On-the-set report on the movie Graphic Content, available now on Wicked.com. Pictured above, Eliza Ibarra; photo courtesy Wicked Pictures.
"I'm always going in circles," Holly Randall says, telling how last night's shooting was interrupted by a power failure. "We were ready to shoot the last scene of the day, about to roll sound, dialogue scene, we were done with the sex for the day. We heard a FOOM and the whole block went dark. Fire trucks came. The location owner went out and bought a generator, and we got our last shot done. It was a really nice generator, too. Now he's ready if it happens again."
Randall is shooting Graphic Content, her first production for Wicked Pictures. "It's an office romance about a young new independent entrepreneur named Charlotte, played by Alison Rey, a graphic designer who just landed her first big bid at a publishing company. She meets her arch-nemesis from her college days, Seth Gamble, and she finds that they're both bidding for this big book cover of a salacious biography."
Randall is directing from her own script, written in collaboration with her boyfriend. "I've never written a script in my life. I've shot a few features, but I've never written a script. Part of me was excited that I would have something of my own to write, but I didn't really have any ideas. My boyfriend works in law—there are some legal jokes in there that nobody else will get—and he's into creative writing, so for him working on it was fun. The hardest thing is fitting five sex scenes into a movie so it makes sense, is interesting, and has a reason for five sex scenes. It's really, really difficult. Like, insanely difficult. I've been calling Mike Quasar constantly. Hardcore and softcore? I never shoot that stuff. Condoms? I never shoot that. Do we talk about the condom going on? Is it Magic Condom? There are all these things that I don’t know about. I've been shooting web scenes."
Today's scene is a surreptitious quickie tryst with Eliza Ibarra and Lucas Frost. As the techs set up lights, Frost strolls in, asks Ibarra if she wants to run lines. They read the script from their cell phones, not looking at each other. Randall does a last-minute trim on dialogue, spotting a plot hole that could cause trouble later. Dialogue-ready, they head to the small bedroom for stills.
"It's pretty simple," Randall tells Frost and Ibarra after they finish shooting stills, re-dressed and ready to shoot the sex scene for video. "I'm not gonna tell you how to do your job." Randall is using a micro-crew, only two camera guys wielding small 35mm-looking cameras, one with a long bazooka-like lens, one with a halo light. Randall is running sound and operating the slate as well as directing. CLACK! "Annnd—Action!"
Above, Eliza Ibarra and Lucas Frost on the set of Graphic Content (Wicked Picures)
They jump into the middle of the bed. He pulls his shirt off, she pulls off her top, leaving a T-shirt. They kiss, she pulls off her T-shirt, giggling. She puts her arm around his shoulders, drawing him in. Her bra comes off. He mouths her upstage boob as she whimpers, then pushes his hands into her cutoff shorts. A low, deep moan from her. He pulls off her shorts, has trouble getting them past her shoes. They both laugh. He pushes her to the edge of the bed, kisses his way down, pulls off her black G-string. Her giggling turns into a deep throaty moan: "Oh my GAWD yes yes right there right there right there yes." Open mouth grimace. She's pointing her toes. Holds her breath, then explodes in low giggles.
Out of camera range, Frost is pulling off his shoes and socks. When he stands up and pulls off his pants, she licks her lips hungrily then lunges at his cock. She theatrically sucks, slurping, then effortlessly deep throating, pulling back with a satisfied "Aaaah!" She teasingly corkscrew-strokes him before turning around and getting on all fours on the bed. "Should I say something?" Ibarra asks. "We've done Magic Condoms so far," Randall says. She looks up at him, nodding yes, says something quietly, and then he inserts, already sheathed in a Magic Condom. A moan, and then she starts aggressively bouncing back on him. Face in the bed, she reaches out and grabs the bedspread, then flips over, legs spread wide. Frost takes the oral invitation, then inserts and leans back and she fucks down on him, her hips bucking and rolling like she has a universal joint in her pelvis. Then she leans back and lets him take the initiative.
Randall calls for a break to reload the cameras but they don’t stop, just tone it down a little to keep their edge during the break. With the cameras reloaded, Randall calls "Action!" redundantly. Frost leans back and Ibarra climbs on, riding him enthusiastically then holding still as he thrusts up into her. "I’m gonna cum!" she says theatrically, then pulls away from him, every muscle from her hips down quivering. Either that was real or she's good. Doesn't matter. It looked good for the camera.
She climbs back on and the rotation of her hips is impressive. Frost puts her on the edge of the bed, goes in in mish. When he inserts, her eyes snap from her crotch to his eyes. The camera can’t catch that. I feel like I'm intruding on their private moment. He pulls out, pulls off the condom, aims at her tits as she sits up. She fingers some into her mouth, starts to suck as he groans, then she snaps, "You better get out of here before my boss gets back." He grabs his clothes and splits, and she reaches over and throws his T-shirt after him with a smile.
"Annnd — cut!" Randall says. "Okay, go get your makeup touched up. We're gonna do softcore."
"That scene was great," Randall says as Ibarra heads off to makeup. "Eliza was great, Lucas was solid. It was more comfortable than yesterday. Office scenes are never comfortable. This is a small room, but it's on a bed."
