Day 12: Interior School: Visitors, 2 Glorious Actors, Art

Visitors!! It takes hundreds of people to make a movie happen. Some of them are actually on set, on the ground with us, actively filming; some are praying for us or sending good thoughts; but there are some without whom no film EVER would get produced or filmed or edited or released. Today we were honored with a visit from some very important people who helped us get this film made. Amy Lillard of Washington Filmworks, Kate Becker from the Office of Film and Music, and Senator David Frockt (with his charming and warm-hearted wife Rebecca). Senator Frockt (who is up for election, hint hint...) is one of the legislators who voted to keep film in Washington by helping pass our Washington Filmworks Production Incentive Program. The Incentive gives back to a production company some of what it spends, as long as those dollars are spent in Washington. It’s a win for the film industry and small indie filmmakers like Kairos. The incentive makes it possible for me to make movies about families triumphing over everyday challenges and sorrows, rather than superhero films with explosions. For every dollar invested in the arts, many, many more dollars come back to the local economy in the form of retail sales, restaurant sales, rentals, and jobs. I am so proud to be a Washington filmmaker, born here, raised here, and privileged to be making art here. I love telling the stories of my city, and trying my best to give back to the community that helped to raise me. And I’m so grateful for our civic leaders who understand the multi-faceted benefit that the arts bring to my home town and home state. And... Have I mentioned how incredible our art department is? Rachel Thomson and her team have done superb work all throughout the shoot. Today, in the classroom, was even more impressive. They have taken a 2018 elementary school math classroom and transformed it to a 1993 high school English Lit classroom. The bookcases are filled with Chaucer, Hemingway, Angelou, and of course L’Engle (grin). Literary quotes grace the walls, and pages from classic novels are mounted like butterflies in mid-flight, taking wing above the chalkboards, lifting us up and up. This is movie magic, and so beautiful. And the actors today...lovely and talented human beings. I am very blessed, and very grateful.