Sometimes the Muse overwhelms me with ideas. It’s exhausting, exhilarating and frightening.
Other times she’s silent. I’ve learned to be ok with this.
Occasionally, though, she’s urgently needed on very short notice and it’s hard to say if she’ll answer the call.
Writing is an amazing thing, but it’s sort of hard to explain at the best of times. Writing characters is nearly impossible to explain without sounding like a total nut.
Pretty late at night, back in April, my buddy and occasional co-conspirator, Mike Klassen texted me as I was falling asleep (aka lying in bed pondering the meaning of life and hoping for a sneak-attack from the sandman).
I have my phone set up to display WHO texted, but not their message, on the lock screen.
I knew Mike was to be headed off to Michigan the next morning to shoot a really cool documentary, but that there had been some last-minute trepidation from the primary subject. I didn’t know her, but Mike had filled me in a bit on her story and anxiety was one distinct trait of hers. An trait I’m very well acquainted with.
So I had a feeling this text was going to lead to a long conversation if I opened it up.
Before looking at it, I climbed out of bed, careful not to disturb my wife. I headed downstairs, threw on some shoes and prepped to head out for a walk. I prefer to do my conversing while mobile. And I knew conversing was coming. Probably a couple of hours worth.
I opened the lock screen and discovered that the woman in question had backed out and left Mike in the awkward situation of having a sudden work-void. So we got on the phone and as I wore down the sidewalks off the small, odd town I live in, He explained what his plan had been and told me the story of this young woman he had expected to document.
Then we began to discuss alternate projects that might fill the requirements of the exec. It was a long and winding conversation, but we ultimately arrived at the idea to still tell this woman’s story, but to fictionalize some aspects of it to maintain her privacy. And we decided to keep Mike’s planned format of nine different conversations from nine different days.
The unique twist would be that a different actor play each version of Cambria. This was as much a logistical decision as it was a creative one.
As an added bonus, each actor would only see the script for their day. It was a bit of an experiment, definitely risky, but felt like the right way to handle it. And it was.
The catch was this: we needed to film this project within the next week-and-a-half. If you know me, the lure of borderline impossibility is the easiest way to catch my attention.
So by the next day we were writing, each dealing with a handful of particular topic headings, based on our lengthy conversation about “Cambria” and her life, so far.
I can only speak for my process, but I was awakened very early in one of the ensuing mornings and wrote four of the five monologues I was responsible for in one sitting. Cambria’s voice came clear and her stories were compelling. And so the muse was right on time and bringing her A-game.
Once we were satisfied with the scripts, we reached out to nine actresses that we had either worked with before, or who had come highly recommended. They ALL jumped in with both feet and the following week we were off and running.
In a delightful little twist, my oldest son decided to get appendicitis and have emergency surgery the evening before Cambria was set to go to camera. Fortunately, the surgery went super smooth and we knew he was ok and going home the next morning. The morning I had to leave for Toronto. So with his and my wife’s blessing, I hit the road as planned.
We shot for two days and the whole thing went very smoothly. Mike and I operated the cameras and my friend Heath (a phenomenal actor and producer) captured the sound. We gave minimal direction as we wanted the actresses to follow their instincts on how Cambria should present herself.
These incredibly talented women brought such life to Cambria. Even for me, who knew all the words they would say before they said them, it was a powerful experience to hear Cambria speak as one single person through nine very different voices.
Two weeks later, the project was essentially complete and ready to be seen.
Today, we’re screening the whole series for the actresses, their significant others, a few bloggers and some work associates.
On June 27th, we begin publishing the project online as episodes. One a week for nine weeks.
Cambria is an incredible, complex woman, and it took nine voices just to scratch the surface of her story. I think her tale will resonate with not only women, but people of all sorts of stripes who are facing life as an uphill battle. If even just one viewer takes courage from Cambria’s transparency, it will have been a huge success.
Subscribe to the SKG Films YouTube Channel to stay informed as the project comes online: https://www.youtube.com/user/skeletonkeyglobal
When They Awoke 