The Origin Of This Project

The idea for this film came at the tail end of an extreme depression.

I’ll give you a bit of backstory:

Since I was a child I knew I wanted to be an actor. I studied at a performing arts high school. I got a university degree in theater. Soon after graduating I found an agent who really believed in me, I started auditioning and booking work, and for about 3 years my primary source of income came from my acting. I felt I had a good amount of momentum going.  So, in 2012 I decided to move to Los Angeles in an attempt to take my career to the next level.

I arrived with extremely high hopes, ready to take on new and exciting roles. Ready for the city to embrace me!!!

That’s not what happened.

When I got here, I found the city to be indifferent to my arrival. 

I was unable to get good representation in LA and stopped auditioning all together. I struggled to even find a minimum wage, regular job to pay the bills. I ended up alone and living in an apartment with no furniture that kinda resembled a crackhouse, in a terrible neighborhood, where after I’d find street parking at night I’d literally run from my car to the front door of my apartment complex. And occasionally shady-looking individuals would be so kind as to escort me by running right behind me.

At my lowest point I had $2.75 in my bank account and several maxed out credit cards. I was dating a drunk who often couldn’t remember my name and pretty soon I started drinking heavily myself. One night after a drunken bender I was walking the streets of Hollywood at 2:00am crying, and felt so lonely that I gave my phone number to Tony, a homeless man that I passed on Sunset Blvd. (We still keep in touch)

After about a year of utter hopelessness I was lucky enough to discover something called “10 Mg of Prozac daily”. It helped me to change my attitude. I moved out of the crackhouse, got a part time job, started eating kale, stopped dating douchebags and entered into a positive romantic relationship. Things were lookin up! I was happy.

Somewhat.

However much I’d changed my attitude, there was still a big void. I had, for so long, defined myself by my career. It had always been the source of my self-esteem. How could I possibly retrieve that feeling of pride I had in my work? Especially when you consider I live in a town where, to save my life, I’d be unable to get an audition for a re-enactment on America’s Most Wanted. How can I beat this system?

Easy. I’ll just write, direct and star in a feature film!

So I started writing a script…….

Are you now beginning to see the light at the end of this tunnel??? Well, don’t get too excited, because I need to tell you something:   The script I wrote wasn’t very good.

But in the next post I’ll tell you how it got better.