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A year and a half ago, I came up with an idea for a reality show about destination weddings. Since I am a former professional actress, I am used to being on camera and in front of people. I pitched my idea to a network, and they loved it. I needed to find a production company to work with. Fortunately, a producer friend of mine referred me to Undeletable Productions. They, too, loved the idea, and so "Wedding Lane with Candy Cain" was born.
When the crew and I went down to Jamaica to film the pilot, we had a specific format we were going to follow. I was going to be the host of the show, and the story was going to focus on the couples and the destination. I was never going to be the "star." I did an intro, a couple of segways, some interaction with the couples, and a conclusion (a la Jerry Springer) that ended with the tag line, "See ya next time down the Lane." That is exactly what we filmed.
And then some.
While filming, one of the couples broke up two days before their wedding was going to occur. I had become very attached to this couple, and I was devastated that they decided to call off their wedding. The bride disappeared, the groom was furious, and I was crushed. All of a sudden, the story focused on me trying to locate the couple, get them to communicate, then either orchestrate the wedding or let the families know that they broke it off. Everything that you watch in the teaser is 100% true-- No exaggerations or embellishments whatsoever.
At first, I was very aware of the camera, because I had to address it whenever I was being filmed. I had a script that I had to follow. There was a fabulous field producer that gave me direction as I addressed the camera, and a terrific cameraman that made it very easy and comfortable. I was nervous, but worked through it. After the first few times, it became natural. Then, all hell broke loose with the couple, and things changed.
The cameraman was with me everywhere I went. He filmed me in the car, in my room, running down the hall, on the phone, absolutely everywhere. As you can see in the trailer, he had to run quite a bit to keep up with me. I soon got to the point where I just ignored him and went on with my business. You can never "forget the camera was there" because you always feel it watching you, but I ignored him. The field producer saw that the story was turning to be all about me, and had him follow me as much as he could.
Once the networks started seeing the original teaser, they wanted more. They wanted to see where my business was and the family I returned home to after these weddings. They wanted to see the relationships I had other than my clients. So, the producers came out to my house to film me in action for a day. They filmed me, my kids, my husband, my mom and my staff. After a couple of hours, we stopped noticing the camera and went along our merry way. Even my kids ignored it. The chaos of my life as it is every day was captured on camera perfectly.
A lot that was filmed doesn't appear in the teaser at all. They filmed me for a total of four days, and the teaser is less than five minutes. I can't imagine what it is going to be like once the show is picked up by a network. What I do know is that the show will never run out of material. With the weddings I plan, family stuff, trips, seminars and everything else going on in my life, there will never be a dull moment.
