THE WHOLE TRUTH World Premiere!

First, the private reception was a *blast!* Family, friends, crew and cast gathered at the 7 Salon with great food, conviviality and conversation.

Andy, our host at the magnificent, huge salon, created a perfect atmosphere - complete with a dj and music that he didn't play so loudly we could actually talk at a reasonable decibel, two bartenders, three film posters strategically placed, tables, glassware, the works.

The food was fantastic - it flew off the plates so we quickly ordered more!

Seattle's film industry folks are known for serving weak, meager, tasteless finger foods; we dished out substantial sustenance for our guests to show them the way to feed guests properly.

Don Woods from the Icicle Ridge Winery in Leavenworth brought his magnificent, award-winning wines for all to taste and drink. A beautiful backdrop graced his table as well.

I got many compliments on the make up job Danyale Cook did for me. Gosh, I hardly recognized myself .. ;-). Lots of photos will be coming soon - I ended up not taking pictures because I was running around so much, but our set photographer took lots of piccies, so I'll share them as soon as Frank sends them to me!

It was a genuine pleasure meeting you blog readers at the reception - Amanda, you looked FAB-ulous! As well as seeing so many of the crew members who made a qualitative and personal difference in making the film. Without them, not only would it not have the quality it does - it wouldn't have the heart. My partner Gary Allen Tucci put it well: we felt like a production family.

And we're all ready to do it over again on our next film THE LONELY GOATHERD as soon as we get the distribution situation taken care of with THE WHOLE TRUTH.

Several folks showed up expecting to buy a ticket when they arrived, only to find there were no more tickets on sale. See how it pays to read my blog? I said tickets were selling out, then sold out right here and they didn't read it.

Many people hoping for "rush" tickets did get seated, however. These are tickets that are sold if there are any seats empty left minutes before the screening.

Because of that, previews and other SIFF business - not to mention me introducing most of our guests - the film started late, and it was already a late screening. Which means it started a little TOO late for most working folks.

But, the comments after the film were wonderful - what a fine film it was; how much they enjoyed it from start to finish, how amazing the music was, how well written, how terrific the performances were, how great the casting, etc. It was all I could have hoped for. The cast, my partner executive producer Gary Allen Tucci, producer Larry Estes and composer Ragnar Rosinkranz all joined me at the front of the room to answer questions and whatever the folks left wanted to say.

Mireille and Caitlin - readers of my blog (you read their comments all the time) and HUGE SPF fans, who flew in from Montreal and the Midwest respectively for the film's WP and will see it again later today(!) at the Wednesday screening - loved the film, got *my* autograph for Louise, a friend of theirs in England and of course spent time with SPF who had a great time entertaining them.

Local folks were impressed with how down to earth Sean is - how fantastic and real all our actors are. But I tend to work with folks who are good people as well - I find them better performers for the very most part.

As for me - to be frank, I was so nervous about how the crowd would react, I was a little distracted - listening for every little chuckle, guffaw, belly laugh, giggle, snort. The thing I was most aware of: there was no fidgeting. This is a good thing.

In a crucial scene that required the audience be silent, a complete hush filled the room. I could not even hear anyone breathing.

I sat between Sean Patrick Flanery and Elisabeth Röhm. Since it was the first time he saw the film, Sean was of course a bit contemplative of his (fantastic) performance and has a soft laugh. Elisabeth was totally relaxed and laughed out loud many times, as did other cast members.

At the end, Sean told me he "Loved it;" that he was "Excited as hell" about the film and its future. Whew. He's a tough critic of his own work and (rightfully) others, so that means a lot to all of us working on and with the film and its distribution.

The audience applauded several times at the end of the film, and because of the late hour, many had to leave at its completion - but several troopers stayed for the q&a with the cast, Gary, Larry, Ragnar and me, which was a lot of fun. I shared a sample of the singing that went on during the shoot. Some of the stuff captured by our sound crew during the shoot will be featured on my blogs as time goes by as well as on the dvd's.

When we left, Elisabeth had to return to relieve her babysitter - she brought her 14-month old. The babysitter noted that Elisabeth's daughter Easton was "amazing." She had never met such a contented toddler - especially after flying! Elisabeth is a phenomenal mom! Easton's dad Ron Wooster was on hand, too for all the festivities - and he's another reason Easton is so well adjusted!

Editor Stephen Myers, Jim Holmes, Rick Overton and I had a sarsaparilla in the bar at their hotel to chat about the film. Everyone considered the film and its premiere a complete success. I think *that* is when I started to breathe again.

Coming home to so many laudatory emails was also rewarding!

OK, well it's going on 3am and I have to get up in just a few hours to rush around running errands with Elisabeth and my assistant Aaron - whose mom came all the way from Yakima to see the film - before the next screening!

To everyone in the audience who shared the world premiere and special evening with us - thank you from the bottom of my heard. You are, after all, the reason we do what we do!

Casting in LA ...

Was a supreme pleasure and a completely wonderful experience.

I had the time of my life.

Casting director Rick Pagano, who is well respected in Hollywood, and his assistant Russell Boast, could not have worked harder or more dilligently - speaking with agents and managers and actors and others involved with the actors' careers. Noted producer Toni Wells-Roth helped us out with camerawork (wow!).

One observation I must mention: there is an extremely serious problem with agents who don't really do their jobs or do them well, and I'm including folks working with "top" agencies.

Several had *no* idea how to contact their clients (wrong emails, phone numbers), or that their clients were currently working, or in some cases made no effort to send the script or even contact their clients requested by Rick for this project. In some cases they made an appointment for their client and then cancelled it because they did not contact the client.

One very well known actor who is a good friend of my producer (actually our casting director and producer know a lot of great actors) said he was never contacted by his agent. When his agent was contacted (who made an "appointment" for his client to meet with us), the agent had *no* idea his client is currently working on a mini-series at an out-of-LA location. He's coming to Seattle to meet with us soon.

In the case of most actors we auditioned or met with (at a certain level of fame/work, meetings are held in lieu of script readings or auditions - though certain very top professionals still ask to read), they are at the top of their game and crazy about our project.

Some sensational actors dropped by to meet even though they knew they weren't right for this project, but know we have several more slated so wanted to get together with us in person. And believe me, we kept careful notes on everyone we saw.

One well known actor with whom we had a meeting said the industry is now run by "second rate" agents who don't do their jobs, don't know how to do their jobs or can't do them very well - and the people suffering are actors - at all levels.

S/he added that the situation is cyclical -- that their incompetence will only be tolerated for so long before there's a big shakeup, when the system will change again.

In some cases, the agents only want big paying deals for their clients so they can make big fees, regardless of the quality of the work.

There are obviously some agents who take their work seriously and do a good job -- they were spoken of just as positively as the others regarded so negatively.

Enough about that.

The very up side is that the actors with whom we interacted were amazing, terrific and top professionals. They worked so hard on the material to bring their characters to life - screwball comedies are the most work of any genre by all concerned.

Each brought something that only they could bring to their character.

They're making my work of selecting the right person for each role incredibly difficult - which means they did a splendid job. The harder my job, the better the cast.

Some of my choices are going to surprise audiences, and quite honestly a couple people (very well known) came in to speak about doing extremely "against type" characters (unlike anything they've ever played before, unlike the persona they appear to be normally or the characters they've played in the past).

One well known actress from a very popular dramatic TV series did her very first comedic performance in her audition for the lead and absolutely WOW'ed us. She did a brilliant job, looked fantastic, and what's so exciting for me is that she loves the script and the role. Very impressive.

I can't tell you how rewarding it was to hear so many of these top pro's tell me how much they loved the script! Most importantly, I couldn't hear a wasted word in the dialogue. Whew.

A good sign is that everyone who read it felt very strongly about the script - they were either head over heels in love with it, or they absolutely hated it! I think those who didn't like it will feel very differently when they see it up on the screen.

Even our producer was pleasantly surprised when actors who understood the script and characters breathed hilarious life into their scenes.

I enjoyed most audition performances so much - extraordinarily talented, skilled artists did such magnifienent interpretations - that the experience was downright heavenly for me. And I let them know it. I'm not one of those directors who holds back her enthusiasm or appreciation.

After all, these are artists who have shared a part of themselves they'll never get back; they worked hard on their audition scenes and deserve credit and praise where it's due.

It's easy to see why these actors are employed as much as they are. They deserve it. I was proud to be in their company.

Mind you, if anyone shows up unprepared or without doing their homework? I also let them know how I feel. But that was not the case, so I was able to shower actors I met with appreciation and affection.

Our producer, Larry Estes, is a former studio executive and lengendary producer in the field of indie films. He is well known and highly regarded by many working actors who came in to say hello - he now lives in the Pacific Northwest. I was proud to be in his company - I could see the admiration and fondness these artists held for him as they hugged and spoke to him warmly about families, kids, the past, pets, work and life in general.

I was treated to some fantastic stories of show biz past and present by Larry along the way. Another highlight of the trip.

Larry and I met over dinner with our estimable editor Stephen Myers (he just found out the Pixar documentary he edited is nominated for an Emmy!), who has worked with classic comedic filmmakers like Carl Reiner. I showed him my shot sheets along with overhead drawings -- floor plans -- of camera placement, character and camera movement.

After scouring my work, Stephen sent me suggestions for insert shots and editing sounds. The very things that make the difference between work well done and excellence.

Thank you to every actor who came by to meet and perform for The Whole Truth (Gabe, I owe you a little stuffed skunk); decisions will be made soon because cameras roll the third week in September.

Interestingly, we set out to cast three lead roles in LA and came back considering actors to fill 6 roles. We'll be meeting with a few more actors here and in Vancouver, B.C. as well.

Next big step after that: local casting in Seattle for another lead role and several supporting roles with Stephen Salamunavich at Complete Casting, which I know will be just as much fun. Every role is written with a scene to steal included.

We'll also be opening a production office, then bringing production folks in the next few weeks.