October 2009
There are a few four letter words that could describe how this past weekend was, but COLD is probably the best one. Out of all the Fall weekends in Massachusetts, of course the first snow of the year had to hit during our outdoor, Gettysburg reenactment shoot. 
I've been working as a producer on a pilot for the History Channel with Madrush Pictures.  This three day shoot had explosions, stunt men (flown in from LA), special effects, horses, and a cast and crew of over 100. This was by far the biggest and most demanding shoots I've ever worked on but there was an amazing cast and crew. People were such troopers, despite the wintry mix of rain, snow, winds and mud galore. I had 10 amazing PA's and I feel indebted to all of them for their support. 

You can view the finished pilot here:

http://www.madrushpictures.com/archives/category/television

September 2009

Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts has turned into the set of the newest film from Christian Vuissa. I'm working as his Assistant Director on his movie, "Joseph". I have always admired his work, so it's wonderful to have a chance to work with him and I'm learning a lot. I've always thought that period piece films would need to be an extravagant big budget production- but not this one. You wouldn't tell that from the footage though! It's amazing to see what Christian is able to do.

Watch the trailer here: http://www.vimeo.com/6912527

For me, one of the most gut-wrenching moments of my life comes during the 10 seconds of blackness sitting in a theater before my film is about to screen. Sometimes it gets so bad I want to run out of the theater and vomit... but so far I haven't. Maybe my biggest fear is that people will hate it, but then in reality, some people are of course going to hate it, and as a filmmaker you can't please everyone. I'm learning this! Nevertheless, when someone says something nice, it really feels good.

This was recently posted by Adam K, in review of the 2009 LDS Film Festival:

Mind the Gap by Kristal Williams-Rowley and Marcy Holland
This was the winner of the competition, and deservedly so. It centers on Sara, the daughter of a railroad engineer whose train is the weapon in a classmate's suicide. Sara struggles to deal with her feelings of bitterness towards the dead girl and her sense of injustice at the victimization (not for the first time) of her father, who copes with his own feelings by keeping a collection of small items found on the bodies of the people he has hit. Not only does this film reveal some startling statistics about the railroad industry, it openly confronts some difficult issues that are not often addressed simply because they are not obvious. The storytelling is superb. I was left feeling unsure whether this was a purely fictional film or a docu-drama. The film is beautiful, difficult, and in the end, uplifting.

http://ldscinema.blogspot.com/2009/06/in-review-ldsff-09-part-8-short-films.html
Thank you Adam!!

April 2009

風　Swift as the wind
林　Quiet as the forest
火　Conquer like the fire
山　Steady as the mountain

Thanks Sun Tzu for the wisdom! I've spent the past few months tapping into my Chinese heritage by being immersed in all that is Ancient China. As an Assistant Producer  at Four in Hand Productions, I've been working on production and research for a 2-hour History Channel special, called "Art of War".  After an intense few weeks for pre-production we flew out to LA to shoot all the reenactments for the show. One of the most embarassing moments came when the director called me to come up in front of the entire cast and crew to show our main actor how to correctly 'bow'...Asian style. The problem is that there are about 3 different ways that would have worked so I had to show all three, one of which involves castigating oneself on the ground. I guess that's what comes from being in charge of researching historical facts. 

A highlight of the shoot was being able to cast my friend Tyler to play an amputee.