My SOL-Mates

"This shot is so good I want to take it out and get it pregnant." This inner thought made public was a result of being up for over 24 hours and struck by my co-director Josh Heard's fine setup for the next shot. In all fairness, the shot I speak of deserves your audience because it was made with love and no sleep for the 48 Hour Horror Film Project, October 17-19. This post is a very open love letter back to my team, Sol Acting Academy or as Vivian Nesbitt, the owner of Sol, accurately calls us SOL-Mates. 

It must be noted that this was Sol's inaugural 48 HFP. Half of the team had previously participated in other 48's but none of us had done it together, or ever lead a team. Our weekly pre-production meetings to decipher locations, sound, and craft services built our solid foundation. Albeit, we weren't the most experienced 48 film crew we kept mantra to focus our anxiety: keep it simple. This mantra was tested when on Friday evening at the kick-off the genre our team drew was Sci-Fi. This made us quiver for a moment, but only a moment. Our basecamp was the ACE High school, located on a 4-H property in Albuquerque. Our story was birthed from the mad geniuses of Tim Nenninger, Josh Heard, Michael Guajardo, Stephen Burhoe, Adam James Jones, and myself. By 9:45 pm Friday night we had a story and let Adam and Josh do the writing of it while the rest of us got ready for the shoot. The remaining crew and cast arrived at 11:00 p.m. and we did not wrap the shoot until 1:04 p.m. the next day on Saturday, about fours earlier than we expected. 

During our 17 hour shoot there was not ever a moment of doubt, negativity, or diva behavior. I am the eternal optimist, but even I anticipated the evitable moment of true horror of turning on one another. That moment never happened. (Yes, there were trying moments: when Josh cleaned up the horse poo in the corral because it was making the shot look like sh!t and deciding where to order breakfast burritos-Frontier or Golden Pride). My cup truly runneth over with gratitude for the grace and fortitude our team offered from start to beyond.Please let me say loud and proud THANK YOU SOL-Mates for volunteering your time and believing in our project!

Without a doubt, this has been one of the most singular best experiences I have had because we proved we could trust in each other completely. It can simply be that good. We created a unrepeatable event: the artists who gathered, the actions we accomplished; all accumulated into moments that will live forever in my memory box, and perhaps yours too.

Seeing the masterful edits that Justin Golightly did for the film, my love for it is brimming over with joy to share it with the world this week. Or to better describe my inner joy and jitteriness, allow me to refer to Lady Gaga's song lyrics to Edge of Glory: "I'm on the edge of glory, and a hanging on a moment of truth. Out on the edge of glory, and I'm hanging on a moment with you."

Our film titled, The Lead, in which "playing the lead is a killer job," premieres Thursday October 30th @ 8:00 p.m. the B screening at the KIMO Theatre, awards follow immediately after. Purchase tickets and info for both screening groups here.