BLOG — Maren Gabaldon

MOVINGONCONTINUITY.com

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Welcome! This is what I’m going to call my portfolio-diary. A space where I can make posts about the sets I get to work on and the things I learn from them.

post #1
04/06/2026

I just had an incredibly exhilarating and tiring month of march. Truthfully I hadn’t worked since December, and was in a bit of a waiting period until I had a few projects on the verge of being confirmed at the end of February. At some point in the first week of March things fell into place and I was in the whirl of pre-production for 4 projects at the same time. Each project I got the pleasure of script supervising in March, I felt a genuine excitement for. I feel lucky that each project has an element of something I’ve never done before.

The first project I got to supervise is a short called To Build a Home. Directed and DP’d by Louis Mellinand, and written by myself, this was a really fun one to see come to life. We shot in a cool warehouse on the north west side of Chicago. I also had some wonderful people shadow me on that set! It was so much fun to walk through the continuity process with them. I hope I can do that again for more people in the future.

I went straight from the first set to the airport, because my second project in March was in Abilene, Texas. This one was special for me. It’s the first project that has taken me outside of Illinois. I am originally from Texas, so it felt kismet that my first travel job involved flying into DFW and driving 3 hours west to Abilene. It was really nice to be on a crew full of people that grew up in the same areas I did. The content of the story was also a part of why I wanted to do the film– it was about the last few days in a man’s life, before he plans to commit suicide. I really admire how the producers of the film worked to maintain an accurate representation of mental healthcare. I’m glad I was a part of that.

The third and last thing I did in March was work on a feature film back in Chicago. This was truly such a great crew to work with. Everyone was so knowledgeable, and really cared about their contributions to the movie. The story is a modernized classic, literally. It was the most stunts, intimacy, and multi-cam I’ve worked with so far. I learn so much on every set and this one was not any different. The personalities I got to be around daily were a breath of fresh air. I’ll be so excited to see this one turn out.

My last recent project was another short, a film called Remote Possibilities. It just wrapped yesterday. This was a great shoot to end a busy 4 weeks with. Shorter days, calmer vibes, a silly story. I had a great time. The director is someone I went through Columbia's directing program with, she always has the most fantastical visions for her projects. The producer was also the producer of my college thesis film! We filmed that about a year ago now. It’s always so fun to be on set with him.

Something that stood out to me this month is the amount of first-time 2nd AC’s I got to work with. It can be intimidating doing that for the first time, and I seriously worked with about 6 first timers in the past 4 weeks. Every one of them handled it very well, was open to feedback, and learned quickly. It was fun helping people get more comfortable in that position, it also made me appreciate past experiences with more seasoned 2nds. What I’m able to help people learn is only a result of people once helping me learn. I’m always reminded of that.

Okay! That was a big, long, busy month. I’ve got some real life stuff to get back to. Hoping for a busy summer!

- Maren G.