Lights, cameras, action

SANDUSKY — A portion of the old city hall on Meigs Street already has a new purpose: It's been transformed to represent a nursing home for the movie "Swan Song," which began production Wednesday.I was thrilled to be on set when production began."This location is great because we actually had a few nursing homes in mind to film at (but) they fell through," said Nick Avery, whose working with the production team as a location scout. "Shooting in a working nursing home would have been really challenging, especially if a real-life emergency happened. It worked out very well for us."The staging impressed me. At one time I worked as a nursing assistant at Firelands Regional Medical Center, and the way the film crew transformed the the second story of the old city hall was very convincing. It had an authentic look."Swan Song" is Sandusky native Todd Stephens' creation and this is the third time he's brought movie production to his home town. In 1997 he filmed "Edge of Seventeen, a "coming out" story based here, and part of his feature film "Gypsy 83" was filmed in Sandusky. "Swan Song" is about a flamboyant hairdresser based in Sandusky in the 1970s, who comes out of retirement, leaves the nursing home and examines his life and the city where he lives when he's called on to provide his services one last time to a local socialite who's died."Mister Pat" Pitsenbarger was extremely well known during his life by his fabulous work at Designers Hair Salon, which was in downtown Sandusky, Stephens said. Mister Pat also blazed the trail of social acceptance with how open and proudly gay he was during a time period when homosexuality was still widely demonized.Viewers will meet him near the end of his life, as he goes on a journey to fulfill the dying wish of a former client. In order to do this, he must make his way across Sandusky, and, in doing so, he discovers that a lot has changed in the years he spent isolated in an assisted living facility.Avery was thrilled filming has finally begun."It's exciting being on set for the first day," he said. "Everybody has put in so many hours and hard work into this film prior to today and exciting to finally see it come alive."Dozens of film crew members were on hand, many running around, checking on lighting, setting up the cameras, getting the props together and attending to various other tasks.As I talked with script supervisor Virginia Beischlag I related on a personal level."I graduated in 2016, and this is my first time script-supervising a feature," Beischlag said. "You need to prove to someone that you're worth taking a risk on and they should employ you. I am so grateful I was given this opportunity by Todd."The film crew will spend nearly three weeks in Sandusky working on the film, according to Beischlag."An average day of filming will be about 12 hours," she said.Stephens wants the movie to be finished by the end of this year.Those wishing to stay up to date on the progress of Swan Song are encouraged to follow the film's official page at facebook.com/SwanSongTheFilm. Reach reporter Alyssa Wieber at wieber@sanduskyregister.com. Follow us on Twitter @SanduskyRegistr and at Facebook.com/sanduskyregisterFilm writer and director Todd Stephens looks over the script before shooting "Swan Song" at the former City Hall in Sandusky on Wednesday, July 10, 2019.Film writer and director Todd Stephens gets his team fired up before they begin shooting "Swan Song" at the former City Hall in Sandusky on Wednesday, July 10, 2019.Actor Udo Kier gets prepared for the production of "Swan Song" on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, at the former City Hall in Sandusky.Script supervisor Virginia Beischlag looks at a monitor as the crew gets ready to film "Swan Song" on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, at the former City Hall in Sandusky.Crew begin setting up for a day of filming "Swan Song" on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, at the former City Hall in Sandusky.Peter Westervelt, left, and Jackson Lewis setup the camera before filming "Swan Song" at the former City Hall in Sandusky on Wednesday, July 10, 2019.Kassandra DeAngelis hangs a picture for the set of "Swan Song" on Monday, July, 8, 2019, at the former City Hall in Sandusky.The former City Hall in Sandusky was transformed into a nursing home for the filming of "Swan Song."Jackson Lewis, Teresa Strebler and Kassandra DeAngelis take a break from setting up the set of "Swan Song" at the former City Hall in Sandusky on Monday, July 8, 2019.The former City Hall in Sandusky was transformed into a nursing home for the filming of "Swan Song."