Working on Both Sides of the Cinematic Fence on MARCY

... Or: "How I Learned to Enjoy the Craft of Film-making both in Front and Behind the Camera without Blinking an Eye."

This past spring, I received word from a friend of an indie film coming to the Hudson Valley of New York.  The film was MARCY and it was written by an established and gifted author of TV and film, Daniel Freudenberger.

Eager to audition, Daniel and I exchanged emails.  I sent him my headshot and resume and he invited me to a closed audition with other invited actors. 

The only catch was that, being a New Yorker by way of a recent move from Hollywood, Daniel wasn't sure where the best places to audition were AND, funding the indie film he wrote with his own money, he was on a tight budget.

In upstate, New York, we know all about independent films with tight budgets.  Those of us film-makers who live, as many a New York City native might call, "up there," because of family or jobs or because of our love for mountains over skyscrapers, are used to having to either scrape by with less or make more out of nothing but ideas, determination, loyal friends and passion, are used to coming up with locations on the spot or bartering for costumes in exchange for a role with lines.

We live, eat and breath film-making with dreams of just practicing our craft for a non-union (much less union!!!) wage and, in between those dreams, we do what we need to do to get the job done.  That does not mean that we're not qualified or caring to earn our keep in the film industry, it simply means that when the money isn't there, you find other ways to have a bountiful crop in spite of the lack of rain.

So, when this amazing writer/producer/director turned to me for help, I kicked into gear with nary a thought of the consequences.  A film called and I needed to listen - even if that meant taking off my "actor" hat for a minute to put on my "producers" hat.

The director needed a place to audition.  I called my friend, the exceptionally brilliant Artistic Director of Stageworks Hudson, Laura Margolis, and asked if we might use her space at the theater.  She agreed, and we suddenly were connected with more talented actors to chose from for the film, as well.

I brought in my friend, actor, costumer, now location manager, Steven O'Connor.  Steven was tried and true - a trusted friend who I knew would rise to the cause without a second thought.  He helped me help Daniel with setting up the casting and, when Daniel ran into issues finding locations for MARCY, I called upon Steven, who was much more native to the Capital District Region than I and great with people, to perhaps find help out with locations.

Did he ever come through!  Steven found not only one or two locations, but nearly 15 (or more) in all.  

In the meantime, I set about finding out what crew members on Daniel's team were missing, filling those blanks with some of the best, most hard-working local crew members I knew.  They had to understand that we were on a tight budget and I had to sell the film and its worth to them so that they would make the allowance for a lower pay.