What can I say? We couldn’t have asked for a better first day Sure, not everything went as planned – the sun was brutal and unrelenting, certain gear didn’t work, some people didn’t show, etc — But none of that mattered. For the first time ever, I got to fully direct actors. Everyone seemed to have a good time and that was important to me. From the very beginning, I wanted people to have fun on my set and to have a great time contributing to something they hopefully could feel proud of at the end of the day.

First off, I have to thank my crew. Bree, Mark, and Tony were all amazing. They showed up ready to work, braved the heat, and they did it all with a smile

Travis and Whitney were terrific. I knew during our rehearsals that I had lucked out in finding them and they really surpassed my expectations. They elevated the writing and constantly surprised and delighted me. Brett had a lot of fun with his cop character and his banter with Travis was priceless. My sister and her husband Sean were great sports in small roles and I was incredibly happy that I could include them in such a special project.

I have never worked with extra’s before and I think I got kind of spoiled this time around. Stan helped me gather a lovely group of people who were incredibly patient and cooperative despite the unfortunate weather conditions. My favorite moment of the day came when I yelled “That’s a wrap!” and people actually clapped and cheered. Then, to my pleasant surprise, I suddenly found my extras giving me hugs as we said goodbye. I think we developed a sense of camaraderie as we faced the heat and, like I had hoped, we all had a really good time.

I rarely sat down during the 7 or so hours we were there. I was too pumped about the production and almost dehydrated myself by the end of the day. But, when we were finally done and everyone was gone, Bree and I exhaustedly sat down and watched the footage… And we laughed. Hard. I realized that beyond having a terrific filming experience, we had captured something special. It is unequivocally the best stuff I have ever produced and it’s just the beginning.

So thanks to everyone who came out that day in whatever role you had. You helped make this guy’s dreams come true