Script was done, days were requested off work, audition notices were posted. Things were moving smoothly the last week of January, planning to shoot in Arizona the third week of February. First of many lessons I learned – I should’ve scheduled sooner. As soon as I did the math I knew that even if I shot from the moment I arrived, we weren’t getting the series wrapped in a week. It would’ve required at least two additional weekends driving out to Phoenix to get it done. And that’s if I allowed zero days of prep out there. Things were suddenly a lot more complicated.

To make matters worse, we had hardly any submittals for our auditions. I knew resources weren’t as abundant in Phoenix, but I really have a soft spot for my hometown and I really, really wanted to shoot in Jerome. Just look at the place. It’s beautiful.

Part of the problem is that the cast is primarily a Latino family. I wanted to try something different. There’s no Spanish, there’s no cultural references, they just so happen to be Latino. Who says an attractive woman with an accent can’t be an astrophysicist? I wanted to break some stereotypes with my cast, but that meant a smaller pool of possible actors.

We were left with a serious decision on our hands two days before we planned to drive out for auditions. We could go spend a weekend in Phoenix to audition the two confirmed actors even though we had four parts to fill. Or, we could scrap the entire Phoenix plan and shoot in LA. Either way, the clock was ticking. We opted for LA.

The problem with LA is that it’s intimidating. I figured in Phoenix I’d find other hopefuls looking to gain some experience and we could all learn together. I felt if I made mistakes out there, it would be okay. But over here, I knew it was a different pool of people. Everyone has more experience than I do (well, that’s how it felt at the time). I had nightmares of people not even being interested in the project. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

The canceled trip to Phoenix bought us some time to get audition notices posted here, find new locations, and rewrite the script. I pushed my time off from the day job back by another week and we decided that if we were shooting local, we could shoot over consecutive weekends without a problem. That way the first half of my week off could be spent on prep. Those few extra days of prep were so helpful in being ready to go on the first day of shooting.

One thing Arizona doesn't have...a beach.

The script changes actually made a huge difference. I really didn’t like the original midpoint episode at all. There was a lame chase scene that instead became a cat and mouse game around a house. I hated to lose Jerome, but we gained access to a local house with character. We hardly had to change a thing in production design. It’s like the house was made for the series. We were also lucky in finding other locations all nearby.

In the end, we realized the perks and resources of staying local far outweighed the stress of shooting out of state - especially when it came to casting.

Next: Part III – Casting