There's More to it

At first glance, Did I Say Thousand Island? seems to be a nice, sweet and fun movie about life in resort towns and working in the restaurant industry.  It is. 

But lurking beneath the surface are other emotions and introspective notions. I knew this, but I was reminded again the other day. The lead actress Jaime Foard called me. She, her husband and their almost 10 year old son watched it together for the first time. Her son loved it (of course) but her husband made a comment that really made me think.

"Cathy always seems angry."

Hmmmmm. Well. You know? You're right. But I'd say it was frustration rather than anger. And I would know. 

This is a fictional movie but it was stitched together with stories that I either gathered or remembered from all my years working in restaurants. Most everything in the movie had happened to someone. When I did research to see if I was on the right track before actually shooting the movie, I absolutely was. 

One of the things I was right about was actually the whole reason why I made the movie in the first place: to potentially impact the attitude towards us. I was tired and frustrated regarding how people treated my decision to work in the restaurant industry. They didn't respect the decision or the career. Even strangers said derogatory things when they'd learn that I have a University degree. Hence the questions that we all get asked that are stated on the website. Things like "real job" or "DO something with your life" or "JUST a waitress" etc. A gal at a wedding in Colorado said that very thing to me when I mentioned the movie. "Yeah! My parents are always saying that to me too. I love my life! Look where I live and get to enjoy it every day!"

People outside our world just don't get it. But I am starting to think that maybe things are changing. In a world turned absolutely upside down in the past couple of years, people were not allowed to go and eat. Now that things have been opening up, maybe they realized how important we non-real-job persons are to their sanity.

 A gal I worked with at Opryland Hotel over 40 years ago and I were talking once after I made the movie. She told me this story: "We went to a pub type place to have a bite to eat. I looked at the middle aged bartender and immediately thought 'look at her, what a loser'.  But as I sat there and observed what went on, I realized that this lady was an angel to the customers at the bar. She was kind and sweet to them. I could tell they were mostly regulars and I thought 'she wasn't just serving drinks. She was important to them. They had a real relationship.' I felt bad that I had made that snap judgement." 

Seeing as we had been bartenders for private parties-- yes a bit different, but still-- I was at first surprised by her initial comment. But she had moved on to the corporate world. Interesting enough, not always the happiest conversations in those years following. Sorry, but it's the truth. Many people have come out of the woodwork since I made the movie to let me know that they really miss their lives from "back then".

So yes. Cathy was frustrated just as many of us have been. But she threw it off and happily carried on, just as we usually do. But I want to make it clear that I didn't set out to put that into the movie. It just came out on its own. Just as I was thanked by more than a few people for "making a movie about me" or "that's my life", there is more to it, underneath the restaurant theme.

This movie has a life of its own, and yes her life is different than I thought it would be, but one thing's for sure...she was born out of LOVE. 

Love for a wonderful life. Love for the fabulous places I have worked at over the years and love for the restaurant people I had and still have in this life. I won't give up at finding the right people to remake this classic and timeless movie that everyone can relate to on one level or another. It would even make a great musical! Yahoo! Peace out! 

 

A Miracle and Loss

In the time before I got back behind the wheel of my big rig, I had no intention of working on the movie website. But because of many "coincidences", I ended up overhauling the whole website. 

2 days ago, I woke up with all the usual frustrations- how can I get this done? I'm nobody. I'm a waitress and now a trucker. How can I get to the people who can make this happen? What do I do Lord? I can't do this. Ok, yes, the movie is all over the world by word of mouth. But what about getting it remade as so many people keep telling me to do. I can't do it!

After praying and talking to God, I said ok, I'm going to do what worked when the movie was made in the first place. "Let Go and Let God" (That message was on my phone). I'm going to paint the boat and let it sail so to speak. Feeling a tiny bit better, I got up and as I stepped into the bathroom, a miracle happened. In an instant, I felt God saying, as I was thinking, It's not your (my) movie. Then I thought, "It's not my responsibility." Immediately, I heard Dr. Charles Stanley's voice in my head about a sermon he preached.

He said he was driving to church one day in all kinds of turmoil about all that was happening and suddenly he felt God saying to him, "Charles, it's not your church. It's not your responsibility. It's mine." PHEW! He said he'd never forget that moment. A huge burden was lifted. 

THANK YOU LORD!!! It's not my movie, never has been. I just showed up and did the work. He made it happen. And I had nothing to do with it getting spread all over the world. So I am going to show up and do the work. But I am free! God is in control and I totally knew it then... and FELT IT!

Good thing because yesterday I discovered something "terrible". For over 15 years I have kept all the emails from movie cast members and musicians, waitresses, contacts with many companies, restaurants and organizations, ideas and information I used to help me with the movie. So many folders. Confirmation and verification of facts about the movie. Well, it's all gone. Not there. Deleted forever.

Why? Because I didn't log into my Yahoo account within a year. 

It's happened in the past that I was away from the account. The support person said there must have been a glitch in the system for it to have still been there then. 

But it's all gone now.  Shocked. Sad. Unbelieving. But then it hit me. God is really telling me that I am not responsible. It's His movie. He is in control.

So, I'm putting this story out there because it's the truth. I have no idea of God's plans for me, but I'm not trying to get into the movie industry. I made a movie because I know God called to me, and now I just want to use it to help others. My mission was to get a positive restaurant movie out there and I did.

What's next? I have no idea. But I'm just going to be open and in the meantime live my dream of driving the big rigs. 10-4 good buddy. We gone, ba bye!

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.