What could make a mother more proud?

Directing my first feature has been filled with profuse and profound blessings and delights. But one of the biggest was getting to direct my own son in a scene! My child, Matt, is now 16. Hardly a child anymore. At five feet, eleven inches, I'm looking up to him. And not just because of his height. His incredible courage, tenacity and sweetness inspires me every day, as does his amazing transformation into a confident, competent, engaged young man. Who could happily hang out on a bustling movie set, swirling with a crew of gaffers and grips, waiting hours for the 15-20 minutes it took to shoot his actual role! Ten, five, even 3 years ago, I would never have imagined last Tuesday. For either of us! Matt played the part of a Server at NICE CREAM (a fantastic gelato store on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice---run don't walk!), where our two main characters share one of the lighter moments in our story. (You can see photos of this happy event in DAY 9 of the daily blogs.) By the way, NICE CREAM gelato is not only totally organic and delicious, but incredibly low in calories. The owners, Laura and Christian Neilsen, not only donated the location to our shoot, but Laura appears in the scene. As well as my mother! The morning became even happier, when the crew got to sample the product. Nice, indeed!

And now...onto the home stretch. The last 4 days of our shoot, Saturday to Tuesday.

Janet