Longway Home Productions contacted the architect service about a month ago in order to use its building for its film shoot.
Rick Ugalde, director of operations at Kluger Architects, mentioned how being in the atmosphere of the production is an interesting experience.
“It’s an experience seeing how everything takes place,” he said. “You think shooting a movie would be really quick, but to shoot one scene might take three or four hours just to get it done.”
The premise of the movie, directed by Mark Sayre, is about a white couple who have a child, but then the baby ends up being of African-American orientation, which leads to the man questioning who the actual father is.
Ugalde enjoyed having the production in Signal Hill and the resulting economic boost that it may provide.
He also marveled at the work that goes into making a movie.
“You think you’re going to have 10 people, but next thing you know, there’s like an army of 40 people invading your property and moving this way and that way,” he said. “It’s amazing all the people that it takes to shoot a scene.”
Ugalde said that the days the production occurred “hasn’t been bad” but feels that it has also served to be an invasive experience for the company.
Kluger Architects received $1,000 a day for the shoot, according to Ugalde, also saying that it was probably not enough, as items were consistently misplaced in the chaos of filming.
“It’s like having someone always coming over [to] your house,” he said. “You always worry when it’s your property.”
The production also proved to be more overwhelming than previously thought in some cases, according to Ugalde.
“They said, ‘Oh, we’ll have a truck here and a couple of cameras.’ But next thing I know, the parking lot is full with a trailer and changing rooms and two or three big trucks and wires all over the place,” he said. “I’ve got a conference room here full of equipment. My conference room looks like a storage room.”
Regardless, Ugalde liked the idea of bringing business to Signal Hill, and he would go through with the production process again, but under one condition.
“I think I would,” he said, “but I would ask for double the money.”
