An article in the Daily Journal

County grad in Hollywood




By SHERRI CONER
Staff writer

Oct. 8-9, 2005

As a preschooler, Elissa McKee made home movies using Barbie dolls and Star Wars action figures as characters.

When the 24-year-old moved from Franklin to California last year to work behind the camera on movies and TV shows, her father wasn’t surprised.

“While you’re young, you should take the chances and go,” Harold McKee said.

McKee says her venture has paid off as she adjusts to work and life in the bustle of the California film and TV industries.

She recently worked as an office production assistant during pre-production for a pilot of a reality show called “Wedding in a Week.”

In a recent e-mail, McKee said her responsibilities for the show included scheduling interviews, calling vendors and collecting necessary paperwork for the production company, Lighthearted Entertainment, the company that produces “Extreme Makeover.”

A 1999 graduate of Franklin Community High School and a 2004 graduate of IUPUI with a degree in new media, McKee was promoted to assistant story producer for the pilot. In that capacity, she taped raw footage to create the story for the show.

“On this show, I actually operated a camera and taped interviews with the couple who was to be married,” she wrote.

In the past year, McKee has built her résumé with several other film experiences.

One of her projects was “Serenity,” the science-fiction movie from Joss Whedon, creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” released last week.

“On the movie ‘Serenity,’ I worked in the visual effects department,” McKee wrote. “We worked with a miniature of the ship in a space sequence in the film. We filmed on a green screen at the Grant McCune Design stages, where the Death Star sequence in ‘Star Wars’ was filmed.”

On other jobs, McKee has worked on an upcoming HBO series “Big Love,” the Liam Lynch-directed film “Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny” and the pilot episode of “Inconceivable,” which recently aired on NBC.

Life in North Hollywood, Calif., is much more crowded and diverse than her first 20-some years of life as a Franklin resident, McKee said.

“Life in Los Angeles is like a microcosm of the world,” she wrote. “I enjoy meeting people who are from diverse environments. It’s also neat to meet a lot of people who have the same goals as me. I’ve met three Hoosiers on different shows.”

Work in the film industry is anything but predictable.

“I’ve gotten called up for four shows at once before,” McKee wrote. “And I’ve also gone over a month with no work. It’s extremely important to save money because once you’ve called everyone you know and said you’re available, there’s not a whole lot else you can do but wait.”

Her workdays stretch to 12 to 15-hours a day for months at a time, McKee said.

But life behind the camera is worth the time investment.

“It’s been my dream from the time I was old enough to hold a camera,” McKee said. “I really like being a part of the process. The hours are long and hard. But you have this product at the end that you can hopefully be proud of.”

McKee calls home as often as possible but still occasionally gets homesick for her father; her mother, Janice; her three siblings; and friends from Franklin.

Every Sunday, she and her boyfriend drive to Long Beach, Calif., for a lazy afternoon around the barbecue grill with friends, McKee wrote.

As time goes by, the transition from Indiana to California gets easier.

“I had a lot of fears before I got here,” McKee wrote. “I was afraid that I’d never get a job. I was afraid that if I did get a job on a film, I wouldn’t be cut out for it. I’m a much more confident person now.”