Welcome.

Welcome to the FULL PICTURE BLOG…the making of a true Indie film.

Project Greenlight has nothing on me. If you want to experience what it’s really like to make an independent film, here’s your chance. Over the next couple of years, we will film, edit, screen and attempt to sell a feature length movie. Many have attempted such a feat; few have succeeded. Only time will tell what will happen. Let’s get started!

3/25/06
Excitement fills the air. I have begun the hiring process and believe I have found some talented and honest people. But I don’t want to write about that. Not yet. The start date is still flexible so until that is locked down and the crew has signed in blood, I’m not going to assume anything. Instead, I want to give a little back-story of how far this project has already traveled.

THE FULL PICTURE began as a simple writing exercise in December 2001. I had been laid off as a Banquet Server at the Ritz Carlton due to a downturn in business following 9/11. Still carrying a hefty credit card bill from my first film, I needed to find work quickly. The following week, as I was scrounging up change for next month’s rent, the Ritz-Carlton valet department asked me if I would help them through the busy holiday season. They needed someone to sit down at the bottom of the parking garage and shuffle cars around so they could be accessed quickly. However, they added regretfully, there would be a lot of “downtime”. Seizing the opportunity, I took the job and brought a pen and paper to fill the supposed “slow” hours. By the end of December, I had written the first act of my play, later titled, Big Mouth.

Big Mouth was a story inspired by a family in my hometown that went through a messy, public divorce. The sensational details of their separation captured the attention of our sleepy suburban town. But as quickly as the story flared up, it also went away, and life returned to business-as-usual. What intrigued me about this story was not the divorce itself, nor the public attention it received, but the time to follow. I wanted to examine what happens to such a family fifteen years after their embarrassing moment in the spotlight.

About midway through writing Big Mouth, I felt like I had something. I started work-shopping scenes in an acting class I was taking at The Shelton Theatre here in San Francisco. I decided that I was going to direct it and in August of 2003, I rented out the Actor’s Theater for the play’s debut. Big Mouth was a hit, selling out all but one show in its short run. The story worked. And more importantly, I was convinced that it deserved a larger audience. I went to work immediately adapting the play into a story to fit the screen.

One year later, I had written THE FULL PICTURE and donned my producer’s hat once again. I constructed a business plan to raise the funds and started a LLC. And that’s where I am today. It hasn’t been easy getting to this point, but believing in the material has kept me motivated.