That Blog About Blue Like Jazz

About a month ago they started filming this movie down the street from Belmont. Well, not just any movie. Its a movie that is being funded by a few big investors and a few more thousand fans. Its a movie that made history by being the "largest crowd funded creative project" in America. Its also a movie based on a book I hold very dear to my heart.

Blue Like Jazz

I read the book about four years ago on my way to a leadership conference in Themiddleofnowhere, Pennsylvania. My friend Eric, who was driving us to the conference, had recommended it so I brought it with me.

It was out of the ordinary at this point in time for me to be reading a "Christian" book. It was during the time in my life when I was kind of annoyed by the religious entertainment industry. I felt like a lot of the Christian music, movies and books were sugar coated and not something that my non-christian friends could relate to. I was rebelling against the holy roller, preachy, church demanding material that I felt so disconnected from.

The promise of "Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality" caught my eye and I read Blue Like Jazz. I loved it. Donald Miller made me laugh and cry. I few of my other friends in the van with me to the conference had read the book already. They would hear me giggle to myself reading in the back of the van and say "Have you gotten to the part about Sexy Carrot yet?"



I was beyond excited when I heard they were going to turn it into a movie and almost peed myself when they announced they were filming in Nashville.

So for the last three or four weeks I've been spending some time as an extra on the set of Blue Like Jazz the movie. The cast and crew of this movie are incredible. They are truly kind and I feel like there is a constant flow of positive energy around them (not to get all yoga instructor on you but that's the best way to describe it).

The first day of filming we got to set at around 7am. There were 60ish of us, mostly Belmont students. We stayed for a good 10 hours of filming that day. There were some issues with the camera and lighting but the crew worked so well together to fix everything.

The next two days of filming were party scenes and we filmed from 7pm till about 2am. One day we did a cafeteria scene with about 100 or so extras.
After a couple long days together, many of the extras have become good friends.



Then today we shot a scene at Bicentennial Mall. I had never been there before. It was so cool. We shot in the amphitheater but the walk down the mall to the theater is lined with dark marble structures, engraved with the history of Nashville. It reminds me a lot of the war memorials in DC. *Note to self: come back here the first warm day of spring for a picnic ...and bring a frisbee.

On the set of this movie there is an abundance of laughter. It's so nice coming back to set and some of the members of the crew remember your name. These people are extremely talented and hard working. I got the vibe being around them that this isn't just any other day at work. I mean of course they have to work to pay rent, feed their children and stuff, but they all know how important this movie is. To the investors, fans of the book, to Don, to Steve...

The screenplay for this movie has been through some tough times. It was even dead at one point. But it was revived. Brought back to life by people who desire for this story to continue. A story within a story. Mise en abyme. Now part of my story here in Nashville. Very beautiful. Very inspiring.