Last Friday night we wrapped up our planning session for the DC 48 Hour Film Project pretty late and I got back to my home in DC around midnight. While I searched my house for clothes and props that I would need the next day, one of our team members, Matt, spent all night writing the screenplay.
Once I got all my stuff ready, I dissolved into my bed and fell asleep, only to wake up at 5:30am to be ready to start filming in Springfield, VA at 7:00am.
We spent all day filming. My character was Marco Gabbowitz, a washed out ballroom dance champion who now works as a dog walker. Marco, and his former partner Kiki Patron, decide to make a run for the championship one last time. Well, if you want to see the film before we win Oscars and become famous, check it out this Thursday night at 7pm at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, MD. Tickets are $10 for about a dozen short films starting at 7pm.
Georgia Mae (Photo: Reed)
So Saturday I was filming all day. One of the people that was going to be in the movie with us was 13-year-old Georgia Mae. As it turns out, she is quite the movie star having already been in a major motion picture, Familiar Strangers. In addition to being a movie star in her own right, she is also the youngest person to receive my $10!
Georgia Mae is in middle school where she loves to play the standup double bass and piano. She recently taught herself how to play the electric bass. I learned that when she first started playing the standup bass that often times teachers and others would have to help her carry it because it was so much bigger than her. Now she even plays in the jazz band at school. She used to play the violin and cello. “I didn’t really like the sound I made with either of them,” she told me. Sounds awfully similar to my saxophone days.
Georgia Mae is a very sweet girl. When I asked her what she would like to do with the $10, she replied, “I am going to buy ice cream for my two little brothers.” That is in fact just what she did. She even treated her parents too! Her mother later wrote me and said that Georgia Mae bought the ice cream and they ate it “on some homemade strawberry rhubarb crisp.” Sounds good!
Photo: Reed
If you come see the film, I know that you will enjoy one of the scenes that Georgia Mae and I are in together. In the scene I am out walking Sarah’s dog Laredo and come across Georgia Mae. I say hello to her but she is so embarrassed to be seen with me that she shoots me a look and then crosses the street to avoid being seen with me. The expression on her face was priceless!
Year of Giving 