The Homecoming wins big!

More news on The Homecoming front! 

In September, we screened The Homecoming at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival in Milwaukee, WI and the BronzeLens Festival in Atlanta, GA. For both festivals, we took home three awards combined:

Best Student Film - BronzeLens Festival

Best "Voices Heard Film - Milwaukee Short Film Festival

Audience Favorite - Milwaukee Short Film Festival

I will be traveling to Milwaukee, WI for the Milwaukee Film Festival at the beginning of October as we will be screening in their Black Lens Shorts: Family Matters program. I am excited to bring the film to Milwaukee and to finally begin networking with the local filmmaking community there.

Meredith MacRae Award

I am pleased and honored to share with everyone that I have been selected as the 2015 Women in Film Meredith MacRae Memorial Award recipient at Chapman University. 

The Meridith MacRae Memorial Award is given to a graduate student in the MFA program who has shown excellence in acting, producing, and directing (like Meredith MacRae herself).

As a recipient not only will I receive a grant for my thesis film which is fantastic, but I also get to become a member of Women in Film AND I get a mentorship for the next year.

I am so honored to receive this award. It's a great feeling to have your work recognized. 

Cry Uncle Update!

We have picture locked Cry Uncle! 

I am so excited to move onto the next stage of production: sound. 

Thank you to everyone who watched our movie (several times) and gave us notes good and bad along the way.

Only a few more weeks until the industry screening at Chapman. 

I love my life!! 

Shiva Movie Updates

I guess the first major update is that the film is no longer going to be called Shiva.  B.A. and I will get back to you when we figure out what to name it.

Casting is well underway, and we have been blessed with many great potential candidates to fill out our cast.  It's always exciting to see the characters that are on paper come alive in a living breathing person before your eyes.

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Casting at CAZT in Hollywood

As a director, going to castings has been enormously helpful in becoming that much clearer about the characters of this story.  So many talented actors and actresses have brought in such a variety of emotion and interpretation that it brings tears to my eyes.  I love it when I'm in a session, talking about the character with someone, and then a light bulb goes off in my head.  It's one of those moments of pure inspiration and such a rush!

Location scouting has also begun in earnest.  I can't wait to start posting some pics up here.  In the meantime, stay tuned for more developments on not-Shiva.

My name is.... and I'm reading for the role of...

There are many benefits to being both a director and an actor.  I'm always telling my colleagues that both disciplines constantly feed into one another, and that I'm lucky that doing one continues to help me think critically about my ability to do the other

I am currently in pre-production and I've been running casting calls.  I am learning a ton of do's and don'ts to be aware of when I start auditioning in earnest in the summer.

1. DO know the name of the role you are auditioning for.  It seems obvious, but wow, some people don't remember the name of the role they are coming in for and it makes (director) me wonder  "Wow, do you even care if you get this role?"

2. DO think about the costume.  It seems like the simplest thing, but it's amazing how many people don't, and worse, they come in a costume that is so completely wrong for the role it's distracting.  For example, if you are auditioning for the role of an uptight mother, don't show up in a mini-skirt and Converse.  If you are going for the role of a rich playboy, don't show up in your Subway uniform (even though I appreciate that you are trying to make the audition time work for you).

3. DO NOT ASSUME. If you don't understand something from the sides, ASK.  Sides are notorious for being vague and I can imagine how off-putting it is to walk into an audition with an interpretation of a scene you don't fully understand.  Imagine thinking that your brother was your husband, and your mother was your father based on a few lines of out-of-context dialogue. As a director, I not only appreciate, but welcome questions that serve to make the performance better.  Not only does it show a thoughtfulness toward the character that goes deeper than just memorizing the lines and stage directions, but I also believe that the more you know, the better you can get it right the first time (and the less work I have to do).

I don't pretend to know everything about everything, and I can honestly say that I've learned so much from all of the lovely people who bravely come in and read for a part.  You continue to make me a better actor and director, and for that, I thank you!