I appear at the 13 minute mark and then again at 33:34.
Making Awakening was a raucous time.
Many of us on the core team were first-time filmmakers, including producer and director Evie Marie Warner of RenRaw Films. We were mostly learning just by doing — and by soaking in as much as we could from the “real film people” that dropped in to help us from time-to-time.
But even out of chaos, one opportunity often leads to another. It was through JoAnna Lloyd who played Mackie in Awakening that I met the late William Miller of BurnMill productions and Lana Read of Garnet Films, both of whom co-founded FilmSpeak.
So when they started to produce FilmSpeak out of the well-equipped DATV (Dayton Access Television) studios I knew it would be a lot of fun. When it comes to movies, Bill had a ton of energy and enthusiasm and Lana rivals his film knowledge but grounds Bill’s performance – the perfect foil. They’re funny and it really is a show for film geeks.
I volunteered at the first couple of shows doing whatever I could just because I loved to be a part of it all. Then Bill asked me if I wanted to be on as a guest to talk about editing the 45-minute Awakening movie.
Imagine my the tug-of-war in my head at that moment. I wanted to be on, but I’d just done my first edit job on a real full-length movie — my FIRST! I was hardly an expert! I also would be expected to talk about a film of Bill’s choosing — a horror film, which is not really my genre to start with.
But I couldn’t pass up the chance. How often do you get to be in a production where you don’t have to learn lines??
All I can say is thank God for YouTube — you can find most old films there and, sure enough, I found my film to watch, to study, to look up on Google, and to make cheat notes from. Anything to make me sound like I even partially knew what I was talking about.
You can see the result for yourself above. It was a ton of fun; Was I nervous? – check my right knee jumping up and down!
You can see all the other FilmSpeak episodes on YouTube by subscribing to BurnmillProductions Thanks to JoAnna and William (Bill) for having me on!
