The day I met my cast I had no idea how close, invested, and personal it would all be.
I sat, I listened, I asked questions and more questions, and I listened. It was immersive storytelling to help transpose and transform their world into a film. We did an exercise together one day to chat about what wanted our future to be about, and my mantra became this: |
I am here on this earth to be a vessel for change. To fix the social inequities I perceive in our world. I use my love and willpower in life to catalyze people around me. It is through our shared experience and willingness to persevere that we create tangible change. |
We rehearsed as we imagined, the whole process was uniquely collaborative. The film took shape through their stories, and scenes were ripped directly from their memories. A multi-protagonist plotline formed that weaved in and out of each other's lives. Sometimes they were deeply involved in one another's world, and sometimes they just glanced off for a moment. Somehow we ended up with a 124-page foster care epic that was a little bit like “The Wire” meets “Glee”, but not really. |
The day before we started shooting one of the cast members said, "We are Warriors, Juan Carlos. We, Are, Real." He was right, we lived the next four months of production battling to capture the moment. They call production a war because it is; my assistant director would joke, "This movie is a 13 inch foot trying to fit in a size 9 shoe".
