Yesterday I kidnapped my lead actress, Lizet Benrey, and we headed down (or is it up?) to Los Angeles to meet with our other lead actor, Jose Yenque, and our costume designer, Anthony Sartino. I have to say, I came home exhausted, got my 8 hours of sleep, and I still feel like I'm walking on a cloud. What a fantastic trip we had!

First off, we had a rehearsal with Jose. He and Lizet play the magician and magician's assistant (also husband and wife). Jose has had a wealth of film experience (we'll be posting his impressive bio very soon), and Lizet's training has been extensive. I have to say, it gave me goosebumps to watch them become their characters. I know I've said that before, but this was without props, without scripts, without costumes, without anything. They just started with a few lines from the script, then went off into improvisations that made me believe I was watching a magic couple having a conversation, laughing, arguing, cajoling, and all the other things that happen when couples talk. We also snapped a few pictures of them together, and I have to say, if I didn't know better, I would think they were a young couple in love. Now that's acting!

After the rehearsal, Anthony Sartino (our GENIUS costume designer, whose bio is also coming soon) met up with us to show us some costumes he'd found at the most amazing place I've ever seen. Now, I'm a girl, and I love clothes, and this place was like nothing I'd ever even imagined. Rows and rows of clothes, shoes, hats, jewelry, and what not, up stairs, around corners, in every color and size and style you could imagine. Seriously, if you don't have a sherpa to guide you through the place, you should bring some breadcrumbs and leave a trail. It is literally a labyrinth of clothing.

Anyway, Anthony pulled out several pieces, and to be honest, any of them would have been perfect for my movie. We picked some spectacular pieces, and I can't wait to see them on my actors. These are the kind of costumes that really bring a film to life. Then he took us to his closet of pieces he had designed or collected himself, and I swear it was like a magic closet that didn't contain a single ugly piece of clothing. I wish I had a closet like that. Seriously. He pulled out a beautiful leather coat, a velvet tie, another tie I don't even know how to describe, a pair of pants, another pair of pants, another coat, another coat, and I thought I was going to faint. By the time he was finished, I was threatening to steal it and never come back! He also brought out scarves and swatches of fabric, twisted them around his torso and made them look like a million bucks. Then he would casually say, "Add some bracelets and something around the ankle, maybe a brooch, and there you go." It was like magic.

My takeaway from the day: I wish I could take Anthony everywhere with me so I'll always look fabulous.

But instead, he's making my film look fabulous. I'll take that, too. Thanks, Anthony!

We've been trucking along with the pre-production of the film, so the blog has been a bit neglected. Plus, I hate to write about things that aren't nailed down yet, so I've been trying to get everything juggled and in order. Slowly but surely, the film is coming together. We'll be making the trek to LA this week for a costume fitting, and I can't wait. For me, that's really a place where the film is going to come alive. These characters have such distinct personalities, that their clothes will have to reflect that and show who they are and who they aren't. I'm also excited to have such a talented costume designer on board. More about him later.

I've also been scouting locations, and I believe we have found the one that will make my magicians' house be the most awesome house ever. This home is a jewel, and is already furnished exactly how I imagined. Check these pictures out!

Isn't it great? We only have one location yet to lock down, and we are working like busy beavers to get it done. We are also in the midst of scheduling rehearsals, which I am very excited about. It is going to be great to see our actors bring these characters to life, and make the words on the page real! I can hardly stand the suspense.

The last thing we are working on is trying to make our film low-budget and not micro-budget. Our Kickstarter campaign is up for another 5 days, and we have our fingers crossed that everyone will make the last minute effort to put us in the black. That means you, dear reader, need to help us beat the drum and get the word out. This project is so exciting, and I know that it is going to be a beautiful and engaging film. We just need to pay for everything. So yes, I'm begging here. Please please please please please help us!

So yesterday I decided to have a little fun and roll on down to Comic-con. I've never been, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Whatever I expected, it was a whole lot to take in. First off, it's true: there are tons of people dressed up in elaborate costumes that you know they didn't just throw together the night before. The two below were my favorites:

There are also a ton of panels, discussions, and sneak peaks. In truth, it's nearly impossible to make any sort of battle plan for what you want to see and do because there's just too much. It's overwhelming. At any given time of day, there's at least 10 different things you could go to, if you can get in, that is. I guess if there's a down side to the whole thing, that would be it. Aside from being a convention for comics (and movies), it's a convention of lines. Lines everywhere. Lines that are so long, they have special volunteers to tell you where the end is, where it continues (across the hall, outside, etc), and when to stop to let other traffic through. Lines that are so long, you might not even get to the end of it. But fear not, there's always something else if you can't get in to what you wanted.

I happened to see Francis Ford Coppola unveil what he's thinking with his new movie "Twixt". I'm not sure what to think of the movie, but I do know that this man's enthusiasm for his work is practically palpable, and definitely contagious. I walked out of there thinking about my own work and it's possibilities.

Also saw a couple of TV pilots that are coming this year. It will be interesting to see how they do. One is a JJ Abrams project, so we'll see where it goes. It seems like everything that guy does turns to gold, or at least silver. I think my takeaway from watching these pilots is that it seems like they're trying to mix comedy and horror, which is an uneasy match at best. Not that the shows aren't interesting. It just seems odd to go from cracking jokes to killing from one sentence to the next.

Lastly, I saw some famous people. I'm not one for chasing people down for autographs or pictures, mostly because I can be very lazy and very shy when it comes to stuff like that. However, I did run into a couple of my favorite Fringe characters: Walter (played by John Noble) and Olivia (played by Anna Torv). They were nice enough to let me have a photo.

So that's about it. The last thing, is that during the whole time I was there, I kept thinking that maybe next year I'll be able to come back with my film. Magicians and Comic-con go together like cookies and milk.

By the way, we only have a few weeks left for our fundraising campaign, so please help us in any way you can.

I thought I would take a step back and write a post that gives some history into the world of magic. In the film, the father of the family dies on stage doing an illusion: Catching the bullet. Our magician catches two in his hands, then goes for the grand finale of catching it in his teeth. He’s quite the showman.

In reality, this is a trick that has been done by several magicians, and is actually the most dangerous illusion in existence. A total of 11 people have died performing the trick. Most famously, Chung Ling Soo, who was mistakenly shot in the chest during a performance. In the inquiry after his death, it was basically discovered that part of the reason the trick was fatal was because he so closely guarded the secret as to how it was done. For a great read about the magician, check out author Jim Steinmeyer, who has written several books about magic and magicians.

It’s kind of difficult to imagine now, but back in the day, magic was all the rage. My theory is that film stole a lot of the magic, because the illusions could now be done inside a camera, and there was no need for the expensive stage shows. But in the 1800s and early 1900s, magicians competed fiercely against each other for notoriety and ticket sales. There are so many names (in addition to Chung Ling Soo) that were important in the time: Henry Kellar, the Great Lafayette, and Hermann the Great. Of course, Houdini is in there, too, and my personal favorite, Howard Thurston, who was a contemporary of Houdini’s.

There’s another great book about Thurston written by Steinmeyer, and rather than hash out the history, I’ll just tell you again to check it out. I don’t want to mangle something he so carefully research and wrote. It’s a great read, and will make you feel like an expert in the world of magic when you’re finished reading it.

So some of you have asked me what my movie is about. Well, at the risk of sounding like a jerk, it’s about magicians.

It’s not a historical film, and it’s not meant to be informational and teach you anything about magic. It’s just about a family of magicians. The real meat of the story concerns the mother and daughter, who are left alone when the father/husband dies suddenly.

I don’t want to hash out the entire plot (you have to come see it, right?), but the story is basically a story about illusions: the ones we see and the ones we don’t. It’s about women. It’s about family, duty and independence.

I know that doesn’t really tell you very much, but I don’t want to give the whole thing away. It’s supposed to be magic!

In the writing of this film, I have done a significant amount of research, reading biographies of a couple of magicians (I would rock a Jeopardy! category) and watching a documentary about magic. I’ve also watched any other movies about magic I can get my hands on, and I plan to re-visit the work of Georges Melies, who was a magician before he was a filmmaker. If anyone has any suggestions for ‘magic’ films I need to watch, let me know.

I’m also planning a trip to LA to visit the fabled Magic Castle, which I’m very excited about. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a magic show in person in my life, so I am prepared to be amazed. Through my research, I’ve learned how certain tricks are done, but I don’t think that spoils it. I think it only makes it more amazing, because the timing and coordination of the illusions has to be so precise and practiced, the mere fact they are able to pull it off is amazing.

I’m also planning to visit a magical place called the Museum of Jurassic Technology. I’ve been there a couple of times, but there is something about the place that changes the way the world looks in that it becomes apparent that you can’t really tell the difference between was is real and what isn’t.

So that’s some background on the film and how I went about learning about the subject matter. I hope that helps.

I'm still looking for a costume designer, but I've started looking at what my characters will be wearing. I think I'm leaning towards something Middle Eastern, as in Persia, Turkey, and that general area. There is a lot of variety in the different types of traditional clothing, so my magicians should have much to choose from in order to look stylish and cool.