Not that kind of cougar

Photograph by Paul Nurnberg

Turns out when you mooch a free location in the Deep South, word choice is as important in convincing property managers what you’re up to as it is in writing the screenplay itself. I needed a faux movie poster for pitch fest leave-behinds, and a real-life wedding planner in Beaufort happened to have a portfolio shoot lined up. She said I could borrow her bride and the beautiful “Oaks” Plantation as long as the shoot didn’t take too long.

The concept was based on a running gag in “The Wedding Photographer” screenplay. A sexy young catalog photographer from Chicago, forced to shoot weddings for a season in South Carolina, is hounded by the “cougar” mother of a bride. I only had a day to find my models, and since I knew they’d be seen from behind I went with an older photographer and a younger woman. I told the actual photographer that our female character would be a “naughty wedding guest” and not to refer to her as “the cougar.” I’d be offended, and I knew my model would be too.

He didn’t get the email, and he beat me to the location. So when the property manager asked what we’d be shooting, he told her the cast would include a photographer, a bride and a cougar.

“My goodness,” the delightful woman said. “I’d best call the owners to run that by them. Will there be any other exotic animals on set?”

Of course, my model had no idea what had happened when she arrived on set, greeted with an enthusiastic, “Oh you’re the cougar. Make yourself at home!” Bless her heart.