The 48-Hour Film Project That Almost Got Us Invited to a Special Party

The other weekend, Boyfriend and B-Friend entered the 48 Hour Film Project in our city. For those who aren't aware of this project, as I wasn't before last year so don't buy my act of being a 48HFP seasoned veteran, teams have 48 hours to make a short movie. On Friday at 7:00 p.m., your team receives your genre and the one character, prop and line of dialogue that all teams must encorporate are revealed. So, each team gets a different genre, but all teams have to use the same character, prop and line of dialogue. That's not important to this story, per se, but I think that's one of the most interesting parts of the competition. Anyway, teams then have 48 hours to write, film, edit, and compose music for a 4-7 minute film. It's quite an undertaking.

The weekend was intense. From the very beginning, things didn't...work...as they were imagined. Things didn't go as planned. Locations had to be changed, an original cast member had to decline further involvement, and Boyfriend and B-Friend had to completely re-write the script they had spent all Friday evening writing. You try and make a plan, but the 48HFP laughs at your plans. I think that's probably true for all entrants.

Seriously, I act like I was a major part of this project, but in reality I just made what I approximate to be roughly a crapload of food and acted as chauffeur to the two young stars of the film. My involvement did result in a catering credit and my name looked beautiful on screen, I have to say.

But I have to be honest with you. Making the film itself wasn't the most interesting part of the weekend. No sir.

Saturday afternoon, Boyfriend and I are standing outside B-Friend's house when B-Friend's neighbor came outside to tell Boyfriend that he should park elsewhere because she doesn't look when backing out of her driveway and she's been known to run into cars parked in front of B-Friend's house when the former occupant had visitors. She even offered her driveway to us, but we think that's weird so we didn't take her up on her offer. We thanked her, judged her and went about our conversation, never moving Boyfriend's car until we had to leave again.

Later on that afternoon, our whole group returned from shooting a scene and we go inside. Not two minutes later, we see No-Look Neighbor walking up the driveway and we assume she's come to complain about us parking in front of our friend's house again.

Nay, this is not why she has come over.

B-Friend's fiance, E-Friend (Don't let my creativity intimidate you), goes out to talk to No-Look Neighbor to explain to her that there's really no place else for us to park. Neighbor again offers up her driveway, but E-Friend politely declines and tells her that we will be leaving shortly to go film elsewhere and we will be sure not to leave any of the cars behind her driveway. Indeed, she ensures that her friends don't park in front of her own house. The conversation then immediately goes somewhere none of us normal folk ever imagined it would go. It goes something like this:

E-Friend: "We're about leave to go shoot more scenes for our movie"
No-Look Neighbor: "A movie? Is it like a sex thing?"
EF: "NO! No, it's for a competition."
NLN: "Well I was asking because a few other neighbors and I are having a sex party later tonight..."
EF: "Oh, ok."
NLN: "Yeah. Do you have any beer?"
EF: "Um, we have some beer..."
NLN: "Can I have some?"
EF: "Well, not right now; we're about to leave."

Neighbor waddles back down the driveway and E-Friend returns inside. The look on E-Friend's face when she came back inside was, unsurprisingly now, total and absolute shock. She expected to discuss a ridiculous parking situation that wasn't really a situation at all but instead, she was both informed of and we think invited to a neighborhood sex party, asked for beer by someone holding a Mike's Hard Lemonade, and realized that her neighborhood was apparently full of partying swingers, all in about 2-3 minutes.

You know, you always wonder how people find themselves at such parties. How does the topic even come up? Doesn't that only happen in the type of movie that No-Look Neighbor thinks we were making? Now we know the answers. And the answer to the second question is "no."

Turns out that No-Look Neighbor's original intent had been to come apologize to Boyfriend "for being a bitch" but instead of being able to do that, she had to settle for informing E-Friend of a sex party that she declined in deference to our disappointingly non-porn movie. What lame neighbors B-Friend and E-Friend turned out to be. Prudes. I mean really, who turns down a perfectly friendly neighborly sex party?

And based on the time of evening and volume of music played, no, we do not think No-Look Neighbor was simply having a Tasteful Treasures party. No no, it seems B-Friend and E-Friend have put their roots down in that kind of neighborhood.