Uniquely Cast film premieres in Milan 2012

Spirit of Love http://spiritoflovemovie.com core cast consists of 25 individuals all who have some level of hearing loss with the exception of 7.
Spirit of Love although uniquely cast with deaf & hard of hearing teens, it is NOT just a deaf or ASL film. It is a universal story of teenagers finding themselves and their purpose in life.
A Coming of age  story with and without hearing loss. A film to bridge the gap between people with differences.Teens overcoming problems and learning life lessons through the game of basketball.

It was a no brainer to cast kids with real hearing loss rather than hearing kids playing deaf. I wanted a true authenticity about the film,so it also made sense to cast Mike Glenn as himself.
Mike "Stinger" Glenn is a great professional athlete and an even better man who has continued to give to society when nobody was watching without expecting anything in return.Mike Glenn is the catalyst for our film and I believe the performances by Mike and the teens are authentic.

At the end of the day when you put a group of teens together you'll find everyone is dealing with their own issues and insecurities.With a little help and structure everyone will discover their purpose.Perhaps even a purpose greater than themselves.

I am honored and committed to bringing this important story to the World. Spirit of Love will represent the USA and millions around the world who have hearing loss at the 30th annual FICTS Milan International Sports Movie & TV film festival in Milan Italy December 5th-9th, 2012.
I believe this is just the beginning.Become a FAN and share with others. https://www.facebook.com/Deaf.HOH.Basketball.Camp.Sports

Watch the trailerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtGfHIGzP-0&feature=relmfu

Give Thanks with a Spirit of Love

On the eve of one of our nations biggest holidays there are so many reasons to Give Thanks.
We give thanks to our family and friends and we share insane amounts of food.Even when our family and friends get on our last nerve we still give thanks to them with a Spirit of Love.

This year I personally have an abundance of new people and friends to be thankful to and for.I've been trying to give thanks to all of you involved with our movie Spirit of Love in some form or another by posting on the Spirit of Love fan page on face book. https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/Deaf.HOH.Basketball.Camp.Sports There are so many involved in this film family that I have not even begun to scratch the surface thanking all of you who played a part in our wonderful faith based family film.
Not to worry I will continue to thank each and every specific person.
As we continue down the path called distribution more individuals will join the Spirit of Love family
and I want to say Thanks to all those who will come.

It is important to be thankful for all who have viewed the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtGfHIGzP-0&feature=youtu.be  (which is still waiting on captions)
or have shown their support by becoming a fan on facebook. It is also important to continue spreading the info by asking your friends and family members to ask their friends and family members to show their support by watching the trailer and posting a comment on YouTube and by becoming a fan on face book or both.It's important to grow our support.

We are thankful for the various distribution channels which have shown an interest at this point in our film.We are thankful for any and all help that each and everyone of you have brought to the table and continue to do so.

I'm thankful for all of you who have written to me asking about the film's status.We need to continue  spreading the word and growing our fan base during this time.

Things slow down during this time of year and the film business is no different.
Please know that I am personally thankful for each member of our Spirit of Love family and I pray many Blessings over all of you and your loved ones.

Happy Thanksgiving you each one of you.

Spirit of Love Proves,Teens are Teens

When a teen boy wants to know how to kiss a girl, its a difficult hurdle to climb.As a matter of fact if a girl wants to be kissed by a boy, its a difficult hurdle as well.Bottom line; being a teen isn't an easy task in general.
I wish I could say life gets easier but truthfully life gets more complicated as you get older.There are so many factors to weigh and so many decisions to make.Teen angst turns into adult agony,and even sometimes anxiety.Not to say that teens don't experience anxiety or agonize over events in their life which are overwhelming, because they do.

One thing I know for sure after filming Spirit of Love is,Teens are Teens.
What I discovered quickly is something I've always felt in my heart.Teens are Teens whether Deaf, HOH,or Hearing. Regardless of how they communicate or process information teens are charming,funny,loving,truthful and like most of us are trying to find their way in this world.

In one behind the scenes story while filming, a HOH young man took a stand while numerous adults and others looked on, thinking he was being disrespectful to an adult,when actually he was standing up for himself for the first time in his life, just wanting to be "Normal", which is what the film is about.

While a second hearing young man shared with me through tears that his family didn't understand his need to be with friends.Because it was the first time in his life that he had his own friends,friends not in any way shape or form connected to his family, and a third young man suffered a great tragic loss previously in his life, yet on the outside everyone thought he had it altogether, but he felt his life had been taken away and now working on the film made him feel like he had a purpose,and that he could dream of possibilities again.

There is a line in the film that my character Coach Robyn says ; "If you've lived any length of time on this planet  you learn everyone has something they're insecure about."

If Spirit of Love does nothing else I pray it will cause everyone to remember kids are kids,Teens are Teens, and Adults are teens grown up with more complex problems. Being an adult doesn't mean we have it all together or all the answers.It's really like the relationship category on face book."It's Complicated"

I want everyone to know working with all of the teens on Spirit of Love has been a highlight of my life.I thoroughly enjoyed working with each and everyone of them.When I think of all the behind the scenes stories it makes me smile and warms my heart.(Even in the Heat 100 degrees+).
http://youtu.be/KtGfHIGzP-0

Whirlwind and Many Hills to Climb

Well its been awhile since my last blog. But not to worry lots of forward motion has been happening.
Personally I am living the line in Steel Magnolias when Truvy says"We're gonna be busier than a one armed paper hanger" That is exactly the case.  I spent so much time deciding when,where,why,and how I should go to LA but now I'm here. I've been here since Monday and today is Wednesday.
I spent most of the first two days with my editor finalizing tweaks and ending credits and cutting the theatrical trailer with all the final audio and colorization.It really is a beautiful movie and I still shed tears when watching it in the editing suite. But it has been a Whirlwind of events. Many would say wow how lucky but I believe it is part of God's plan and destiny for my life and this project Spirit of Love. http://spiritoflovemovie.com

Today is the first day that I have had the finished film in my hands and it is already in the hands of two distributors. That may sound exciting and amazing to many people but it may also be a blur to others.
Fact is Distribution does NOT equal large paychecks necessarily. Distribution does not mean you get to see it in theaters. Distribution may or may not happen in the way you want.I learned this lesson the hard way as have many independent filmmakers. Nevertheless we have a solid good movie which tells an amazing and important story and so we as independent filmmakers have many hills to climb.

We have to negotiate,negotiate,and negotiate some more to get the best possible distribution opportunities for this film. When a film is finished in the editing bay and post production,there are still many obstacles to overcome.This is not the time to rush through and have screenings and show it for our friends.It is a time to stick to the plan. As an actor I know everyone involved wants to see the final product,but we want to make sure it is the best outcome for all parties involved. That is why it is called the business of filmmaking.

Although the film is complete we still need the closed captioning which is about 2 weeks out and then we submit to MPAA for rating as well as several festivals awaiting the film. Both of these cost money and time.

I AM so thrilled to have completed this film and I truly hope that everyone who watches it will be impacted in some small way if not in a big way.I know I have been.

Never Give Up

As life goes there will always be days that are more difficult then others.This is true for everyone even indie filmmakers.Some days in post production become overwhelming. I struggled for several days to decide when to make a trip out to LA for the purpose of finalizing the last few tweaks to the edit of our wonderful movie Spirit of Love. The trick is to schedule and coordinate strategic times to meet with various people in the industry, distributors,and others regarding upcoming productions. Filmmaking is a collaborative effort and our film is a result of a lot of hard work by many great people.
I admit the last few days I wanted to crawl back into bed with warm fuzzie jammies and a cup of hot coco and watch mindless television.Not sure if that is because of the snow and freezing temperatures recently here in Colorado or just the nature of the beast(filmmaking) or both.
So I sat here for days vacillating and made the decision to be like Nike and just do it.
I'm usually a pretty focused person who is not one to give up,and then I received an email with the words Never give up, not only once but several.As difficult as it has been to move forward and stay positive in this business world full of uncertainly ,I finally made a decision and made arrangements to travel to Los Angeles with the hope that it will lead to great things.

So now the week long preparation is in motion leading up to my departure.
It's difficult to be optimistic and positive when you feel like your flying solo blindly
without a safety net.But at the end of the day the message of the film Spirit of Love http://spiritoflovemovie.com is about Never Give UP and so keeping with the message I am going forward with the intent to "Never Give Up" because there is a bigger purpose for our lives and we each may or may not have recognized or realized what the purpose is.But one has to try,and try so I will.

An Evening of Emotions beats day of technical demons.

It was a rough day yesterday.A day full of technical demons.Most of you have experienced those unexplainable technical difficulties particularly if your involved in the art of filmmaking.

I started my day by breakfast in bed snuggled up watching a family movie with two of my nephews
with Bacon and fresh warm Cinnamon rolls."This is the life.This is what is real and important.Time with little guys who make me smile and laugh."These were my thoughts and then it was time to hit the ground running.
I had been so busy working on details regarding the final cut version of "Spirit of Love" film all week that I waited to the last minute to print some photos and put together a PR display to represent  the film which would be displayed at the POPCORN movie table at the Hands & Voices Gala fundraiser.I mean how difficult could it be?(This is exactly why I plan and never do things last minute)

Well I started at 10am and printed one photo when I ran out of ink.I replaced the ink cartridges and suddenly the computer and printer stopped communicating.I worked for several hours and still I only had one picture printed.
So my thumb drive and the local UPS center saved me by printing the balance of material for me. Ahhh  finally relief! Now I needed a poster display board. On the way into the store I decided to put some trash in a bin when the bag tore and a left over soda poured out all over my outfit.At that point I had to laugh,because it was KRAZY!

All cleaned up I arrived early at the event only to experience more technical demons,only this time
I had two wonderful people step in and resolve the technical issues.It really wasn't a surprise after the day that I had experienced.
Suddenly it was show time.When I was introduced and I stepped onto the stage all those technical difficulties flew right out the window as if they had never happened.Several of the amazing teens
from our cast whom I've grown to love spoke about their individual experiences of being involved with Spirit of Love.But it wasn't until lights were dimmed when we debuted the theatrical trailer from Spirit of Love for the first time that suddenly nothing else mattered.It was emotional and rewarding.While walking into the crowd following the screening of the trailer complete strangers thanked me for the film and the opportunities that it represents.I'm excited that the trailer was well received.It was definitely a night full of many emotions.I am so thankful for the opportunity to be involved with the great organization of Hands & Voices and the families who they help.

Spirit of Love Movie - The Mike "Stinger" Glenn Story: Tears Sweat,and Blood

Spirit of Love Movie - The Mike "Stinger" Glenn Story: Tears Sweat,and Blood: Tears, Sweat,and Blood are three words that come to mind when thinking about Spirit of Love http://spiritoflovemovie.com . Most people don'...