How to Choose?

My manager is taking a few of my scripts to the Cannes Film Festival next month. The problem is that I have thirteen feature scripts ready to go, and she can only showcase three of them in her book that goes out to 500+ producers, studios, etc. How to choose? Thank goodness that is not my problem; she's the professional and will figure it out. I've been working with Alexia since February, and the first thing she does it send the scripts with the most marketability out for coverage. The person who does the coverage reads the script - maybe a few times and ranks it on a score of 1-10.  A score of  1-4 means to Pass on the script. A better score of 5-7 earns a Consider, and the best score of 8-10 - means that the executive should Read the script. I have two so far that have earned a 9 and four that are 7s. Three more are on the way to getting coverage. At first, I thought a 7 was a low score since I was thinking 70% on a test, but it is actually pretty good to be a "Consider" and outstanding to be a 9. 

The next process is to get a professional pitch deck created. The first thing that I do is to structure out the script and write a pitch. That sometimes causes some rewriting because when I'm telling the story in the form of a pitch - something might stand out as being in the wrong place. This pitch is then put into Canva, and off it goes to a designer who makes it look amazing. My pitch deck guru is Annalisa Giolo Dunker of https://www.betterearthproductions.com/. You can see her work on my new website - SandraJerome.com.

You might wonder how I can have so many unsold scripts. Easy - I've been writing for a long time, but only been a full-time screenwriter for a year. If you've been following me, you might remember that I retired two years ago, so what have I been doing for the other year?  After I retired, I thought I wanted to be a novelist. I spent a year learning how to write kidlit - middle-grade and young adult books. I wrote three of them, joined SCBWI and attended seminars and workshops. I started querying agents and publishers and did get a few requests for my books. But one problem - the publishing business is extremely slow. A typical wait time is six months before you get a response to a query - if ever. That doesn't stop me - I'm working on my 4th novel, but I remembered fondly that when I first started writing screenplays, there were many, many contests to enter. I'd get immediate feedback on my work. Plus, I needed a hobby while I was waiting be be a famous novelist. What do I like to do in my spare time?  You guessed it - storytelling!  There is no easier way to tell a story than a screenplay. It is like writing computer programming (my trained profession.) Lots of instructions to the talent and dialogue. 

I trained professionally to be a screenwriter two decades ago. I graduated from UCLA's advanced screenwriting program but then tragedy struck, and I had to abandon my dream of writing movies. Those who know me well know what happened and what I accomplished - including helping to raise my four granddaughters. Now that "my watch" is over and I'm writing full-time - the timing is perfect for a great 2025. The existing IP concept is huge. Studios prefer to reduce their risk by greenlighting a project based on something already "out there."  I have books already published and now I'm writing a book based on my most highly-ranked screenplay, Blood Moon Wolf. My "job" and hobby have joined together.  In addition, producers also want projects based on material in the public domain, and I'm working on a historical screenplay based on a book by Lady Churchill, Jennie Jerome, Keith's fourth cousin, twice removed. I'm also writing my 2nd Christmas movie and I'm thinking that might be my passion - I love Christmas. The acorn didn't fall from the tree because my mother was Christmas-crazy. I miss her so much.

Getting back to my huge inventory of completed projects, during the past two decades, I flew hundreds of thousands of miles and writing my screenplays and novels kept me company. I might be stuck in the middle of nowhere, far away from my family - but my characters were always with me - even when I was alone. I could drop my mind into their world and get away from the yucky hotel, cramped airplane, or stressful job. Then, I'd enter scripts into contests, get feedback, then rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. I read recently that quantity does equate to quality when it comes to screenplays. If you keep writing and rewriting – you get better. I know so many screenwriters who only have 1-2 scripts, and they are precious to them. They only want certain producers and platforms to take on their projects and expect millions. I don't think that - I want my work to be aired - streaming, network, turned in TV - even YouTube! I plan to write 100 screenplays by the time I'm a hundred. Based on the ten thousand outliner hours that I've spent so far, I'm on the way there, and I have one sold and in production, with another two being optioned and a manager taking a few to Cannes. Better get back to writing - lots more to say before next month. Here's my IMDB page - Sandi Jerome

Visualization and AI - Artificial Intelligence

 

My dad grew up in the age of automation. Travel by horse was automated by cars; in fact, they measured vehicles by horsepower. My dad is fascinated by machinery. His favorite place is the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in Vista, CA. His last job was working on the machines that automate the baking and packaging systems at Dudley's Bakery in Julian. He invented a small machine that mixed the paint for my brother's color coating business. Machines were a big part of his generation and he knows how they work. Everyone thought that automation would eliminate the need for humans, but someone needs to know how the machines work to maintain and improve them. 

I grew up in the era of computerization. I remember my first experience with computers at college and writing software. I later owned a technology company. As a CPA, my specialty was writing code to calculate net pay. If you ask the next generation how to do that, they'd say, " Go to this website and enter your number of dependents, state, and then your gross pay."  Again, people thought computers would replace humans, but instead - the computer industry has added over 800 types of jobs. For example, I'm a programmer, software designer, and database administrator -- but not a web designer. But that job has changed. Web designers used to write HTML code with an editor and then "publish" or upload it to a website. This job is changed by web design software like Squarespace and Wix. These tools are taking us into the next era - visualization.

What is visualization? It involves AI - Artificial Intelligence to create what you "see" in your mind's eye. For example, imagine a flying army of cats that put out fires. Hmm... that visualization is hard to create. It would require animators to ask, "How do they fly - wings?" The next chore would be to determine color and breed - and start drawing. Computerization has improved drawing tools, but you'll need a story before you move forward. Who organized this army of firefighting cats? Who is the lead cat, and why does she do this? Who doesn't like flying cats, and what are they doing to stop them? Story software can create this by answering questions like this, but like the person who designs and maintains the machines and computers - we'll need someone to come up with the idea of flying firefighting felines and then visualize the story.  I know you're thinking of the pitch - it is like Cats - meets Fireman Sam. I expect there to be software where you'll put in two unrelated movies and have it spit out a new movie.  But someone will still need to think of it. That is called visualization.

The age of visualization is upon us. Today, we have hundreds of thousands more filmmakers.  As in Field of Dreams, "if you build it, they will come."  YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Twitch, DTube, Vevo, Flickr, and Veoh built the platforms.  Amateurs have dipped their toes in the filmmaking arena by using Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram to get their work out there.  The tools are amazing - you can make a film on an iPhone and edit it on the flight home. I bought the latest iPhone before my big European vacation after I sold my software company, so I wouldn't need to pack a camera, video camera, or GoPro.  If you're a worker in the film and TV industry, these "amateurs" who haven't been to film school or don't have their MFA in Screenwriting might scare you - but it is like computerization and automation. We still need someone to develop the idea (screenwriter) and think of the story. A director needs to visualize the story and know how to film it. Thousands of talented and craft people must take that vision and make the show. Producers must combine all the pieces and get the show funded, filmed, sold and distributed.  But the tools to make this process easier means thousands of new jobs are coming. 

I addressed this issue in my script, Technically Soccer - where a software mogul decides to coach a soccer team with a droid. The players are initially upset that a robot has replaced a human - taken the coach’s job, but the development and maintenance of that cute little droid created dozens of jobs. Plus, the old coach was pond scum - so a win-win!  I've created a new website that is more "visual" for my new screenwriting career - visit it at SandraJerome.com

 

YOU ARE REPRESENTED!!! - I read the email a few times. Could it be?  Since I sold my software company and started writing full-time in July 2022, I had a "phase two" goal of getting represented. What was "phase one?" That is easy - write something worth watching or reading. I've been spending the past two years learning, writing and rewriting.

I won two Native American Media Alliance fellowships in 2023. From Cari Daly in the NAMA Writer's Lab, I learned how to write a TV show.  I wrote my first "from scratch" TV show with the help of my mentor, Kris Crenwelge (staff writer on Spirit Rangers and True Lies.) Technically Soccer is a Ted Lasso-like dramedy about women's soccer and Artificial Intelligence. Didn't think those two topics could be one story, huh?  I often come up with ideas by thinking of some of my favorite stories but then adding, "But what if?"  For example, the Ted Lasso series is about the struggle of an American football coach trying to coach in the UK premier soccer league - but then I thought, what could be worse than being someone who knew nothing about soccer?  What if the person knew everything but wasn't what Ted had going for him? What if the coach wasn't even human?

As with every new venture, doubts started creeping in when I learned about the "writer's room" of a network TV show. First, a new writer is often considered a "gopher" or secretary - only allowed to take notes and get coffee. Trying to get onscreen credits can take YEARS!  The pay is amazing - especially after the writer's strike. A beginning writer hired to be on a sitcom staff might start at $7,000 a week - yes, per week!  But the hours can be long, and there is a good chance you won't get to write any episodes. After you have paid your "dues" and get a few onscreen credits and story editor/producer credits - it doubles to $14,000 a week. Growing up, my best friend wanted to be a flight attendant - but I wanted to be Sally Rogers, the funny writer on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Why didn't I pursue this earlier -- after completing UCLA's two feature screenwriting programs? Personal tragedy led me to become a programmer and software designer for the steady income, but I never stopped writing. My business meant flying over 200,000 miles a year - and I've written three young adult books, four new scripts and five TV pilots from some of my previous scripts and two original TV pilots. Whew! 

I'm a contest junkie and entered some of them in contests and was a Nicholl Fellowship and Austin Film finalist with five different scripts.  Recently, my feature scripts have been doing well - I've gotten two requests to "read" my scripts, and one of them, Last Woman, was a semifinalist in Final Draft's Big Break 2023 contest.  But TV? I've entered most TV writer's fellowships: Disney, NBC, Warner Bros, Fox, and CBS Paramount+. These are mostly diversity programs, but I haven't even gotten an interview. I think my age is a red flag - even though my Young Sheldon script had a good enough scorecard to boost my Coverfly rating. Who wants a grandma in a writer's room? Doubt set in - maybe I can't write TV?  So I entered my Young Sheldon in Scriptapalooza TV and won 2nd place!  Wow, my first time winning money!!! I knew it was a good script - it is about Sheldon's father dying, which should happen soon, according to Big Bang Legend.  

During the past year, I've gotten coverage for my scripts, taken three workshops from Carole Kirschner, including How to Pitch a TV Script that Sells and recently written software, SmilingPitch.com, that enables me to track my submissions and query producers. What is phase three?  Yup, sell something. I'm ready, I'm prepared. I'm proactive and aim to send out 5 queries a week to producers. I have about 20 projects, 14 of them have Accolades on Coverfly - and three have made the Red List. I'm ready.

All doubts are gone. I'm a TV writer. I'm a feature screenwriter. I'm a young adult novelist. I'm represented!!! I'm earning income writing. The back of this mug, which I purchased at my first writer's conference, says - "A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit."  That's me - a professional writer! Never give up, never surrender!

Wolf Clan

 Happy New Year!

I can't believe my new writing career is now two years old. If I had stayed on my original screenwriting path, I'd be about 26 right now - but since the women in my family live into their 90s - I'm right on schedule for a long writing career! Sure, my brain is filled with a ton of programming code after a successful technology career - but I got out early by selling my software company so that I could write. A huge part of my work involves my Native American heritage, which is odd, because I didn't find out I was Cherokee until Grandma Cook died, and I asked, where? My dad said she went back to the reservation.

I immersed myself in everything Cherokee, joined the tribe, applied for the Native American Media Alliance Fellowship and traced my ancestors back to North Carolina - finding out we were part of the Wolf Clan. I then wrote a script about the reintroduction of wolves into National Parks called Nature’s Way. 

I wondered - what if we all returned to the reservation - not to die, but to live? Then I thought, why not reintroduce us to the National Parks like wolves?  Imagine a futuristic virus-infected world where corporations are the governments, AI runs the world, and humans are stuck in their homes, monitoring the robots that grow our food, maintain the elderly in rest homes, and for kids - their education and relationships are online.

Reintroduction of Humans is about a Cherokee woman in a futuristic world, who convinces her family to participate in the reintroduction of Native Americans back into the National Parks to find her son, who was taken from her family because he was obese. A scripted Survivor!

My idea expanded after my AFI instructor, Matt Black, showed us Blade Runner's Voight-Kampff Test scene during my Native American Media Fellowship.  The writer's strike was going strong and a big issue was AI - Artificial Intelligence.  I put these three ideas together and wrote this as a short. I have no desire to be a filmmaker - I'm a writer, but one of my cohorts in the Native American Medial Alliance fellowship - Derek Quick - is an aspiring filmmaker.  He has an award-winning short, Camping, that is making the festival circuit. There was a short fellowship that was sponsored by Indeed with the theme of getting a job - so I wrote the first ten pages and he submitted. Our short didn't win, but Reintroduction of Humans was still in my head - so I had to tell the story and I made it into a sitcom.

I wrote a scene similar to the clip in Blade Runner but made it funny. AI is confused - and it knows that she is Cherokee and must understand why Native Americans would shoot arrows into trees. She goes home excited - instead of monitoring robots that kill pigs, she will monitor the National Parks! Plus, she thinks this is where their son has been taken, and she might see him on the screen. But when 3 radio collars arrive, she realizes the job is much more - they have been selected for the project to reintroduce animals into the wild - including humans. Again excited  - but the rest of the family is not, especially after their first orientation lesson. Kill their food? Possibly be the food?  Seriously? The theme is survival - at first.

After the pilot, each episode involves another challenge. In the first season, it is all about survival;  how to get water, what to eat, and most importantly - how to avoid things that want to eat them. They have lived in a world where they rarely encountered animals and their food was piped into their house and formed by a replicator oven. They must enlist the help of the other Native Americans living in the parks. In the second season, the survival concept changes as history repeats itself as there is fighting amongst the various tribes for territory and resources. The conflict moves from within their tribe to the other tribes.  In the third season, outside forces threaten their existence. The AI ruling program wants to terminate the program and return them to "civilization," and she thinks her family will be delighted - but she's wrong. 

The story engine is driven by each of the problems they encounter and the conflict from disagreements on how to solve their problems. For example, the daughter doesn't like in-person relationships and insists that another Native American boy leave "texts" - or carvings on trees to communicate. The pilot is titled Not Food and ends with the wolves and Cherokees being chased by the Apaches. Next is Training Day. The family starts their training on the reservation - and they learn about Derek. Then there is Flunked Out. Both Talitha and Alex want to go home, but Natalie insists on staying to see Derek again, and Episode 4 is Moving Day. It is time for the family to enter the park with other members of their “tribe.” Episode 5 is Bad Water - the new tribe finds out the hard way that there is good water - and “bad” water, followed by Run Faster. Alex is sure that something is stalking them - wanting to eat them and then Berries and Bears. Talitha convinces the family that bears can live on berries - but the bears are not happy with humans eating their food. The first season ends with I love you, Deer.  Victory for the family when they bring down a deer, but this attracts the attention of the other tribes.

Characters

Natalie is in her (30s) - our fearless Cherokee protagonist who wants to find her son and a better life for her family - but at what cost?

Talitha is a skeptical teen about 14 or 15, a passionate animal lover, but hooked on technology and being vegan. 

Dakota (17) An older teen, he's their Native American guide and teacher to help them survive in the wilderness and find Derek.

Derek was originally obese but is now 13; he's spent the past year in the wild and is now fit but concerned for his family.

Alex (30s)- is a Navajo hypochondriac, afraid of everything - especially bacteria and things that can eat him.

Like The Good Place, which made death funny - this dramedy maintains humor with exciting survival situations - for example, the pilot ends with Derek and Dakota being chased by a rival tribe - wearing radio collars and getting zapped, which is funny. But full of Indian culture, like Reservation Dogs.

View on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx_8Ja4anZU7427aV5A98VQUPYtmdfWJc 

Canva (my entry for SeriesFest in May 2024)

https://www.canva.com/design/DAF3szItxdU/LJF6EVCDBLPZVh07bmqaDQ/edit?utm_content=DAF3szItxdU&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

I Can Fly

I grew up thinking I could fly. I was a skinny and energetic kid, running instead of walking and constantly fidgeting. I grew up on an avocado and citrus ranch. Every year, the commercial pickers would come and harvest the fruit, but after they left, my mom would have me climb up to the top of the trees to get the ones they missed. I'd toss them into the thick pile of leaves and then jump (or fly, as I thought) down to a soft landing.  After I grew up and became a computer programmer and consultant, I got to work in Australia and went diving on the Great Barrier Reef. That was the closest I've been to flying again - a wonderful feeling.

I liked to make up stories to tell kids and one of my favorites was of Kira - a fearless princess who had trained her whole life to rule, but then her father remarried, and a male heir was born. I wrote it while working with a large dealership group, Lithia - in Medford, Oregon. Their head of IT was Kyra, and loved that name. Today, Lithia has 290 dealerships, including 40 in the UK. My favorite movie then was Princess Bride, so I wrote Princess Quest as my first project after graduating from UCLA's Advanced Screenwriting Program.

I shelved it until last year when I wanted to enter as many scripts as possible into The Austin Film Festival. I completed the Native American Media Alliance Fellowship and learned more about screenwriting. I rewrote the original Princess Quest script and renamed it Kira and Henry to make it more the story of both characters and appeal to teen boys and girls. I wanted Kira to have a secret - so I added that she could fly, but had to hide that because raptors are banished because of their mutation. I had learned how to write TV pilots in my fellowship, so I wrote it as TV series. I made over a thousand changes and then wrote the young adult novel Kira and Henry using what I learned by taking classes through Good Story. This time, is was published by SmilingEagle Press - specializing in books written by Native Americans and older folks. I hit both marks of their target market!

Kira and Henry did well at The Austin Film Festival, enabling me to get a coveted 2nd Rounder Badge and here are the reader's notes, "This is a solid script that showcases the writer’s creativity and knack for world-building. It sets the stage for an abundance of storylines while, at its heart, drawing the reader into Kira’s character development and her relationship with Henry." I also got these notes from my entry into Final Draft's Big Break, "The reader enjoyed KIRA AND HENRY, which held their attention cover to cover through successive reads. It is a classic GAME OF THRONES style of tale, albeit in the animation format that will likely appeal to a younger demographic rather than adults." 

Next up is entering it into SeriesFest, and if I get accepted to pitch in Denver in May, I will be soaring and truly believing that I can fly!

You can order Kira and Henry on Amazon -https://www.amazon.com/Kira-Henry-Young-Fantasy-Forbidden-ebook/dp/B0CPYY7Q5C

Here's my pitch deck of the TV pilot.

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFvpYX2w74/IfD4mFgVynLq6uBNhpV7nA/edit?utm_content=DAFvpYX2w74&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

 

Goals and Dreams

 As we near the end of the year, I look toward 2024 and start thinking of my goals and dreams.   After winning the Native American Media Alliance fellowship TWICE this year, I have a dream to win Disney, CBS/Paramount, NBC, Nickelodeon, and/or Warner Brothers in 2024. If I got selected - that would mean a year in Hollywood - and possibly getting hired to write for a TV show.  When I started this new career a year ago, I made a  three-phase plan.  Phase One was to write and rewrite lots of "inventory" of good scripts and then submit them to contests and fellowships during Phase Two.  

I've done well on the contest circuit, including being a finalist in The Austin Film Festival with my script. Kira and Henry.  I traveled to Austin for a few days to pitch my script, Blood Moon Wolf and meet and greet - but the BEST part was seeing my lovely niece (Stan's daughter) Andrea.  As I talked to her oldest son, Alec  - I realized that the last time I saw him was 20 years ago, when he was about 9.  After my mom died, I arranged a trip for my Dad and Aunt Madenia, to travel with me to visit Austin and see Andrea's family - but we haven't been back since. What a fun trip this was for me to see my gorgeous niece and her sons and handsome husband. 

The AFF - Austin Film Festival was amazing! I was first focused on pitching.  I had snagged a pitch ticket on Friday in the 3rd session. I completed Carole Kirschner's course, How to Pitch a TV Script that Sells and learned how to write and deliver a pitch - a method to "sell" a screenplay.  I was terrified, but it was amazing.  I had not allotted time for the laughs my pitch got.  I left the session - not as a winner, but elated that it went well, and so many came up to me after and said I should have won.  I truly felt like a winner. 

The AFF is also a writer's conference with tons of panels and roundtables to attend.  As the holder of the precious 2nd Rounder badge, I got to pick some special "finalists" only roundtables.  The two I wanted to meet the most were Megan Alderson, Creative Development Executive, Pixar Animation Studios and  Liz Kelly, Creative Talent Development Executive, at Disney.  I wasn't able to snag Megan's panel, But I did get a spot at Liz's roundtable. But I couldn't find her - the volunteer from AFF said that she hadn't shown up, so I sat at the closest table to the door - extremely disappointed.  I had come all this way and didn't see the two people I wanted to meet.

But then the BEST thing about AFF happened.  My table was led by Larry Postel, a non-represented screenwriter living in Dallas. Larry’s story is unique in that he has managed to have four original spec screenplays purchased, produced and released since 2020. He told us his secret; he sent out query emails after doing lots of research on who would be a good producer for his scripts.  Research?  That is my middle name!!!  Emails?  That is my life!!! I left walking on air and found a new direction.  

So Phase Three starts.  I want to sell a screenplay.  Another Carole course (How to Get the F* Unstuck)  that I took carefully taught me not to have goals that I can't control.  Times are tough in the entertainment industry after two long strikes.  There are backlogs of scripts, shows, and meetings. TV writer's rooms are filled. Everyone is too busy for emerging screenwriters like me. I can't control someone buying one of my scripts. So, as Carole taught me, I set a goal to send out 5 weekly queries. I will carefully write and record 5 pitches, write 5 query letters for my top 5 scripts and then read the trades, research producers, and send.  I finished my query pitch for Blood Moon Wolf, and I'm rewriting my pitch documents and creating pitches for my top 5 scripts. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx_8Ja4anZU7427aV5A98VQUPYtmdfWJc

I made a YouTube of my trip to the Austin Film Festival with my visit with Andrea.  https://youtu.be/MOxjDbqX0sQ?si=YX0JXhxwjpnIavJw  - it is a little long, 28 minutes; beware!

I have now reached 68,000+ views on my YouTube channel! I do not have many subscribers, but I'm happy to get many views. Be sure and Like and Subscribe to be notified of the AFF video.  Next month, I will talk about my script, Kira and Henry and how I grew up thinking I could fly.

Chevy and Nature's Way

We recently entered my script, Nature's Way, in The “Writer-Driven Shorts” program, presented by the Black List x General Motors Marketing and Media Incubator Fund, which will grant two emerging filmmakers with $100,000 in production funds to shoot a short film based on their feature scripts. 

My script is about a passionate wildlife biologist who drives an old Chevy Blazer, and is determined to marry the right guy (who wants her to get a new BMW) and then falls for a minister posing as a car salesman.  I think it is pretty "Hallmark-like," but if we win, I can write it into a short that discusses why she wants to get a Chevrolet EV - like I do.  The actual applicant and filmmaker is my cohort in the Native American Medial Alliance fellowship - Derek Quick - who is an aspiring filmmaker. He has an award-winning short, Camping, that is making the festival circuit, and I'll see it next month at LASkinsFest. 

I love Chevrolet.  Next year, I hope to trade in my Equinox for a new Equinox EV.  My first new car was a 1973 Chevrolet Vega we bought during the oil crisis. My dad's first new car was a 1960 Chevrolet Bel Air. My first job was at a Chevrolet dealership in San Diego.

I met my husband at the new Farrell's Ice Cream opening in Escondido while I was in high school.  After being forced to quit Farrell’s, which had a policy against managers (Keith) dating employees (a lowly server like me), I went to an employment agency to find full-time work while attending college.  I aced a “Wonderlic” intelligence test and was quickly sent out on two job interviews, one at a mortuary and another at a car dealership.  The mortuary was wonderful: plush carpets, polished rich mahogany desks, and everyone spoke so softly.  The car dealership was horrible: loud overhead paging, steel desks, rude people and ugly furnishings. 

When I returned from the interview, the agency said, “Good news, you got the job at the dealership!”  I was sad and asked, “Can we wait to hear from the mortuary?”  They replied that I had to accept the first job offered, so I started a long career in accounting and car dealerships, eventually developing software for the industry.  It took me almost a decade to finish college, and I earned a degree in Accounting with a minor in Computer Science and became a CPA, but stayed in the car industry. The picture above is from Automotive News, taken at one of my first clients, a Chevrolet dealership in South Dakota. I sold that tech company last year and picked back up my first choice of career - writing screenplays after getting an Advanced Screenwriting Degree from UCLA.

This picture of my mom and dad was taken with his first Chevrolet that he bought used and eventually traded in on that shiny blue Chevrolet in 1960. I remember how proud he was of that new car; we took a road trip to visit Mom's family in Missouri and his family in Oklahoma. I remember this trip so well because our more rural relatives had outhouses - which reminded me of camping. That gets me back to Derek's script, Camping,  which is based on his years growing up on the reservation in Oklahoma and later being homeless - or, as his mother would say, "camping."

Wish us luck that we'll be able to make Nature's Way into an amazing short!