I Fibbed. But here's the Truth.

 "Make it look like a lot of people worked on the movie." 

 "Show some amount for the budget to get attention."

"You have to get into film festivals to get anywhere."

These pieces of advice are why I fibbed! I hate to admit this but it's the truth. 

$50,000? Just sounded good. 

 

I didn't have a budget. I just knew that I had to do whatever it took to get the movie made. 

So I bought a Canon XL2 camera and tapes for it. Tapes for the DAT machine I was able to borrow (a bit faulty), a 2-light lighting kit and any gel sheets for balancing light, and anything else I needed.

No one was paid a penny to be involved in the making of this movie. NO ONE. Not the lead actors who donated their time, talents and willingness to pay for their fuel, food or anything else needed to be involved. Not the other people in Summit Co. Colorado who thought it would be fun to be in a movie, or believed in my vision of a clean and positive restaurant movie. Not the locations provided, nor the props, nor the horses, nor the vehicles, nor the editing computers I used for months, nor anything needed to make it happen. Everyone did it for free!

Shot with one camera in about 24 days at over 25 locations (over 35 different sets), with over 80 speaking parts, and a crew of 1. Me. I am the only person who was there everyday.

We shot all the scenes- without any story boards, or a shot list, or a script supervisor, a line manager, a set decorator, a gaffer, or everyone else who works on production. If I had a clue as to what it would take, "Did I Say Thousand Island?" wouldn't exist. Period.

But it does exist and has been seen all over the world. 

Almost like a miracle. It WAS a miracle. No one has that kind of energy. ESPECIALLY when they never ever wanted to make a movie in the first place. It's God's doing. It's really His movie.

THIS was always my dream. AND, lucky me. I do drive all over Canada and the States now. I deliver food so I am an essential worker in these crazy Covid-19 times.

But I just overhauled the website again. I can't give up on using the movie to help others. Not for water anymore. I can't make people care about water. I can't make them care about restaurants either. But I believe that we are in deeper than we think and it's going to be a long time before restaurants enjoy life as it was before CV19. Too many local Ma and Pop restaurants aren't coming back. Very sad. 

But what if they had help? It can be done. It IS being done. Guy Fieri,  Matthew McConaughey and Sean Penn are just a few of the people helping restaurant people. So remake a popular movie and use it to raise money to help restaurant people, like what CORE is doing. Your friends and neighbors! No matter how many times you hear this...we really are all in this together.