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My name is Jill Schaeffer, I am a producer and first assistant director for Independent Horizon Films.

I began working with IHF as the script supervisor on Guiding Finn. My initial tasks were to keep logs of all the shots and make sure the script was being followed without lines or details being missed. I then became the first assistant director, helping Stephen and Bart with whatever needed to be done for the film.

Shooting a documentary is very different from shooting a screenplay. When you have a script, it is much easier to organize time frames, locations, cast and crew. With a documentary, there is much more to organize.

Instead of getting all your release contracts signed up front, I am constantly chasing people around to get signatures. There can be more challenges with Stephen and Bart setting up the shots. I have a lot of phone calls to make, a lot of research, I have to try and think fast for either follow-up questions or ideas to help the vision and goal of the project. There is also a lot of standing around waiting for something to happen and I have to be careful not to get in the way of the shots, as there are no ‘sets’.

I am very excited about this project. I have had an increasing interest in the paranormal, folklore, urban legends, etc, especially locally. My husband lived in a haunted house with his family, and he has his own theories, which is interesting.

This project is really challenging me, in a positive way. One way is that I have a lot of research and problem solving, which I love. Another way is that I have to try and control myself and not freak out on more scary assignments. This is a big challenge for me. I really want to face my fears and prove to Stephen and Bart that I am serious about being a solid member of IHF.

(next is some backdated journals from my original Word document production diary file)

Wednesday, November 1st, 8:00 p.m.
Production Meeting with Ralph and Shelley
The biggest thing I got out of this meeting is that I want to try and find documentation on the White Lady. I decided that I am going to really do in-depth research and I want work with Shelley to see if I can get enough information to find birth records, etc. This will be my biggest project.

If I want to have a pipe dream, it would be that I find out who the White Lady is, who her daughter is, who her modern day kin is and be like “Your great-great-great-grandmother is one of Upstate’s most famous ghosts. How do you feel about that?”

Friday, November 3rd, 11:30 p.m.
Dan and I got the idea that every night, we would drive up and down Manitou Road to try and gain any insight into the Manitou Devil. The first thing we immediately noticed is that there is an abundance of red reflective surfaces on the road, which can easily be mistaken for eyes. There were no weird feelings, nothing unusual.

Saturday, November 4th, 1:00 p.m.
The Pioneer House is a small house from the late 1800’s on the same grounds as the Irondequoit Town Hall. I was very surprised when I met Patricia Wayne, the town historian. She was wonderful. It was easy to talk to her and be around her. I had a lot of fun learning about the house. Most of the objects were donated. At one time a family with 7 children lived in the house. The house had been moved 3 times by the town for preservation. According to Patricia, the only person the White Lady haunts is her.

Challenges: Stephen and Bart seemed to have a few small challenges getting the shot set up. Once they picked the location, which appears to have once been the kitchen, it took a few moments to adjust the camera, in terms of color, and making sure the background objects were not distracting. My challenges included trying not to react to Patricia while I was asking questions (so as to not screw up audio). I also had a hard time asking questions b/c she would inadvertently answer future questions on my sheet. I also thought I had come up with a good question once the cameras were turned off, so I made them turn the cameras back on, but the question was a bust b/c Patricia hadn’t seen the White Lady movie.

She gave us awesome information and is willing to show us a lot of documents, which is awesome. I am bummed to find out that the former town historian did extensive research on the White Lady and came up with nothing.

10:00 p.m.: Stephen, Bart, Dan, and I drove down Manitou Road in an attempt to get more insight into the Manitou Devil. We truly believe there isn’t enough for us to do a segment on this. We have decided to scrap the Manitou Devil myth. We do like the idea of taping production meetings and going out on these little side investigations together.

Thoughts: my mind is really racing with all the possible things I want to check out, people I want to call, things I want to do. Because we are in the beginning, it is a little overwhelming. I think that as long as I stay organized and on top of everything, we will be good. I am really excited and I hope that this level of excitement and involvement stays through out.

Stephen suggested we camp at Webster Park in the spring/summer. I… don’t know how I feel about that. On one hand, I am really excited and want to get as much evidence/experiences as I can. On the other hand, I can see myself being really creeped out. I would actually be more afraid of the non-paranormal: animals and people messing with us (or just crazy people). I would want to sleep during the day and be awake at night.

Wednesday, 11/8/06
Firestarter
“I’m the fire starter… twisted fire starter…”

Tonight, we met with, quite possibly, the coolest person ever (with the exception of Amy Lindsay). We met with Lynn Colliard. It’s really hard to sum up Lynn because she has a lot of awesomeness, but I will touch on the high points:
• Works with fire (I LOVE fire… not in an arson way…)
• Sensitive to spirits (and went to Lily Dale for training)
• Has cool paranormal group
• Knows a LOT
• Knows a lot of people
• Grounded
• Analytical
• Works at Armory
• Totally willing to work with us

Unfortunately, I felt like crap through the whole meeting and used every ounce of my will power to not throw up all over her… although that would have been rad if I had, and she blew a big fire ball and disintegrated it….

Okay, that was not cool b/c she is very serious about her craft and she is very safe and doesn’t mess around.

I have a lot of new leads to check out, which is sweet. Also, I learned Stephen’s true feelings about me. As he was explaining all our stances on the subject, he ended with “and Jill’s crazy.” I mean, that’s a given, but he didn’t have to say it out loud. I like to surprise people with my craziness. It’s no fun if they know up front. Bad Lindsay! Bad!

So, my new goal of the doc is no longer to challenge myself, but to see Lynn do some radness with fire. Yep, I’m in it to see Lynn breathe a giant fireball.

Thursday, 11/9/06
I made a lot of calls and sent a lot of e-mails. I kind of feel like one of those annoying salesman that has to cold call all these customers. Then, Laura Nolan called me and made it all worth while. She is the president of the Gates Historical Society and was so easy to talk to and so excited. Now, it looks like we will be checking out the Hinchey Homestead, home of the Gates Historical Society. Another thing I liked about Laura is that she is very personable.

The problem I foresee with us working on the doc is that we are working with a lot of confident people who are very positive about what they talk about and eat people like they think I am for breakfast. But I’m not who they think I am and if they piss me off, I’ll produce their ass right out of this doc. Stephen and Bart may be the directors, but I’m the chick. No one messes with the chick. So basically, I am going to get along with all the historians and then I will be forced into situations where I will have to kick the asses of all the paranormal peeps. Except Shelley. While Shelley says everything with confidence, you can talk to her, and she is cool if you are skeptical or have separate opinions. When I hit those people that are all like “My opinion is fact! Concede to my way of thinking!” heads will roll (and not mine). I may look like a little dipsa-doo, but I’m a red-headed Italian with just enough Spic in me to make it legal. The only “hostile entities” any one is going to have to worry about on this adventure is me when I do my impression of Mt. Vesuvius.

Oh yeah, and I’m hyper defensive, in case you couldn’t tell.

So where is this coming from? I mean, the day starts off with being all super happy about Laura Nolan and then I veer off into left field with the whole “I’m unstable for no reason” routine. Well, I’m by no means a psychic, but ‘m having a few premonitions that I am really going to have some problems with these paranormal investigators.

As I did some research on Rochester Paranormal, I was really disturbed by Jay’s blog and profile. For starters, he seems to be disgusted with about everyone and everything that isn’t him and Rolling Hills. I don’t do well with elitists. Second, how many self-proclaimed titles can you give yourself? You know what, I can make up a bunch of crap about myself so I don’t feel like a loser who lives in my mom’s basement, too! Here’s a sample of what my new My Space profile will look like:

Username: Persephone

Name: In this life, Jill Marie Raphaela Madama Schaeffer I

Location: Rochester, the birthplace of Spiritualism

Titles: Puce-aura Medium with a third degree black belt in Demonology, Voodoo Priestess, Crystal Therapist, Wine Coinsurer, specializing in ancient Viking varieties, ex-wife of Superman, former Fanta girl, co-creator of the “Elvis Stained Jumpsuit” Crayola crayon color, inventor of carbonite and adamantium, winner of 5 Olympic gold medals in cow-tipping (it’s one of the events they don’t air), runner-up in a goulash bake-off, undefeated champion in ‘Fasted Transformation of Autobot Optimus Prime from Mach Truck to Robotic Form’, record holder for ‘Smelliest Burp – Female’, and owner of a prize-winning bumblebee.

Hobbies: Raising alpaca and collecting discarded gold teeth from celebrities

Paranormal Investigations: 562, including the debunking of the Winchester Mystery House as shoddy carpentry due to a near-sighted construction crew

Favorite TV Show: Forensic Files – I can always solve the crime before they do

Favorite Quote: I believe Brittany Spears said it best with: “I’m not a girl, but not yet a woman.” I don’t believe I will be a woman until I come full circle and end my reincarnation cycle

I’m also just a tiny bit worried about Lynn. Don’t get me wrong, she is awesome and my ratio of her awesomeness vs her being a pain in my ass is 90:10. She does have a little overconfidence thing going, but I guess if I danced with fire, I might, too. She also has a hint of arrogance, but again, if I danced with fire, I might, too. I detect an underlying “my way or the highway” going on. Plus, we’re all drooling all over her and making all these plans around her. This isn’t the Lynn show, and it’s not going to be the Lynn show. If we film her team on a few investigations, cool. If she helps us out with some contacts, cool. If a slant starts to occur because she distracts us with fireballs while preaching her opinion as fact, not cool.

Ok, I don’t ACTUALLY think she’s going to do that, that’s more of us getting distracted by the fact that she is so different from other investigators we’ve encountered, so we are just going to be sucked into everything she says without being objective. That’s what I’m really worried about.

Friday, 11/10/06

The four of us met at the Lindsay residence for an impromptu production meeting. I really like these meetings because it is just the four of us hanging out, taking turns at the mike for a little comedy, all while getting a lot of stuff done. Plus, there was Pontillo’s pizza and wings, so double bonus!

Stephen and Bart filmed part of the meeting and got preliminary impressions, which I think is awesome. I’m interested to see how these impressions and thoughts will change as the doc goes on.

Saturday, 11/11/06

Mason Winfield actually called, which was totally awesome! I was worried that he wouldn't be interested in talking to us, but he was very easy to talk to. I am really interested in picking his brain on a lot of subjects.