We just got home from Albuquerque (first tourist task: learn how to spell Albuquerque) where we helped Courtney Jones film his story about human trafficking, “Crossed Lines”. Our great friend, a seeming Neversleeps, Nick Ward, brought us in at the last minute and we sat in his living room every evening after shooting and learned what a dust devil and a line producer have in common. Nick is a great guy and if he knows you, and you know what you’re doing, he will HUNT you down and give you work. We are excited about the film because, first of all, Courtney is a peach and now we just want to quit our jobs and be peach tree roots, and second, this little film has potential to be something special. Jones handles the subject of human bondage with respect, and yet layers in a white hat DA crime caper so we can enjoy watching the good guys go after the bad guys. Moreover, he brought a couple of MMA stars with him, including Michelle Waterson, the “Karate Hottie” and Carlos Condit, a former welterweight MMA champion. The lesson here is how to find investors and get a distribution deal. The actors brought a ready-made audience with them. It is difficult for an unknown writer/director to find known actors or agents to read their script, but head out into the hinterlands and find other humans who have their own audiences and see what you might do. Some of them can act! The other lead in the film, Theresa June-Tao, was a woman with more range than ought to be legal, both physically and emotively. She had me crying behind my sun umbrella for one whole afternoon. Yes, it was 100 degrees every day. And a highlight for me was the opportunity to watch Rick Gomez at work. It’s not just his command of a scene when the camera is running, Rick was a gentleman who knew the right thing to say to every person on set. So sorry, Rick, we’ll all be saying good things about you behind your back.
Crossed Lines is just the working title, so look for Courtney Jones in your Netflix cue sometime next year.