates to about two weeks from now, weeks ago. No conflict. We all relaxed about it.
Then last week they wanted her for some advance rehearsal that conflicted with our rehearsals. The shooting dates had not yet changed, nor was there any indication they might but somewhere in the deepest recesses of my sub-concious I heard the clarion of the harbinger...
But point being, that unlike who bailed last week, she let me in on her possible problems and conflicts. Perhaps we should have acted upon the warnings more proactively, but we didn't.

Jeny was a superstar about it though. She was excellent before there was an issue and even better after. She found a replacement inside of 2 hours. Someone who she vouched for. I met both her and him during my munch today, and we (Brandon and I) will meet again tomorrow.

All is well, all is back in control. All that is at issue at all is that I now lose time to bringing Brandon up to speed.

On the plus side, I did find some more extras at Final Draught last night. Including one of the writers. His script needed a lot of work and I wasn't breaking the news gently to him. But he was a big enough person to come and offer his services as an extra anyhow.

Good on him.