Retreat Interesting Stories

The production of Retreat did have its difficulties.   Production began on a Saturday at 6:00 am for the scenes involving the children.  The critical ambulance's flashing lights shot was captured ironically when one of the cast member's car battery died.  A tow truck was called and its light bank doubled successfully as the ambulance.  First day shooting wrapped at 7:00pm.  An exhausted cast and crew retired for the weekend.
 
Sunday was intended to be a day of rest as production waited until Monday for the availability of the next location.  One of the key actors for the shoot dropped out due to personal problems.  The remainder of the day was spent scrambling to find a replacement.  Director Todd Portugal called on Kary Cawley, one of the talents that had worked on his previous film.  Kary had a weeks worth of beard growth for another film. This was a perfect fit  for his role in Retreat.  On a day's notice he filled the role with a definitive and convincing performance.  Monday's shoot began at 7:00 am and finished around 5:00 pm.  The show "in the can" everyone breathed a sigh of relief.  But rough sailing loomed ahead.
 
Post-production proceeded with weekend edit sessions to keep costs down.  The video would move into the on-line edit stage for final completion, or would it?  The initial on-line edit facility fell short of delivering what was expected.  Critical quality problems now faced the project.  Ultimately this would improve the overall video - sort of happy accidents...re-on-lining the video for a more quality product.  The second on-line session was handled at a Los Angeles facility and addressed some issues never properly resolved during the first session.  Satisfied with the quality and additional production touches the show went to the dub house for duplication.  When the dub house was called for pick up of the dubs the company was going out of business and the dubs nowhere to be found.  After frantic phone calls, the dub facility located only the master tape.  A new dub house was sought and the copies completed. 
 
Retreat received its premiere at the Laguna Beach Film Festival in March, 1998. The festival raises money for Child Abuse Awareness.  After viewing the video, one gentleman contributed $500 to the Festival's cause citing his donation was the direct result of being moved by this inspirational music video.