In order to retain complete creative control, the pair vowed to finance Wish You Were Here completely on their own. Both took loads of extra work - Kingsbury as a theater carpenter and Smith as a production coordinator, researcher and editor. Smith often worked nights, and wouldn't get home until long after Kingsbury had started his day. "I think at one point we didn't see each other for about three weeks," says Smith. But they held fast to their goal.

"There was a long time when Jason ate nothing but spaghetti and peanut butter sandwiches," remembers Kingsbury. "Of course, that's pretty much all he eats anyway."

It didn't take long for the pair to realize just how much they underestimated their goal. "We figured out that shooting on the road adds about ten extra layers of complication," says Smith. "But instead of a production staff dealing with the problems it was just Bill and I. How do you get everyone from one side of the country to the other? Where are they coming from to begin with? We shot 108 scenes while traveling across thirteen states, with a cast of 38 performers converging from twelve different parts of the country. People were showing up by plane, by train, in their cars and campers, sleeping on floors, in trailers or just tents in the woods. And since we couldn't afford to change things once everybody's tickets were paid for, our shoot schedule became a finely crafted puzzle. It was a whole lot for two people to handle."

When they couldn't afford expensive camera equipment, Kingsbury built it himself. He designed and assembled a dolly and track system, as well as a camera mount for the hood and side of the car. He also created an innovative camera crane which could be assembled and disassembled quickly, and stored easily on the back of his pickup truck. By the time shooting began, the crew could set the crane up and tear it down in five minutes flat. "That goes a long way when you're shooting guerrilla style," says assistant director Brian Hodges. "We could be in and out in fifteen minutes flat and walk away with a beautiful crane shot. And it all fit on the back of Bill's truck!"

Special Visual Effects normally take a huge bite out of a production's budget, but Burnin' Vernon had a secret weapon: Digital Animator John Cassella. Employed by Manex Visual Effects in Culver City, CA, Cassella had done visual effects work in "American Beauty," "Muppets in Space," "For Love of the Game" and "Mission: Impossible 2." When he said he could help in his time off, the Wish You Were Here team jumped at the offer.

Cassella first animated the "Burnin' Vernon Productions" Logo - Including a fiery Burnin' Vernon himself - and then helped widen the scope of the boy's travels. He cut several days off of the shoot schedule by digitally placing characters in locations far off their real-life route. He topped it all off by animating one of the most laugh-out-loud sequences of the movie. "... But we can't tell you what it is," says writer/director Jason Smith, "because that would ruin the surprise..."