An Interview with Carole Holliday - By Duane L. Martin

Interviews: An Interview with Carole Holliday - By Duane L. Martin
Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 @ 20:47:45 Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

A couple of months ago it was my pleasure to review a wonderful film from Carole Holliday called Witt's Daughter, about a Korean War veteran who comes home, and through unfortunate circumstance, is left alone for the evening with a daughter who was a baby when he left and now doesn't know or remember him. Carole handled the subject matter in a humorous and very sensitive way in a brilliantly made film. Immediately after I finished watching it, I popped an e-mail off to Carole and asked her for an interview. Obviously she was super cool and said yes, and not only that, but she did a phenomenal job answering all my questions. So here, for your reading pleasure, is my interview with Carole Holliday...

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First let's start off by having you introduce yourself to everyone. Tell us a little about yourself.

As a writer and director, my favorite characters are the ones who’re filled with integrity, or those who wrestle with gaining it. Weather its a large story or a simple and intimate one, I tend to gravitate to themes of redemption, and striving for emotional connection. I focus on the noble and bittersweet in characters. That's why I founded Crowded Metro films, to tell stories that appeal to me. My ideas span the range from suspense and trial to quirky romance. Because of my animation background, I also am very attentive to beautiful and evocative visuals that transport the audience to different times and places.

You have a background in animation, what sort of animation work have you done?

I started my career as a storyboard artist on Dreamwork’s “Prince Of Egypt.” Before then I had been an animator and character designer. I had always enjoyed telling stories-- to friends, to strangers in movie lines, anyone who’d listen, but I never thought of it as a career. I wanted to be a director, and at Disney, directors came from Animation. It wasn’t until my six months on P.O.E that I learned to love telling stories in movie format. Returning to Disney I worked on “Tarzan” with Kevin Lima (director of the recent hit “Enchanted”). Moving to Disney Toons, I worked on “Mickey, Donald and Goofy and the Three Musketeers” and several other DVD releases with the number two in the title. Though all of them enabled me to write, I didn’t receive an actual writing credit until I headed up story on the short film “Donald's Gift” for the DVD “Mickey's Twice upon a Christmas.” The last projects I worked on for Disney were the Tinkerbell series. All that experience gained in story, acting with a pencil, composition, and pre-production prepared me to do my film.

You said that you came up with the idea for the film while you were ironing clothes and watching a marathon of The Untouchables and Gladiator. What about those shows made the idea for this film pop into your head?

Ugh… you make it sound so unglamorous--but I guess to be honest, that's how ideas happen: in the midst of doing the mundane comes the sublime. That's why they say carry an idea notebook with you just in case… Often though, I find myself scrambling nearest napkin when I'm in a restaurant or taking pictures of people with my cell phone if they make me think of a character.

Anyway, I put those movies in because I was discouraged about NOT being able to come up with an idea. The first time I saw Untouchables, one of the scenes that stayed with me was when lawman Elliot Ness tenderly tucked his little girl in for the night: I loved the warmth and sweetness of it in the midst of all the violence and harshness. I finished watching the movie and popped in Gladiator and in one scene Maximus could name exactly how long he had been away from the family he loved. I began to wonder, “What if a soldier had a little girl and not a boy. What if he came home expecting to be able to cuddle and put her to bed and instead of running to him like he mused on for all those years, she rejected him. The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were in the news a lot, and so I was incredibly sympathetic to that aspect of the soldier’s experience. I discovered after I had the idea that it was a universal one. Weather it's war, or a father who's left home for long periods of time due to work, when they return the reality of what is collides violently with the frozen image of what was; especially with little ones as they change so much so quickly.

When you sat down to write this story, what made you select the Korean war era as opposed to say World War II or any of the others? What was it about that era and that war that drew you to it?

Great question, I actually considered it, but there are two reasons why I chose not to do it. I have an affinity for the nineteen forties. So much so, that one time a friend gave me a book about the nineteen fifties and scrawled on the card “for Carole, because eventually you'll get sick of the 40's.” With all my research and interest in the time period, I was ready to do a story set during World War Two but in all honesty I decided to not to because every story told about war pre Viet Nam is that war. I had two friends whose fathers served in Korea, and I'd heard some of their stories, so I decided to set it during that war. In doing some preliminary research, I spoke with my brother who was a former marine. We spoke about the probability of a man being gone for three years, and he replied that Wars were different then. You went, and you didn't come back until it was done. What a tremendous sacrifice.

The other reason was because a friend of mine had a bright blue 1954 Sunbeam Alpine. The car model didn’t change from 1951-1955. I thought “The Korean War ended in 1953...Let’s set the story there!” (As a side note, Duane, the car was supposed to be brand new. Witt's brother, Gus, is a swinging older bachelor. His spendy ways was to contrast the idea of him telling the stable husband and father how to parent. When I first wrote the scene, the banter was all about the car, the poker game and Witt surprising his wife. However after the first full film edit, I realized that the opening scene, which was to be shot during pick up days, was the only opportunity I had to set up the theme of the movie; Sometimes life does not go as you plan it... So four days before we shot it, I rewrote the pages without the mention of the car and Philip Briggs who portrayed Gus, memorized what had been two pages of dialogue now elongated into four! You don't have to print this parenthetical part; I just wanted you to know that the shiny car was intentional.)

Visuals and perception played a role in the casting of this film. Tell us about some of the physical aspects you were looking for when casting this film.

Of course when you're casting, you want to get the best person for the role, but coming from an animation background, my thought inc choosing actors was the same as when I’m designing a line up of animated characters.

The first image I had in my mind was a giant man and a tiny girl, because to me, the image of that alone provided conflict without saying a word. Adam's height was as important as his ability to act. I wanted a giant man to make the little girl seem smaller-- and also make him seem more impotent when his tiny girl controlled him. I wanted a small, but not so small woman to play the wife so it looked as though she was a mixture of someone who was vulnerable, but was at the same time someone who could hold her own. None of the male actors were the same size, shape or coloring for a reason. They were all layers in the filmic painting.

The look of the film was fantastic and very authentic. The house, the car, the props, the clothes and all the other wonderful elements in this film gave it a flawlessly believable look. How hard was it for you and your production designer Mary Benitez to find all of these great items and create just the right look and feel of the era in which this film takes place.

Thanks so much for the glowing compliment! As a producer, I knew I had to be wise to maximize my budget, so I took everything I owned into account. I wrote the story because I had lots of the elements already: Antiques, a 1950’s wardrobe and an old house. Mary Benitez is a wonderful and sensitive, extremely hard working Production designer. She helped me utilize my previously owned elements to create my idea of a world in which: a soldier returns to a home that due to his absence, he had no input. As I said, I'm fond of the forties. As far as the costumes, since I sew, what clothes I didn't own I made, like Alia's wardrobe. Adam's uniform was rented from a costume house back East

I had a house full of handed down family furniture. The refrigerator was something Mary found on Craigslist for fifty bucks plus delivery. I bought vintage dolls on Ebay, and Mary made a ridiculous deal with a thrift storeowner for something like five bucks for a giant green Hefty bag of stuffed animals. Mary also got a bunch of nick-knacks and picture frames from the swap meet. Mary insisted there be photographs on the walls, which was great because I had written in a long pan of photos anyway. She said that a lot of what gives a away smaller budget indie film, is the lack of wall art. Pictures aid in the illusion that someone real actually lives in that home. We got old family photos from my friends and mixed them with desaturated photos of the cast in period clothes. We didn't have a big budget for production design, so Mary moved the curtains from room to room, depending on where we shot. Mary brought everything together to make it look fabulous on screen and was the hardest working person on set--chiefly because she was a one woman art department. She had to do it all. I had a clear idea of who lived in the house. I wanted it to be a home that Witt had had no input into decoration. Mary took my reference materials I had assembled, did some research of her own, and made this house the home of the characters in the movie and not just Carole Holliday's home.

She was extremely vigilant in her job and didn't just set up the environment and leave it to run itself. No, Mary was by the monitor, what the camera saw was as much composition with Mary as it was with Jeff and myself. Pictures on back walls were moved if it framed the shot better, props on the table were slid one direction or the other, depending on what made the shot look the best. In that I learned, production design is like drawing layouts for animation storyboards; everything can be manipulated to help the visuals direct your eye and tell the story.

A lot of the rooms in my house were already colorfully painted, but Mary knew what colors would work on camera and what wouldn't. A couple of rooms she single handedly repainted in the week before the shoot. One of the rooms she did was the kitchen. She asked if she could paint it periwinkle blue. While I gave her license to do it, I confess that I was apprehensive about it. When I saw the whole thing together though, with the studio lighting long shadows and beautiful costumed actress in make up, I almost cried it was so beautiful.

Another consideration with the visuals in this film was the spectacular use of lighting, which your cinematographer Jeff Siljenberg played a key role in. What particular effect did you want to create with the lighting, and as a side question, do you you feel that proper lighting is often forgotten or underutilized in many of today's independent films?

Because of my background in animation pre-production I have strong visual ideas: however, I realize without having a wonderful cinematographer I could have missed capturing them. Jeff Siljenberg is a great lighter, whose incredible skills and love of story captures the subtle nuances of light and shadow with the deftness of a painter. I came to him with very defined ideas of how I wanted the film to look. In animation, everything has to be designed, so I took that sensibility with me to live action. I really enjoy mid century illustrators who’s art can be seen in things like magazine illustrations and Coke advertisements. I wanted my film to look like those illustrations because they were warm, the colors were vibrant and the artists weren’t afraid to paint rich blacks. The idea I wanted was for “Witt’s Daughter” to contain a balance of shadow, light and color. Not too colorful because I didn’t want the film to lose it’s sophistication, but not to shadowy either; because after all, this was a story about a child. My thought was, that even though this was a period piece, I wanted it to feel as though it could happen next door, right now. Jeff and I talked about the works of several cinematographers but particularly focused on the craft of the late Conrad Hall, who lensed “Road to Perdition” in terms of use of shadow and Cinematographer Anthony Pratt who was responsible for “Phantom of the Opera” because of his work with color. Much to Jeffrey’s amusement, I threw in the lighting of “Bambi”” for good measure. Jeff was able to accomplish what I saw in my head with amazing results. On the day we had the camera test, Jeff lit Adam and then we would hold up the paintings I liked, to compare the use of lighting. Eventually we settled on a lighting range that both brought out color but kept the characters distinct from their environment.

One thing to note, that lighting this amazing takes time. When Jeff and I first discussed the schedule, he thought I had allowed for too much time. (Eleven days). In his experience, a script the length of Witt's Daughter (33 pages) could be shot in half the time that I had allotted, which is a huge consideration for an indie production. The more days in production, the higher the cost of the film. However, I stuck to my guns in favor of the longer schedule. (Professional movies I’m told typically shoot a page and a half a day but I was aiming for three.) I wanted to show that I had an eye for visuals and a vision and I knew that would take time. In the end, Jeff thanked me for the extended schedule, because with it, he was able to do wonderful work like this.

I watched him build this shot with layers of light. Every nuance of light, every cast shadow and specular highlight was there because he had time to utilize his talent.

As far as lighting in independent filmmaking, it’s pretty tough to get a budget to do the films. Lighting equipment can be expensive, so most folks go with what’s available. Months before I started, I told a friend that I was thinking of shooting with available light, and he replied, “you're going with available light? I hope you mean available light as in, every light available on the truck!” I can’t speak to the lighting of all indie films, but in the festivals I've been to so far, the lighting has actually been pretty decent--of course not as awesome as Jeff's. But I think things are changing now, it seems that as more people are being given the ability to make films for themselves, there are more people who will make them with as much lighting, and production design as their budget will allow.

While the cast as a whole was just stellar, I want to talk in particular about Alia Margaret, who played Witt's daughter, Catherine May. First off, where did you find this girl and what about her grabbed you as being perfect for this film?

I wanted a child who looked like the perfect fifties doll, and yet was not self-conscious on camera. Though I held auditions for little girls from strangers, I felt more comfortable with the idea of working with someone I already knew. Eventually I found Alia (pronounced Al-yah) right under my nose in my three-year-old Sunday school class at church.

When I auditioned her, Alia took direction extremely well and gave wonderful and adorable interpretations of what I asked--plus her voice had a wonderful texture to it. She had amazing focus and discipline--to a point. Part of the audition process was to see how well a child could take direction. And Alia was great at it. What hooked me about her though was how well she could pretend. We were playing around and I asked her to pretend to be sad. At first she did a broad cartoon cry, but after a little redirect she did something that made me think she really WAS sad. She was so convincing that I thought her mood had shifted and I had made her upset, so I tickled her to be sure, and she burst out all in giggles.

It was funny, because, when she was finished with the audition (as opposed to when I was finished with her), she was finished. She just ran off and said she was done. But that was after a twenty-minute audition… try sitting any three year old down for twenty minutes and see how that works for you!

How old was Alia when this film was shot, and how hard is it to work with a child of that age? Was it difficult was it to get her to understand what you wanted from her in each scene and to actually focus on what she was doing?

Alia had her fifth birthday two days after we wrapped principle photography. Between the time I gave Alia the part, and I got the money together to shoot the film, it was nearly a year later. Thankfully, she waited until after we shot to have her growth spurt! As a director, I knew that choosing to work with a child would be a challenge, but I made sure to get as much advice as I could. Children can be tough to work with because of their danger of being self-conscious in front of a camera, and personal self-control. Also, things like lights cameras, and even weather temps can be a distraction.

I made the time working with Alia a playful and upbeat one. (As did everyone else on the set) I made sure to be super encouraging to her when she did her takes, which brought out fearless and playful performances. I was blessed though to have Alia, because she’s a fabulously smart, talented, sweet, attentive, self controlled child who comes from a loving, easy-going and disciplined upbringing.

As a producer, I chose to do everything legally according to the state of California requirements and had a studio teacher as well as workman's comp insurance. Like everyone else, Alia was also paid to work. When it came to her onscreen performances camera, it was a mixture of her doing simple things on her own and for the more complex things, narrating her actions for her off camera as the camera was rolling. At times, though she had her lines perfectly memorized, she still needed reminded that she needed to say them. Before I started shooting, I learned that with the child, you keep the camera rolling because you never know when you’re going to catch lightening in a bottle. Some sideways glance to listen to direction could be gold when edited in in a different context. Case in point, when Alia is deciding weather or not to go to bed after Adam asks her to get in, she didn't go on her line so I had to cue her off camera. She's waiting for me to tell her what to do, and to me it looked like she was thinking. I was so enchanted with it, we did a second take for safety and when we shot it, I directed her in the moment, think about it, and that time--she gave me the cartoon depiction of thought. I had a laugh about it and used the first accidental take.

As amazing as she is, she was still a four year old. Sometimes she would get wiggly and we would have to wait for her to rein it in. As to her awareness of all the lights, camera and crew, there were many times where she would peg the camera, just because, how hard is it to NOT look a big one eyed thing pointed right in your face? The final shot of the film took twelve takes to get because she kept looking at the camera. Finally her mother sent us all out of the room, said something to her and when she came out, Alia did the take perfectly. Editing was great to take all of her golden moments and stitch them together to create that perfect little well placed performance the audience saw on screen.

Alia was great, because she was just pretending. She's a very intelligent little girl and understands a lot so it was easy to explain things to her. Telling her to pretend to be sad, or give the stink eye, or whatever the scene demanded was met with wonderful unpretentious interpretations. You could tell she was having fun with it. The funny thing was that it wasn't until she saw the whole movie cut together, that she realized she had been in a movie.

The scene where Catherine May gets out of the bathtub and scoots down the hallway covered in bubbles was a really fun scene. How hard was it to set that up? I see you had a "Bubble Wrangler" in the credits. Was it hard to get the bubbles all placed and sticking correctly, and did you have to use some kind of a special bubble formula to get them to stick right without popping right away? How many times did you have to shoot it to get it right?

I've been told that its difficult to keep bubbles bubbly for shots-I didn't know that when I wrote the scene, so I didn't have any apprehension about it. It appears that if you use more bubble stuff to less water, the bubble solution is less diluted and therefore produces more bubbles. Mary bought a couple of large containers of Mr. Bubble and dumped some in a shallow amount of water in the bathtub. She whipped the water feverishly with her hand to make the bubbles the way they were. That was where Alia got her “bubble wrangling” title, because she liked helping Mary whip up the bubbles. In between takes Mary would beat the water with her hand to re-whip the bubbles and reapply them to the little star with the help of Alia's mother.

In terms of her bubble costume, Alia's actually wearing a body suit and the bubbles are applied (and reapplied) between takes. Then we had two buckets of water on either side of the doorway for her to stand--to get the puddle of water in the close up shot as she ran through. The most difficult part of the bubble shot, was actually the close up angle. Because it was a tight hallway, Jeff came up with the great idea to shoot the scene in the mirror and flop it in post production. However, because it was shot in a mirror we had to shoot the scene six times because we kept having a double image of Alia.

Adam Edgar, who played Witt Stringfield, has had an incredible life. He's lived, worked and trained in several different countries, speaks a variety of languages and is just seriously into his craft. How did you come across Adam and what was it like working with someone who's had such a wide variety of life experiences.

As a director, one of my challenges of Witt’s Daughter was to keep the elements of the film balanced so it would not be loud and garish. Even though I have an animator’s eye, I didn’t want everything to add up to be just a live action cartoon. In Witt’s Daughter each element was designed to be a subtle addition to the last, so that their end sum would be large, but not overwhelming. That’s why Adam Egar was such an awesome actor to play my lead role. His acting is wonderfully subtle, natural and incredibly believable. His performance as Witt Stringfield brought a legitimacy and dignity to the part that could have easily gone to exaggeration. But that being said, Adam was almost not even auditioned.

Originally, a friend of mine was going to play the title role, but because of schedule conflicts, plans changed. So a month before first day of principle photography, I put out the call for actors. In addition to giving a one sentence description of the story, “A young man returns from the Korean war to be rejected by his three year old daughter” What I asked for in the description of the actor was: someone who was a Russell Crowe type. Masculine, light brown hair to blonde, to play a early twenties young father. Must sing.”

I was overwhelmed and a little intimidated by the response. First thing I noticed though was that lots of people were submitting for the role that didn’t match the description. Some were too old; some must have thought they acted like Russell Crowe--because they didn't look like a Russell Crowe type. Lastly, some just didn't know what photo to submit to represent them for the part (anyone who had their shirt off, or open down to their sternum was instantly tossed.) As I waded through the headshots, I started breaking down submissions the best way I knew how, by facial design, gravitating towards the ones who were good-looking and more angular. Had character to their face, and something charming about them. Adam was not among them. Don't get me wrong, he was charming enough, but his photo made him look like a sidekick and not a leading man (he's since changed his photo). I needed someone who looked commanding but appealing.

My roommate at the time was helping me with casting, so I showed her all the pictures. She recommended I bring him in anyway because he had written a note with his submission (out of the one hundred submissions I got it three days, only one other besides Adam did that.) Thankfully, Adam looked different from his submitted photo and his audition was so moving, that it made me cry right there and then. I called him back and his time with Alia was equally fruitful, so I gave him the part.

Working with Adam was a delight. He’s is a very natural actor; to him it's just playful experimentation. Because of his wide range of experiences, he has a depth, sophistication and a touch of melancholy that brings weight to his performances--but because Adam's such an endearing man, he also brought charm to Witt: it was a great balance. Adam could be incredibly humorous and was a very giving actor who worked hard between shots to generate chemistry with Alia. Adam would make up games to play with Alia. One of them was where he would say “one to three, goooo!” and lift her into the air. She loved it. At one point that game saved a scene because Alia was afraid he was actually yelling at her. He said to her, “What if I said one two three go instead?” and she agreed. I was fine with it, because the scene was on his back and we recorded the pick up line later.

What were some of the biggest difficulties you had in getting this film made, and how did you work your way through them?

The biggest difficulty in getting Witt’s Daughter made, was not making the film, but distributing it. Today since anyone can make a movie, everyone is making movies. So there is lots of competition. Film festivals believe that people are going to shorts programs to see a big variety, and so projecting “Witt’s Daughter” at it’s length takes the place of projecting several other shorter films instead. Also, it just depends on the other films submitted: if the festival programmer gets several films of a genre that will make a nice program, then the film has a better chance of being programmed: case in point with Witt’s latest acceptance into the Newport Beach film Festival. It’s been scheduled into a program called “The Impact of War” and will be shown with three other films. How am I getting through this? The same way I started, by prayerful reliance that the same God who helped me produce my first live action film with no experience, will open the doors He wants for the film's distribution. Already, a friend on Facebook introduced me to a woman who has scheduled Witt’s Daughter to play at the Fine Arts theatre in Beverly Hills for a special Veteran’s event on May 29th. With as much emphases on soldiers as there is now, I’m beginning to pursue the military angle to find my audience.

Looking back on it all, is there anything you'd change or do differently if you had it to do over again?

Looking back on it all--yes and no: I say yes, because there was something specifically I wish could be done differently and no, because if I had done it differently I wouldn't have learned so much. I wish I had an editor because having an editor gives you a second pair of eyes on the story. They aren’t on the set and so they don’t fall in love with shots. Their main concern is getting the story told. Trying to find an editor proved to be an impossible task. I wanted to find someone that came recommended and none of the people I asked were available. Eventually I hired someone who ended up not working out in a colossal way--and I even paid him up-front. (Okay, maybe two things I would do differently) But that being said, because I had reshoots coming up, I HAD to get the film edited, so I did it myself. I had never wanted to be one of those multi hyphenated Producer-director-writer-editor-chief executive in charge of craft services, filmmakers. I think the end product suffers from being stretched too thin. But, since I had never directed before, the thing editing afforded me to see, was the shots I missed. When I edited the film together for the first time, it was very flat. Jeff, encouraged me that Copolla said “your film is never so beautiful as your dailies but never so horrible as your first edit assembly.” At first, I was totally at a loss at how to fix it. The story had moved me when I wrote it, but now it was flat. It was beautiful to watch… but not emotionally engaging. Eventually what I would learn was that in editing, my film lacked a point of view. Writing, is easy to put yourself in the point of view, but moving images are different-especially if you shoot lots of coverage of everyone in the scenes. Scenes can be edited in a myriad of ways, but there is only one right way to edit scene-so that it tells the story of your main character. It doesn't mean that the guy or gal has to be on the screen the entire time, but it should give you the feeling of seeing the world through his or her eyes. I realized I had cut the film so that it told the story, but not so that it told the story through the main character's eyes. So I spent another three months recutting the film and learning next time what additional shots I need to ask for when I am on the set.

What experiences did you take away from this film that will help you with your future projects?

When I started actively pursuing directing, I vowed to be an encouraging manager. However, that being said, I realize now, that though it’s important to be positive, that it needs to be tempered with a sense of focused urgency. At one point, I was getting a bottle of water between takes and asked if anyone in the room wanted anything. The studio teacher said, “no, and someone should be getting YOU the water” I bristled at that. It seemed so self important-after all, its not like I wasn't just standing there and couldn't help myself. Later, someone told me that he learned that while he was off getting coffee for himself and anyone else whom he thought might want some, he was actually wasting time that could have been used for planning scenes later on, or other things a director can do in the free moments. It’s not about being served, Its about focusing on the task at hand and making sure everyone is clear with their orders, as well as planning for other things down the road. I have been a part of team so long that it is a different mindset to lead one. I will always be friendly. Always say please and thank you; but I realize that I need to make sure that I keep the momentum going as well.

Are there any funny stories from the production you'd like to share with us?

1) Adam's uniform pants were hemmed with Duct tape.

2) One of the doors was too small for the doorway it was in, so Mary who is all of 4’ 11” and like ten pounds soaking wet is holding this heavy door in a half open position during an intense scene between Adam and Mandy Henderson who portrays his wife. It makes me smile every time I see it.

3) Someone on the set was well intentioned, when they brought Alia a gift; a cute little floppy brown bunny. Not knowing that this simple act would undermine THE VERY FABRIC OF MY FILM! As much as Alia loved that little brown bunny, she HATED inexorably Mr. Butterscotch, her character’s monkey. After all, he was homely, torn up and missing his hands. In fact, Alia loved Bunny so much she made up a song about him

“Bunny. You're the best of every one.
Bunny you're the best of every one…”

And so on. As soon as a scene was done, Alia would abandon the poor broken dejected little toy where she stood and rush back to where bunny waited. Typically the call and response of “Where's Mr. Butterscotch” would be met with a tiny sigh of resignation, as Alia would trudge off to find where she last left it. Eventually I convinced Alia's mother to leave the bunny at home, which she was only too happy to do, since the person who brought the bunny was a wee bit too insistent on Alia playing with IT at all times (I mean really... who brings a toy for a child to a set when the hero prop is already a toy? Not someone who claims to have as much experience on the set as this one…oh well) Well, on the last day, we shot the tough scenes. The ones where Adam and Alia where supposed to pretend to be angry with each other and then Alia would sing a part of “Right here in my Arms” Now I tried to make the song simple enough when I wrote it: Like something that could have been a lullaby. But it was still a lot to ask for a four year old to remember. So every now and again I would ask her to sing it for me… with varying degrees of success at recall. Now was the day she actually had to put the memory to use. “Alia, do you remember the song?” I said as I gave her directions. And she smiled and nodded her head yes. The room was hot. And we were running the air between takes, so we didn't want to do this too many times for the sake of the actors who were melting. I stepped back to the monitor and asked for a rehearsal and Alia looked at the monkey and sang “Bunny you're the best of every one… Bunny, you're the best of every one…” and everyone started laughing. Eventually we got our take with the proper song, and I got that cute story out of it.

What's been the general response to the film, and has it surprised you in any way?

The response has been great! The thing that has surprised me most is that people are surprised that I had the capability to do it. Until Witt’s Daughter” I’d only been a storyboard artist, and though I’d repeatedly expressed interest in directing at work, I never got the opportunity. So when God provided the outlet through my own company, people I know were pleasantly surprised at my end product. What’s that saying? “Talk is cheap.”

The film is currently showing at various film festivals. What festival appearances are coming up, and are there any plans for a DVD release in the near future?

Yes, I'm currently working on distribution for the film. When its firmed up, the information will be posted on the Witt's Daughter website. The film is scheduled for three public screenings...

Newport Beach Film Festival April 25, 2009 8:00pm at the Edwards Islands 2 Edwards Islands 2 (tickets can be purchased by going to the Newport beach Film festival website http://www.newportbeachfilmfest.com.

It will also be a part of the GI film Festival in Washington DC during the week of May 13-17 http://www.gifilmfestival.com (the exact time and date will be announced April 10th, so please check back at the Witt’s Daughter website for that info.

The Beverly Hills Fine Arts theatre will be screening Witt’s Daughter on Friday May 29th for a special Veteran’s themed event at 7:30 pm. Exact details are still in the works so please check the Witt’s Daughter Website (http://www.crowdedmetrofilms.com) at the beginning of May for details.

Do you have any projects you're working on now or will be working on in the near future that you'd like to tell us about?

While I have a whole file of ideas ranging from dramas to comedies, I've chosen to focus on two romantic comedies. Marketing dramas is difficult and marketing family dramas poses even more of a challenge; I've decided that this time out, I want to do something with a wider audience appeal. Romantic comedies are to women, like horror and action films are to young men. I'm currently working on those treatments.

What's the one best piece of advice you could give to someone who's new to independent filmmaking and just getting started with their first production?

Bloom where you're planted. Meaning, work within your means and with what you have. For me, a bunch of antiques yielded a period piece shot in High Definition because I couldn’t afford 35mm. For you, a late model sedan and a burned out old house might be a cop story thriller, shot in 8mm, or a small town bridge might bring out a family drama shot with a hand held video camera. You don't' have to spend gobs of money to make a movie--- especially if you don't have it. Make sure you have a very tight story, and be creative how you shoot it. But above all else, don't wish you did it. Just do it. I may have a few regrets, but not one of them is that I didn't make my film!

Is there anything else you'd like to talk about before we wrap this up?

Hmmm… I guess if there was one thing I would add would be to thank your readers for their time and ask them if they can think of any folks that they think would like this film, please tell them about it!

Duane, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to talk about the making of “Witt’s Daughter.” You’ve asked fabulous questions!