Shooting a film is bliss and I want a lot more of this drug!

We all see so many such posts here and now I get it! Thanks for being such big cheerleaders to everyone out there. This post adds no new knowledge!

I shot my first actual short film today. Yes, I've done observationals or documentaries, but this one was staged and coordinated; and written, directed, shot, produced all by myself.

Let me tell you some fun things! My male lead bailed on me last night. DP called in sick, then said yes again, then quit. Because of the DP's schedules we moved the time twice and amidst the confusion I never gave a clear call time to my female lead. The original script didn't feel too well so I basically reworked all the dialogues (not screenplay) minutes before we started shooting. All of this amidst a tight deadline at work last night (or early morning today). What's better: both the batteries discharged within an hour of shooting. The sun was going down fast. My female lead had to run home. But... we still did it!

And what I enjoyed most was the chaos, the thinking on your feet. And no matter how good or bad or obviously wrong some framing looked, I can't stop looking back at it, replaying and smiling!

I have crewed on other shorts before but that doesn't feel the same.

I want to keep doing more and more of this! What I don't know is how to find reliable people. I just asked for 3 hours of their time and they still created so much confusion about it!