Last week, we actually made great progress on scheduling, and we now have seven dates in the calendar, including the house scene. Digital props, thanks to Andrew’s help, are now largely under control and should be ready for the relevant scenes. Corporate promotional material has arrived, as have all the components for the editing machine I have the pleasure of building. Yes, yes, all very productive – but the main success of last week was finally breaking the ice on filming.

On Sunday, Angela and Lamb arrived about 1pm and did a great job planning the clothes for Lamb’s scenes. Then off to a car park near Steyning for 4pm to begin the modest task of climbing the South Downs. I’ve done this many times before – it’s hard work but doable, though I don’t think any of us properly considered what it would be like hauling a trolley full of heavy filming kit up there. Turns out: awful.

There were moments when I genuinely started to question the wisdom of our location choice. But largely thanks to Morgan and Andrew (with some help from me and Angela), we made it to the top. To be fair, the view was stunning. So yes, we did the right thing.

We spent about three hours filming up there, during which time the actors wore a visible groove in the grass with all the walking.

Then, about 7pm, we headed down into Steyning for some more filming along a lane at the base of the Downs, just as the sun was dropping low and throwing some great light through the trees. Genuinely beautiful – I think we have some fantastic shots.

We paused in a car park for refreshments while we waited for darkness to fall. Steyning, as it turns out, is exceptionally well-stocked with car parks. With five cars between us, we did a lot of pausing in them, which quickly became a running joke.

As the street lights started coming on, we resumed filming in the town itself, finishing inevitably in yet another car park around midnight. By that point, I was thoroughly exhausted and I assume everyone else was too.

I could’ve done with Monday off, obviously, but we’d already planned another shoot in Shoreham. At 9:30am, we went with a minimal cast and crew – just me, Lamb and Keaton to shoot a short scene near the port. One thing we’ve learned, which should’ve been bleeding obvious months ago, is that ports are extremely noisy places. Bloody ships’ engines, reversing alarms, beeping forklifts, and what sounded suspiciously like a pneumatic drill decorated our audio recordings.

Since then, I’ve downloaded the footage onto my laptop and had a quick go at the sound. Some of it might be salvageable, but I’ll need to wait until my fantastic new mega PC is up and running to properly clean it up.

In other news, we’ve got another shoot lined up for Saturday. Should be easier – allegedly. Though let’s be honest, we’ll probably just swap hills and shipping containers with some pettifogging office irritants (POIs). Watch this space.

The main objective this week is to get all props, digital and physical, ready for Saturday and to prep the office environment, which until recently, has been used as a storage area.

Sunday was hard work, but it felt fantastic to finally stop talking about filming and actually do some. I think it was especially valuable for the two lead actors – they’re really beginning to settle into their characters now.

Early night tonight.