Tripping Through

I’ve had a life-long interest in movies and movie-making, but it was only after 20 years of community theatre experience that I started to turn that interest into action.
I’d worked on two live theatre sketch comedy productions that required a video component – parody TV commercials – that I took on as mini film projects. After producing half a dozen of these mini-films, working alongside Michelle Morgan who wrote most of the sketches for the show, I realized I was hooked. The standard advice is to start with a short film. Five to fifteen minutes to get your feet wet. Well, I jumped in head first. Michelle had written and published a romantic comedy novel, so I read it and laughed my head off. This was the first big project - a full-length feature film.
We were heads-down for so long and now that it’s done and I can finally watch the whole thing as a continuous story instead of a series of micro-edits, I’m surprised by how powerful the story is. Even when you’ve worked on every component, the finished product becomes so much more than the sum of its parts. And in this case, more than just a romantic comedy. It’s definitely funny. I’m amazed that it still makes me laugh after so many viewings. And it is a classic romance story as well. But watching the leading characters grow and develop over the course of the film is very satisfying, and moving as well.
Looking back at the last two years of working on this film, I’m reminded of the need for maintaining balance. Balancing our paying day jobs against time spent working on the film. Being both organized and creative. Pushing our actors and respecting that they were all volunteers. To say nothing of balancing Michelle’s mood swings and glucose levels!
Hopefully, we’ve struck the right balance of reality and comedy, romance and personal growth, and above all, an entertaining story. It still makes me smile!