Something Very Cool Starts Now.

Hello to everyone who reads this blog. Today is the start of something very special.

A few weeks ago, I asked my good friend Evan Sneider if he would consider blogging about his experiences working as the star of GIRLFRIEND. Lucky for all of us, he accepted.

He has a lot to say and so I've decided to tease all of you and break it up into installments, the first of which will begin right now. So, without further ado, I turn it over to Mr. Sneider. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

AN INTRODUCTION

Shaun O'Banion (my man!) asked me if I would write something for his blog telling about my experience acting in and working on my first feature film.  I hope you enjoy reading it.  Thank you for making this offer to me, Shaun.  You're such a dear friend.
 
I've loved every minute of GIRLFRIEND.

Before acting in GIRLFRIEND, my first film work was in Justin Lerner's thesis film THE REPLACEMENT CHILD. Before that, my acting experience was in theater, but I'll tell you more about that later.

Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. I've learned that it is the same when a movie is made.  It takes a lot of people to "put it together" (a lyric from my favorite composer, Stephen Sondheim).  Some people work on a movie way before filming starts, alot of people work during filming, and some others after filming ends, but first you need a script.  I thought I'd start by telling you my experience of the start of GIRLFRIEND..

THE BEGINNING

One day I had plans to go to lunch with my friends Justin Lerner and Dan Turnbull.  During lunch Justin and Dan started talking with me about doing a film that I would have a starring role in and wanted to know how I would feel about that.  This touched my heart SO much and it was a real WOW moment for me.  I was SO excited to think I would have this kind of opportunity.  I loved acting in THE REPLACEMENT CHILD, so to have the chance to act again with a really big role was SO incredible.  I told them that I would LOVE IT, and I couldn't wait to get started!

A funny thing happened later that night.  I was telling my Mom about my lunchtime conversation.  Knowing how the thought of starring in a movie would be a dream come true for me, and how unlikely things like that happen, she thought possibly I was doing some wishful thinking, or had misunderstood. She quickly learned it was really true.

But first, Justin had to write a script. The story of GIRLFRIEND. or more the character of Evan Grey is based on me, but GIRLFRIEND. is a work of fiction, not my true life story.  I have some things in common with my character, but many differences too.

After some script revisions Justin and others were busy with casting director Brad Gilmore, auditioning people and making many decisions.  More planning began with many people doing many things, more than I totally understand, but I know producers were busy needing to get $$$ and make alot of other arrangements and decisions, hiring many talented people so GIRLFRIEND. could actually be filmed.  It takes alot of people, not just actors to make a movie. 

I was so excited and looking forward to getting to work on the film.  To get to act and to get to meet and work with alot of new people.
I was very happy when I found out that I would actually have some things to do before filming began.  One was to help for casting and one was to help me prepare for my role.

CASTING

Justin called me one day to tell me they were going to be looking for the right person to play Simon and a few other roles too and were holding auditions.  Justin was flying east with producers Jerad and Krstina Anderson and our script supervisor Giulia Setembrino.  Our east coast producer Sarah Steinberg Heller would also be at the auditions. They wanted me to come to the auditions to help by "reading" with the children auditioning for the part of Simon.  They also wanted me to "read" with Seth Chatfield who they wanted for the part of Jeremy, Joe Turnbull who they wanted for the role of Willie Jones and Darren McDonald who they wanted for the role of Darren Jones, Willie's son. 

It was so much fun helping with the auditions.  It was such a fun day also because it was the first day that I met Jerad, Kristina, Sarah and Seth who have become such dear friends to me.  (I had already been good friends with Joe and Darren for a long time.)  Since Sarah and Seth live on the east coast, we've been able to see each other even after filming wrapped.  Everyone has been so wonderful to me.  I couldn't wait for the day when we'd be working together on the film.  On another day, I drove around with Justin and he showed me houses and other places in the area where we'd be shooting the film.  That was fun too.  On a seperate trip back to Wayland, Justin introduced me to Craig Divino, who was a friend of Justin's from Cornell.  Craig is a talented actor, but Justin wanted us to meet ahead of time because Craig was going to be my acting coach. (Craig had also worked as the fight co-ordinator on Justin's film THE REPLACEMENT CHILD).  We got to talk a little bit about relaxation exercises he wanted to teach me and also talked about what to expect when we started filming.  Craig was very helpful and I learned alot from him.  Craig and I have also talked with each other about our acting and theater work.

Check back for PART TWO: FILMiNG BEGINS.

Re: The Toronto Experience Pt. 1

I got into Pearson airport at about 7am on the 12th after a great trip with Virgin America, my personal favorite and the chosen airline of our production thanks to, um... me. This was my first trip to Canada, so I was already excited, but to get off the plane knowing that I was headed to the Toronto International Film Festival with a buzzed about film, was more than I could've dreamed at that particular moment in time.

Jeff Castelluccio, my best friend (more like a brother, really) and I flew out with Donal Logue and Abigail Breslin, so we were in good film-making company. Jeff, if you don't know, is the editor on both of the films I've produced. He's kind of like my good-luck charm. I try to bring him on anything I do. Fortunately for me, he's talented in addition to being a good guy. Justin flew out with Sasha Grey... also on Virgin... As he so delicately put it, "irony."

The perfect start to my week at TIFF began with my bag being the first off at baggage claim. I was staying longer than Jeff, so I had to check a suitcase - something I'm normally loathe to do. Jeff had only his carry-on.

We grabbed the Airport Express and headed for our hotels. That night was going to be our World Premiere screening, though we were treating the screening on Monday the 13th as the real deal, since it would be attended by a large number of the crew who worked on the film and because we were being provided a Red Carpet After-Party by the great people at Tribute Events. The hotel was literally half a block from most of the events and right away I found myself in the mix. It had been nearly a year since the shoot and so this was already feeling like a bit of a reunion. Most of the cast and crew who were coming in would arrive the next day, but a few were already there. Jeff and I met up right away with Evan, Jason Olivier (Exec. Producer), Joe Turnbull (Cast), Darren MacDonald (Cast), Dan Turnbull (Cast), Seth Chatfield (Production Designer/Actor), Sarah Steinberg Heller (Co-Producer) and Jeff's parents who flew in especially for the event. We had a great lunch after Evan had introduced the 100 Monkeys at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Block Party. It was great to see everyone.

By the time it was 3pm on the 12th, I figured that I'd already been up for 32 hours. That's when I stopped counting.

The first night, you could feel the pressure. It was the first official public screening anywhere in the world. I may have been alone here, but my heart was pounding. My stomach was doing flips - of course, as a producer, I was covering it pretty well.

It's a complicated film and we knew that it could polarize an audience. Knowing that and trying not to worry about it though are two very different things. Justin spent a bit of time thinking about what to say when he introduced the film. He ran some ideas past me and settled on being brief as the best policy. After the screening, there would be a Q & A. I was not going to go on stage for this one. It seemed the film would be best served by having a minimal amount of people up there - meaning Justin, Jackson Rathbone, Shannon Woodward and, of course, Evan Sneider.

We sold out that first night and the audience was a crowd spread across all age groups with a heavy helping of TWILIGHT and 100 Monkeys fans who'd made the trek. After the first screening, I think we all felt that, while still overwhelmingly positive, it was a bit of a mixed bag. It seemed like they (the audience) were... maybe in a bit of shock as the credits rolled. When the Q & A began, there wasn't a single question... so our moderator, Lynne (who it must be said is stunningly beautiful) had to sort of take the lead. She did great getting the ball rolling and things went smoothly after that.

I kind of felt as though I was sleep walking through the whole experience that night. Seeing the film projected on that huge screen at the Scotiabank Theater was so incredible. We were playing in of the largest theaters they have, and knowing that your film has people standing in the rush line in the hopes of getting in is pretty humbling. Special mention should be made of Jane Schoettle here, our programmer for the TIFF Discovery section, who's efforts on behalf of our film were tireless and for which we are all so grateful.

Our Executive Producer had set up a dinner for the core creative team (aided by Co-Producer Sarah Steinberg Heller) and once the screening was done, we all headed over to a fantastic little place called Bistro 990 , where we had a private room reserved upstairs. The attendees were: Jerad Anderson, Kristina Anderson, Jason Olivier, Patch Cutler (Jackson's manager and Co-Producer on the film), Seth Chatfield, Sarah Steinberg Heller, Jackson Rathbone, Evan Sneider, Shannon Woodward, Quyen Tran (our amazing Director of Photography), Sam Reigel (Q's hilarious husband), Erin McPherson (Production Attorney), Justin Lerner and myself. It was a great night full of many toasts (most of them by Evan) and a few by the rest of us. After that, we all needed to head back to our hotels.

The next day was going to be pretty interesting as it would be the first Press Junket day.

Check back for Part II: The Toronto Experience and "Look, Ma! My name's in the Trades!"