What Happens when No One Reads the Casting Calls

While we filmed The Making of, we gave out script pages as-needed and out of order, so none of the kids making the film knew what the film was about.

This wasn't on purpose. I'm pretty sure there was a pitch for the film in the casting call (*cough!* I mean "class description.") But it lead to some heart-warming moments. Specifically three of them, because three is a good blogging number. Like #1, when we couldn't get through the Joshua Torres that he wasn't dead.

The Making Of is about an unscrupulous filmmaker using a bunch of kids to make a movie. So naturally, there is a movie being made inside the movie. In this movie within a movie, Joshua Torres dramatically dies.

"I DIE?"

"No. You're an actor pretending to die."

"But I'm DEAD? D:"

"No, you die inside the movie that you're making. .__."

"I DIED."

...on second thought maybe I didn't explain that well enough.

# 2, Brilea, sweet, adorable Briley who came in on the last two weeks of filming to save our hides, approached me at the co-op's end-of-the-year party.

"I think I know what the movie is about, Miss Joy."

"Really?"

"Yes. We are homeschooled so he thinks we're weird but then he works with us and finds out we're not weird."

Oh, darling, we're never not weird.

"...that is wonderful and I love you. That's not what the movie's about. Do you want me to just tell you?"

#3 One of my favorite stories from making this film was when near the end of filming we overheard the teenagers debating, trying to figure out which one of them was the main character.

I stepped in. "Collin plays the main character."

They stared at me like I had lost my mind. "But he's the bad guy!"

It's a good idea to accept that no one reads the casting calls.

But here's what matters to me in this.  Every one of them knew they were important. They knew they were important to the point that any one of them could believe they were the main character. I really, really like that.

 

This year, exhausted, drained, and battered, I showed up to a shoot and played the cast a choppy version of the trailer we were about to release. The flickering figure of Collin got down on his knees, and Adam yelled "WHOA. I NEVER saw that coming!"

They were happy. Hopefully, they know that I'm still working for them, that I'm not going to give up.

Sometimes it's not so bad when they don't read the casting call.

If you haven't seen the trailer for The Making Of yet, you can find it here. Have a great week.