LAST NIGHT'S MASS FOCUS (A GREAT EXPERIENCE)

[Haylar Garcia]

I felt compelled to write this as last night was just such a great set of reads.

LAURIE- your scene was so powerful, and I think people were really intrigued, the critique and questions left me with no doubt that you are really onto something here with this story. Great job to both you and the actors.

ROBERT- I'll say it again, your scene performed by Don was just eye opening. Inside you is a bursting talent, I am so glad you are part of the CASA community, and it is a pleasure to see your work performed. And DON!!! wow, you knocked it out of the park.

SEAN- Your film and your feedback of others' films was both informative and encouraging. You are an obvious talent (Chicago's loss our gain).

And of course thanks to JOHN, our wonderful guest speaker who braved the interstate to be with us last night, and whose moving pieces have inspired us all to pay more attention to the unsung musical heroes in our upcoming films.

When Patrick and I began to revamp the CASA GA, our hope was simply to involve more people, more areas of filmmaking and for of us to leave with good solid feedback that would help us grow just a tiny bit each night.

I think last night (although a weds) was an example of just that.
Comments anyone, we would love to hear them.
And we hope to see you at the next MASS FOCUS!!!

-Haylar 2010

[Tom Khazoyan]

Now I really wish I had been able to make it!

Thanks for putting the huge effort into these, Haylar (and your helpers, whoever they are).

[DON KRAUS]

Thanks, Haylar!

[Haylar Garcia]

Well Patrick and i only do the herding really, the real coolness comes from ourt generous host THE BUG
and the CASA members who bring their work to share, or who come as guest speakers.

May's speaker will be interesting, A good time for all actors who dabble in voice, not only for VO work, but also for characterization roles.

DON'T MISS IT!

[Paddy]

Haylar is right, all we do is rely on the generosity of others then we round 'em up! Besides, putting together the MASS FOCUS is actually kind of fun. It's also very rewarding to see some amazing work and to meet new people. I'm amazed at how much I learn each time I attend a CASA event. We had a great turnout on Wednesday night.

Robert Angell's scene from "On Time" really showed the power of brutally honest writing in the hands of a great actor like Don Kraus. This is a script that SHOULD be made into a movie.

Sean J.S. Jourdan is a great addition to our film community. He will force the rest of us to get better. We're glad he's here. If you're an actor, you should go out of your way to meet him. Seriously, he's that good.

Haylar, as usual, brought a great scene for the Scene Autopsy: The chainsaw/drug deal scene from Brian De Palma's 1983 classic "Scarface." The screenplay was written by Oliver Stone. Here's a link to it through Drew's Script-o-Rama: http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/Scarfacefinal.PDF. The scene starts on page 25.

Alan O'Connor brought pages from his screenplay "In the Shadow of the Ghost" and got a great cold read from Nelson Goforth (what a great name, eh?) and Chad Adams. Alan had a lot of great stuff in his script and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it. He mentioned that Peter Shaffer's screenplay for Milos Forman's "Amadeus" was an inspiration for his script. So, here is the link for that: http://www.godamongdirectors.com/scripts/Amadeaaaus.txt

BTW, the website for Drew's is www.script-o-rama.com.

Dean Roadarmer brought pages from a very cool script (the name of it is escaping me) and got great reads from The BLF (that's Brian Landis Folkins fro those not yet in the know), Swann Christopher, Mary Wimmer and Chuck Fiorella. Brian, Swann, Mary and Chuck are ALL great actors and every filmmaker in town should be looking for opportunities to work with them.

Laurie Clemens' scene was from her script "I Met Her in Birkenau." Laurie was new to CASA and is obviously a very talented writer. We look forward to seeing more from her. A portion of the scene was cold read by Cathy Washburn and Bobbie Mitchell. Many of us had never seen Cathy or Bobbie before so it was a real treat to meet two more fabulous actors. After the cold read, the scene was performed by Ashley Henkle, Leighann Gould, Laurel Harris and Jennifer Summers. I've had the opportunity to work with all but Laurel before and they were ALL fabulous and reminded me that the Front Range has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to fantastic female actors (we have some great male actors, too, but the number is much smaller when compared to the number of great actresses).

And of course John Doryk was fantastic. We learned a lot about the process of scoring a movie from a real pro. And yes I will be checking to see if he's interested in helping out with our feature "Jimmy Said" and yes I expect him to say, "No!" But I'm still gonna ask!

Hope I did't forget anybody! We had so much good stuff we actually didn't get to everything!

So...mark your calendars NOW for the next CASA MASS FOCUS on May 8th. Details coming soon.

peace

p

[Ken Hendricks]

Thank GOD May 8th is on a Saturday! I am SO there! ...unless I have to shoot something that day...

Ken Hendricks
Director of Photography
REDRUM Digital Cinema Production