Imminent Film’s Turk Diamond, PI is an independent pilot project made for network television as a series show. It was made entirely in Wilmington and without any studio affiliation by some of Wilmington’s best local actors and crew. This is no-pay indie filmmaking.
It’s a Tuesday night and the rain has stopped. I walk thru the doors of Fat Tony’s with Jeff Babb, director of Turk Diamond and we spot lead actor, Bill Ladd. We grab a corner table discuss the pilot with Babb along with the rest of the cast and crew, Vanessa Neimeyer, Kasey Kiser, Leah Parker and Carolyne Smith.
BOOTLEG: Jeff, as the writer and director tell us about your vision and concept for Turk Diamond, PI.
JEFF: Sure, Turk started out as Jack Diamond Private Investigator and he had a calling card that was a Jack of Diamonds. We found out that there were 3,000 hits for Jack Diamond private investigator on the Internet so we changed his name to Turk. I had been chewing on this idea for a couple years then this opportunity came up. I wrote two episodes and we shot them simultaneously. We’ve just wrapped principle photography but have additional dialogue recording left to do. It’s shot in the style of a film noir detective show. All the main characters are living in the 1940’s - dressed in period costumes, but its all taking place in modern day with Wilmington locations.
BOOTLEG: I know this is your directorial debut; can you lend any advice to other first time directors?
JEFF: You can’t do it all. Get good people around you and let them do their jobs. Having a good script supervisor and a good director of photography is paramount.
BOOTLEG: Bill tell us about Turk, how you got the role and a little about yourself.
BILL: Well there’s a lot of things to say but it was such a happenstance kind of thing that I was even considered for the role. I think they were scouting locations when Duke Fire, Martha Poole, Jeff and Kasey came into Bella Festa. Billy Mellon (owner) and a friend started singing my praises and he called me to come in. They decided to give me a reading for the next day. I wore one of my vintage suits and I am a big fan of film noir. I was so excited, I remember thinking I really hope I get this. I read a lot of hard-boiled detective novels so I already had a solid feeling for the role. I think another reason I got the part was that I talked to Martha and told her that I had a closet full of vintage clothes. Her eyes just lit up, so I’m thinking she leaned over to Jeff and said “hire him.” BOOTLEG: Carolyne, your role as Miss Kelly the femme fatale had to be a blast.
CAROLYNE: Yes, I really enjoyed being Miss Kelly and I think we all have a little bit of her in us, where we’ve done things in our life that we’re trying to make right and rectify. We all use different strategies to come clean of things we’ve done. She was just a really fun character, especially, when you can’t tell if she is genuine or not.
BOOTLEG: Vanessa, talk about the evolution of this of show.
VANESSA: It all started over at Martha’s house with Jeff Babb, Martha Poole, Kasey Kiser, Laura Hessler, and myself. We thought together we could probably put together a pretty good production. We took a vote and decided to do a detective show and it turned out to be Turk Diamond.
BOOTLEG: Production can be a lot of work without the glory.
VANESSA: As far as this role goes, under this title it’s been my first time since I haven’t been around film since 2002. Usually I’m with the art department doing set dressing and internships. I also thought I would always be in the art world but I was put in a position where I had to get things done so I just ran with it. Then I found out that I do enjoy the producing side of movies even though I never thought I would end up in this kind of position. Right now I’m a senior at UNCW but will be working on a movie with Erica Dunton called Three Words and a Star as her personal assistant.
BOOTLEG: Kasey, as cinematographer of this movie you were using an HD video camera. KASEY: We used a JVC HD 100 U camera and chose it because of the look we wanted to achieve on screen and it’s one of the more affordable HDV’s around. It was easy to use, light weight and had a lot of features. At this stage we can’t afford film but with HD video effects it can almost equal a film look. Jeff and I will be doing the editing with Final Cut Pro 5.1 HD on a G5 and we have Julio Barriga to do the CGI.
You can find them at www.myspace.com/turkdiamond
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