Something To Do: Making of a short film Day 1

I'm not trying to sound like anything other than I am. What am I? Well among other things, I am a creative person. We're all creative in our own way. Each of us has a talent that wants to be set free. All of us. But I firmly believe that most of us are scared to unleash our art. A lot of people fear their creativity. Why? Well there are all kinds of reasons. The biggest fear is that they wont be able to make a living from their creativity and then they get a job doing what ever it is they end up doing.

Most people don't grow up and say, for example, "I want to work for the Dental Association of America, and oppose laws that would save consumers money because that's not in our best interest". People just fall into those kind of jobs. It's safe. It pays. It eats at their soul. That's why most people hate their jobs. Because they didn't do what it was they wanted to do. But I digress.

For better or for worse I've taken the way my heart wanted to go. And if for only one reason, so I wouldn't have regret. I didn't want to be sixty and looking at myself in the mirror asking, "What if"? Does this decision always make me happy? No. There are times when I wake up in the middle of the night, staring at my sleeping children wondering what the hell I've done. That doesn't happen often, but it does. Most of the time, my life is a crazy adventure of art, love, drama, family, and life. Working on being a better me, a better husband and a better father. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail. But there aren't many regrets. I know my choices are honest and not false. At the end of the day....I can live with that.

A few months ago I decided that I would write a short script called, "Something To Do". The idea was that I wanted to shoot a short film, confident that I could find someone that had a camera and also find someone that could edit, and then just let it fly. I had just finished a successful film festival run with, "A Letter from Home". (you can check that film out here: http://vimeo.com/21824690 ) The idea behind "Something To Do", was based on a series of ideas that I had written down and was saving for a full length script. I ran out of patience and decided to just go with the short film idea. After I wrote the thing, I showed it to a few friends. One of those friends was Kate Lanier, a working screen writer, and whose kids are in a band with my daughter. To my amazement, she wanted to help me with a re-write of the script, help produce, and then direct the short that I would star in!!!

The idea behind this for her, and you'll have to ask her to be certain, was that her screen plays that have been produced have been dramatic pieces, ( for the most part) and have starred, (for the most part) older actresses. Which is fantastic because there few roles for older actresses in film. I think she liked the idea of making a quirky comedy with a middle aged (yet still roguishly handsome :) ) male lead. Also she wanted to make a short film that we would use to sell the full length script. (the short is the middle of the full length script that we're currently working on.)

CUT TO:

Today was day 1 of production of "Something To Do"!

Making a movie is a lot of work. It takes a lot of organization and determination. Most importantly it takes people that have the same creative goals. AND it takes friends! Day one consisted of the first major scene with me and the kids. Between the two of us, Kate and I have five children. They're all in the film. The kids are an important part of the story. They're on spring break, and they all have work permits thank you very much. This was the first time Kate and I worked together as actor and director. Its not easy taking off the producer cap and putting on the actor hat. For one, I wasn't off book completely, which I know irritated Kate. But it wasn't long that I was in the swing of things, and we were on our way. The kids were great and had a fun time with the whole experience. We have great actors that I'll be telling you more about as time goes on with this project, but today was also day 1 for Robert Reichel! Solid actor, and friend. We get to know his character better as the story unfolds, but today we shot the scene when we see the first glimpse of his Mr. Jones. Fun stuff! The kids and I still have another three days of shooting. Tomorrow we have off, then back to work. Special thanks to my friends Tom and Jose for working as PA's today.

Always dream and work toward something. You just never know what might happen.