I never intended
TEAM 12 to be a trilogy (see the other two
here and
here). It was meant to be a one time only, fun day with my friends and their kids. But after a little nudging I agreed to make a sequel. Once I did that then I
had to make it a trilogy, most epics are. Little did I know the story would turn into one about love, redemption and loss – typical kid stuff.
Since
Fifi double-crossed the kidnappers last episode, she'd need to recruit her own team of assassin vixens –
The Fabulous Five – so I figured I'd get the rest of the wives involved. (After all, they
have held up nicely, better than us husbands.) One thing I had to work around was
Elaine's baby belly. That's right, she's pregnant! Did you notice? Hope not. The whole
Bullet/Fifi love connection would be that much more weird and uncomfortable.
It's funny, every time I start cutting one of these together I immediately think it's going to be a turd. But as soon I I find the right piece of music for the scene it just snaps together. The music is the key. Granted, it's still rough around the edges, but that comes with the territory – working with 12 kids and a limited amount of time. In the end I'm quite pleased with the
TEAM 12 trilogy. They were fun to make and the kids (and parents) did a great job acting. And a special shout-out to
Joe Kollar for adding the awesome gunfire special effects.
Lately, I've been comparing the
TEAM 12 series to the original
Star Wars trilogy, as ridiculous as that sounds.
Episode I starts off strong, introducing us to a new world with action and innocence.
Episode II is arguably the strongest of the three with its major plot twists.
Episode III is heavy at times but also gets a little cutesy (
Manuel the Iguana =
Ewoks), and it provides closure to the series. Now all I need to do is merchandise action figures.
And speaking of closure…I'm announcing my retirement from directing
Fusco Family Films. A lot of time and energy goes into making these silly little movies and I've got way too many other projects piling up. It'll give my kids a break, too! At least that's the plan…who knows?
©2012
A FUSCO FAMILY (& FRIENDS) FILM
We shot TEAM 12.2 on July 10th, exactly a year to the day we filmed the first TEAM 12 (Elaine – Fifi Von Vixen – brought that to my attention). Again, it was stressful wrangling the kids. Forget about continuity between shots, the order in which the kids are standing changes from scene to scene. But they were all into reprising their roles and I believe they had fun, even though the script I wrote was overly ambitious for a days shoot. I tend to do that.
Of course I wrote an overly ambitious script, not taking into account that I'd have less time to shoot than my usual productions. Plus, I added 15 more actors than my usual productions – 10 of those being KIDS! Needless to say, attention spans were short and directional skills were limited...and that's just the PARENTS! (((rimshot))) But seriously folks...this meant shooting in a more "run and gun" approach so the end product is a little rough around the edges.
