The Cast (all two of them)

I was talking to a good friend of mine about this film, specifically about the writing of the script. I told him that while I was writing this script I found that I was giving the two characters two very different parts of my personality. Essentially, I was forming the characters from these little fragments of my life. It was an interesting discovery. It took on another level when I had to cast people in these roles.

I actually started the casting process as I worked through the script. I had two people in mind for the characters and couldn't help but picture them in the scenes as I wrote them. Fortunately, when I asked them they both gave me an enthusiastic yes.

Given that this is a short film I needed the audience to feel an immediate connection to the characters. In order to accomplish this the actors in these two roles needed to be genuine, charismatic, and very talented. Fortunately, Michelle Burger and Kirk Mason have those traits in spades.


Michelle is playing Alison, who is the main character of the film. Michelle is a very talented and passionate performer. I made reference to her in an earlier post and how dedicated she is to her craft. Michelle has the task of carrying the first few moments of the film on her own. There has never been any doubt in my mind that she will be able to meet that challenge. The thing is I know how hard Michelle works at her craft, and yet whenever I see her perform she makes it seem effortless.



Kirk is playing the character James. Kirk and I used to live together and it took us about five years to finally work on something together. Which is a bit of a drag that it took so long because Kirk is one of the most talented guys I know. The thing that I dig most about working with him is that from the start he asks questions. As soon as he read the script he called me up with questions about his character. At every rehearsal he has new insight into his character. Whatever answers I give him he immediately uses the next time we run the scene.

I'm going to be honest I was pretty jazzed when these two agreed to the film. That excitement took on another level the first time we met for rehearsal. On the first read through these two completely rocked it. They laid down a great foundation that we have been able to build on at every following rehearsal.

I'm even more excited for when an audience gets to see these two in the film.

The Script

Let's get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.-Stephen King

There are a great number of stories that I have laid by the wayside in my day. I probably have about four different scripts that stop after about ten pages sitting in my external hardrive. I think that the most frustrating part about writing stories is that like it or not, they have to be organic. As a writer I have to feel something when I am writing and if I don't I stop after about ten pages. I think that Mr. King is suggesting that good story ideas are elusive and you don't really understand why out of all your ideas you put one specific one down on paper.

The idea for this still untitled short film came to me in a daydream. More specifically, it started with a single line of dialogue. I would tell you what it is but the scene is sort of the climax of the film and I'm not going to spoil my own film. The point is this one line of dialogue became the genesis of the entire story. I quickly started to create the characters and why this sentence would be said by one of them. From there I started to put them into a larger story and before I knew it, I had a finished screenplay.

I have no idea why it happened, but I was left with a compulsion to tell this story. I knew that this is the one that I wanted to actually produce and set out in the world.

So, here we go.