Production Diary – The Gift Bearer, Part 1
Pre-Production
Once a month I’m going to talk about a specific production,
what it was like to film it, and what was involved in making it happen. This month I’m going to talk about The Gift Bearer.
However, since it’s a complicated TV Show with quite a bit of behind-the-scenes stuff, I’m going to split this into four posts: Pre-Production, The First Half of Production, The Second Half of Production, and Post Production.
The Gift Bearer was filmed and edited during September of
2001 until May of 2002. It was an
ambitious production in many ways requiring more travel to out of town
locations then any other production, including Eidolon. Eidolon had many actors
from all over the state and we drove to multiple places during production, but
that was once a month. During the Gift Bearer we were filming at locations
one-two hours away on a regular basis, sometimes every weekend. The Gift Bearer
is also the first and only production that took the actors out of state to film
at a location over two hundred miles away, but more on that in part 2.
The Gift Bearer is one of the few productions where I
started planning one project and ended up with something completely
different. After the Curse ended (i.e.
after I imploded from insanity and canceled it), I wanted to film a new TV
series. Peter Normand had
introduced me to a lot of amazing historical sites and cool places where I
could film and that, combined with my natural love of costumes, made me
determined to film a show about time travel.
I was excited and decided to create the landmark production
T.O.A.S.T.T. It was a landmark show because of how hard it crashed and burned. Yes, I ended up with burned TOASTT. 
It was a show about a group of criminals sanctioned by the
government to travel through time on specific missions in exchange for having
their records erased. It really isn’t the best concept and there are a lot of
questions about why criminals and why not government soldiers, etc. It was also set in an underground base
and would have required the construction of huge set for the time machine and
computer room. That was a something
that I really didn’t think through. 
There are a lot of details about TOASTT that were actually
recycled into plot elements, costumes, outlines, and characters for The Gift
Bearer. For more information on
TOASTT and it’s legacy check out this Lost Production post.
So I threw TOASTT out the window (luckily I didn’t hit
anyone with it), and had to start from scratch, if I wanted to film a show at
all, which I really wasn’t sure about after the dreadful fiasco at the read
through. All the negative things cast members said about it were true, I just
didn’t want to hear it, let alone acknowledge it at the time. The read through was at the beginning
of May and I went home for summer vacation seriously bummed out. I really
wanted to do a show about time travel, but I had no other ideas so I gave up. THE IDEA
One of the things I did for fun back then (and still
sometimes do) was to dress people up in costumes, take them out to the woods,
and shoot them - with a camera (not a gun). It's a lot of fun and a good creative outlet for me. During July of 2001 I managed to talk Jen Weber and Margaret
Olson into doing one of those photo shoots.
We went out to Allerton Park – a wonderful location I have
used for both video productions and other photo shoots. Jen and Margaret dressed up in a few
different outfits and we had a lot of fun frolicing around taking photos. Two
of the outfits kind of looked like something from Ancient Greece (okay, they
actually looked like the Art Nouveau/Mucha version of Ancient Grecians), and
two of the outfits were early 1900s Edwardian style. These lovely ladies and this photo shoot inspired the show
and that’s why it’s actually dedicated to them in the credits of the last
episode.
At some point during the shoot I began to think about what
if the women in these photos from different eras were actually the same
characters and were actually time travelers. I decided that instead of travelling through time with
specific missions and working for the government, they were just a pair of
sisters who travelled through time just for fun – like taking a vacation. I liked the idea, and continued to
think about it in the back of my mind until I got the film back from being
developed (back in the old days before digital cameras we had to wait). 
Sometimes ideas for productions just pop into my head, but
sometimes they emerge slowly. For
some strange reason I distinctly remember the creative process of how I came up
with The Gift Bearer. I would
often think about it while doing dishes or other mindless tasks. I spent several days tackling different
aspects of the idea. I realize now that I wanted to make it a good, solid
concept in order to avoid another mess like TOASTT.
The process went a little something like this:
Okay, so we have two sisters who like to travel through time
just for fun.
Why two sisters? Two
sisters seems odd. How about three? Everything’s better in threes. A trio just
seems better than a duo.
Okay, so three sisters who travel through time just for fun.
Why would they do it
just for fun? I mean, if I could time travel I’d do it just for fun, but that
doesn’t really work in a TV show.
They need to have a reason. What if they start out just travelling for
fun and end up meeting another time traveler or something and then they decide
to keep traveling in order to meet that person again? Maybe it’s their mother or their father? No, too cliché, but having it be a
relative might be a good idea. That would create questions for the girls about
their family and they would need to catch that person in order to get their
questions answered. Maybe that
relative is part of a secret organization like the one in TOASTT or maybe
not. What kind of relative should
it be? A sibling? No, again too cliché. What about a cousin? No, that’s not a
close enough relative and I don’t think they should be from the same
generation. The relative needs to be older. A grandparent? No, too old. What
about a long lost Aunt or Uncle? That would work.
Okay, so three sisters who travel through time looking for
their Aunt.
Do they know she’s a
traveler? No, they should meet her as a surprise. Why do they need to find her? What drives them to look for her? And once they find her why
does she keep running away from them?
Maybe they need her to be their legal guardian because their mother has
died. Or maybe they said she was their guardian after their mom died, but
didn’t actually know where their Aunt was so they made it all up and now their
in trouble if they don’t actually find her. That could work.
Okay, so three sisters who travel through time looking for
their Aunt in order to prove she exists and keep their family together.
How do they travel
through time? They’re not part of a secret organization. No science because that requires
machines and logic and facts and sets.
Do they use magic? Are they sorcerers or wizards? No, if they had magic they could find
other ways around the problem of not having their Aunt. They could create her,
or put a spell on someone else, or magically shrink her and put her in their
pockets then take her home. So they
aren’t magical themselves, but they need something magical to allow them travel
through time.
Okay, so three sisters who travel through time using a magic
object who are looking for their Aunt in order to prove she exists and keep
their family together.
What kind of
object? Does the object contain a
magical character like a genie or is it just an item like a pocket watch? Wait,
in The Curse there was this cool statue called The Gift Bearer – and I freaking
LOVE the statue. Maybe the statue
could magically create an object that would allow them to travel through
time? I like that idea. Then they
would have something to magically give them period clothing, money, and
anything else they need. The Gift Bearer could be like a genie granting
wishes. A freaking adorable cat
statue genie! But it can’t talk, so how do they communicate with it? Presumably it can hear and understand
them, but they wouldn’t know that.
There would probably be a lot of trial and error to figure out how to
make it work.
Okay, so three sisters who travel through time using a magic
statue who are looking for their Aunt in order to prove she exists and keep
their family together.
Where do they get the
statue from? Have they always had it? Does it come in the mail? Did they order
it from QVC? Maybe it just shows
up on their doorstep one day and they have no idea who gave it to them.
Ooh! Maybe it’s in a box addressed
to their long lost Aunt and they’re all like “What the hell? She doesn’t even
live here!”But why would they send it to the Aunt? Who sends it to them anyway? Well, I'll figure that part out later.
Okay, so three sisters who travel through time using a magic
statue that mysteriously showed up on their doorstep and they are looking for
their Aunt in order to prove she exists and keep their family together.
Do they use the statue
itself to travel or does the statue give them a magic object to travel. The time travel object should be
different from the statue, given to them by the statue. On purpose or do they
get it accidentally? Accidental
sounds more fun. It should be something strange or unusual, not cliché like a
watch. Let’s see, what’s in my
prop box? A gun? Heck no, way too
time period specific and if they travel through time by shooting that could
cause all kinds of bad situations that would be hard to explain. A teapot? Too breakable, and wouldn’t
make sense. A muffin? No, Yibble, just no. And why do I have a muffin in my
prop box? Oh it’s fake, that’s fine
then. Ooh, my fake potato! Time
traveling potato? Spudnik? No,
that’s stupid. Oh hey, that’s the
gold ball I used in the fantasy photo shoot that one time. The gold ball is
timeless, different, and shiny. Extra points for shiny. I’m going with the gold
ball.
Okay, so three sisters who travel through time using a shiny
gold ball they got from a magic statue that mysteriously showed up on their
doorstep and they are looking for their Aunt in order to prove she exists and
keep their family together.
THE CHARACTERS
I fleshed out the ideas and decided on basic character
traits for the girls based on the traditional archetypes for a three or four
person group. The basic archetypes are the Intuitive, the Intellectual, the
Active, and the Emotional, i.e. the leader, the brains, the muscle, and the
heart. I made the oldest sister
both the Intuitive and the Active, the middle sister became the Intellectual,
and the youngest was the Emotional.
I don’t remember why I named them after characters in
Roman/Greek mythology, but I wanted them to share traits with their namesakes.
Minerva is the Roman Goddess of Wisdom and War (and Arts and Crafts), so that
was a perfect name for the middle child. I wanted Minerva to be very smart, but
also silly and strange and kind of crazy at times. She’s basically a Mary Sue with a couple of screws loose,
and Morgan played her to perfection.
I’ve always liked the name Persephone and the youngest being
named after the Goddess of Spring worked well. Plus Persephone married Hades,
the god of the Underworld, so I could have her be drawn to the bad boy types. However
I had to give her a nickname – Peri – because always calling her Persephone
seemed long and awkward. I had fun
writing all the characters, but Peri is actually my favorite to write because
she’s such a deliciously dumb diva.
She’s a total ditz, and personally I think she gets all the best lines.
And then there’s Atlanta. Yeah, I got the name wrong. It
should have been Atalanta, not Atlanta. In Greek mythology Atalanta is a
beautiful princess, but she is a strong and fiercely competitive athlete who
doesn’t want to get married. I thought I remembered the name correctly so I
didn’t bother looking it up until much later – like years later. That’s why
she’s named after a city instead of a mythical badass female athlete. My bad.
Oh well, it’s way too late to change it now.
By the beginning of August I was ready to start writing. Although thinking up the idea was a
slow process, writing the scripts was not. I wrote each script as an hour-long episode. Even though I knew I would be editing
them into half-hour episodes I didn’t feel that 24-26 pages would be enough
time for a good, solid script involving time travel. So the scripts were
written as Episodes 1-7, but through editing they became Episodes 1-14. It's a bit confusing, even for more, but it's not nearly as confusing as the episode numbering for Pandora's Box, so...um...that's something. I guess.
I wrote the first three scripts (Episodes 1-6) in five days,
and the first seven scripts (Episodes 1-14) in two weeks. That’s crazy fast. I
was clearly in a manic phase at the time.
Once I had figured out the basic concept and started typing, the scripts
pretty much wrote themselves. I’m
not kidding. Writing the first seven scripts – especially the first three – was
like watching the TV show in my head.
I couldn’t stop writing because I wanted to know what happened next.
The first part where they get the statue, the gold ball
appears, and they travel through time accidentally were all planned. Even
meeting their Aunt Camilla was planned, of course. What wasn’t planned was the
male character who turned out to also be a time traveler. When I was writing the scene where the
sisters are captured and confronted by one of the villagers, and he reveals to
them that he is also a time traveler, I was like WTF? Who the hell is this guy? They’re reactions to him in the scene were basically my
reactions to his character showing up in the first place.
I decided that the Berry (aka the Gift Bearer) was a
trickster and that any “gift” from him would be fickle. I thought it would be funny if the gold
ball rarely took them to whatever period in time they wanted to be, or if they got to the right time they ended up in an awkward situation, like in the middle of a lake. They could plan to be in 15th
century France and end up in 18th century Illinois, which is exactly
what happens in the second script (episodes 3-4). I planned that.
What I didn’t plan was that time traveler guy showing up again.
I don't think he even had a name in the initial rough drafts of the first two episodes, I just called him "X" which led to Xavier (which is a name I've always liked anyway). I have a very clear memory of writing the scene where he
appears for the first time in the episode and recognizes the girls. He groans
and talks about all the times he’s met them before and how they keep messing
things up for him. I was just sitting there typing it going WTF?!? He’s met them how many times? Victorian
fiasco? What the hell is going on?!?
This happened again when he confronts them in the attic and
calls their bluff. That was a
problem for me because I didn’t know how to give the girls the upper hand in a
situation Xavier was already familiar with and prepared for. I hate it when my
characters suddenly become smarter then me. It makes things complicated (General
Leffridge did the same thing to me while writing Episode 3 of Pandora’s Box). I wrote that episode in record time because I really wanted to know who that guy was, what he was doing there, and how he fit into the series as a whole. After I had written the first seven scripts I had to go back and make sure that
everything foreshadowed by Xavier happened and made sense, since Xavier had a
different timeline.
Even then I got things wrong, the best example being that in
Episode 8 when Crumby says that he was captured by the sisters Xavier asks him,
“did they hide in a corner and hit you with a mirror?” but Peri doesn’t
actually do that to Xavier until after that point in his timeline. Crumby rejoins the Echelon in Episode
8, but when Xavier is hit with a mirror by Peri in Episode 9 Xavier and Crumby
are working together. Does that
make sense? Basically, I messed up.
When it came time to head back to SIU at the end of August,
I knew I wanted to film the Gift Bearer and was both excited and ready to make
it happen. I was the Director of SPC-TV at the time and unfortunately in my
eagerness to film the Gift Bearer I did a bad job being in charge of the TV
station. It took me all semester
to realize that though.
Anyway, I had done some casting in my head by this point and
I had decided that the five main actors I was going to cast in the lead parts
for TOASTT were going to be the leads for The Gift Bearer. I probably should have asked the actors
how they felt about that first.
The original cast (in my head) was Michelle Chapman as Atlanta, Morgan
Thomas as Minerva, Brittany Ann Whalen as Peri, Mike D as Xavier, and Michael
Meyer as Crumby. Although Morgan,
Brittany, and Michael were willing and able to play Minerva, Peri, and Crumby,
Michelle and Mike D were not able to play Atlanta and Xavier, so I had to find
new people for those parts.
There were other major and minor characters that I was able
to cast without having to audition them.
When Morgan introduced me to her sister, LT, I immediately decided that
she had to play Camilla. She was a
really great actress who did a wonderful job in the part. Unfortunately LT
wanted to play Morgana and wasn’t sure she wanted to take on such a big role. I
managed to convince her, with Morgan’s help, and I’m glad I did (although I
don’t know if she is. I think she still wishes she could have played Morgana).
I cast Morgan’s boyfriend as Minerva’s boyfriend Tez (for
obvious reasons), and got Paul
Costello to play Loki, one of Drake’s henchmen. I also talked Mike H into playing Blackheart, the main
villain in Episodes 3 & 4. I asked Ja’e DeSoto to play Victor Drake, the primary villain of season 1, and he agreed Whatever else you may say about him, he did a kick ass job playing Drake. Seriously, he played the character with just the right amount of smirk and sleaze.
Two of the characters in the third script (Episodes 5 &
6) were going to be played by actors from CU who were planning to travel down
to Carbondale to film with us for one weekend – Annamarie MacLeod as Dimitria,
the villain’s henchman/sidekick, and Margaret Olson as Venitia, aka the sisters’
mother. I wrote the parts in that
script specifically for those two. I can’t remember if Annamarie wanted to play
an evil sidekick or just wanted to participate and was willing to play any
part. However, I do remember that Margaret wanted to play a character who was
clumsy which is why Venitia is always bumping into things and tripping over her
tunic.
I decided to hold auditions to fill out the rest of the
cast. This was the first and only time I have ever actually held auditions for
any of my productions. I wrote up
monologues for each character that I needed to cast. I also had short dialogue scenes written so that I could
test the chemistry between the person being auditioned and those already cast,
primarily the sisters. I needed to
make sure that the person cast as Atlanta would work well with Morgan and
Brittany, who helped out in the casting process.
I really regret not having taped the auditions. I meant to, but didn’t, and I so wish I
had because there were some awesome performances. Russell was a brand new member of SPC-TV and I had my eye on
him as a possible actor to play Xavier, but when he did the audition it blew me
away. He was amazing and I knew he
would be perfect for the part.
Russell is an incredible actor, versatile and professional, and I very
lucky to be able to work with him.
I can’t imagine anyone else playing that part.
The character of General, who doesn’t appear until Episode
13, was originally written to be a male character but I’m open to switching
genders for characters where gender doesn’t really matter. When LaQuesha Harris performed
General’s monologue, she was beyond amazing. She actually scared me with her ferocity and although the
monologue was never intended to be used in the script I had to find a way to write
it into a future episode because she was phenomenal.
The character was expanded just because I wanted to see her
do more. To this day LaQuesha is one of the most talented actors I have ever
worked with and I would jump at the chance to work with her again. She was in
the acting program at SIUC and should be staring in major motion pictures by
now but I don’t think she ever got her big break, which is a very sad thing for
the rest of the world. Everyone should be able to see how amazing she is. She does star in a movie that you can watch on Amazon and other streaming platforms called The Gift of Grace (her stage name is now BlaQue Pearl). She's amazing - go watch it!
I knew the hardest part to cast would be Atlanta, because
she was a lead character who would need to be at almost every film shoot. I needed someone who could look like
she was Morgan and Brittany’s sister, who was comfortable playing a lead role,
and could devote a lot of time to the production. We filmed almost every
weekend and some times on week days or evenings as well. That’s a tall order to
fill. There were two women at the audition who were both really talented and had good chemistry with Morgan and Brittany.
Technically speaking Latasha did a
better job at the audition, but this is one of the few times I could not cast
colorblind. I hate the fact that I couldn’t cast her as Atlanta, but the other
two sisters were already cast and I wanted it to be a surprise that they had
different fathers, so they all had to look Caucasian. I cast Latasha in the second largest female role available –
Hela – and expanded it by having the character of the other Minerva (aka
Minerva II) in Episodes 5 & 6 be Hela in disguise. In the end she was only
able to play Minerva II and had to drop out of playing Hela because of the time
commitment it required.
So I cast M.W. as Atlanta and she was great. During her audition she portrayed a combination of confidence and vulnerability that worked really well for Atlanta. Also, she had wonderful chemistry with Morgan
and Brittany and they seemed to get along really well. I was excited to start filming.
Other characters cast at the auditions were Morgana and Taget, Shaw the villain from Episodes 1 &
2, Verner and Will the henchmen in Episodes 3 & 4 (played
by R. A. and Ryan Homberg respectively), Electrode,
and Genna There were still some characters that hadn’t been cast, but I figured I
could cast them later (i.e. grab some poor crew person and fling them in front
of the camera).
I think we only got through the first five scripts at the read through though. It was great to see how everyone interacted and it felt like I was doing a real TV show somehow.
I scheduled the first weekend of shooting. On Friday evening we would film five
scenes from Episodes 9, 10, & 11 with just the sisters to get M.W.,
Morgan, and Brittany used to working together before our first big, long out of
town shoot for Episodes 1 & 2 at Fort Massac on Saturday. We would conclude
our first full weekend by shooting the law office scenes in Episodes 7 & 8
on Sunday.
I fleshed out the ideas and decided on basic character
traits for the girls based on the traditional archetypes for a three or four
person group. The basic archetypes are the Intuitive, the Intellectual, the
Active, and the Emotional, i.e. the leader, the brains, the muscle, and the
heart. I made the oldest sister
both the Intuitive and the Active, the middle sister became the Intellectual,
and the youngest was the Emotional.
I’ve always liked the name Persephone and the youngest being
named after the Goddess of Spring worked well. Plus Persephone married Hades,
the god of the Underworld, so I could have her be drawn to the bad boy types. However
I had to give her a nickname – Peri – because always calling her Persephone
seemed long and awkward. I had fun
writing all the characters, but Peri is actually my favorite to write because
she’s such a deliciously dumb diva.
She’s a total ditz, and personally I think she gets all the best lines.
And then there’s Atlanta. Yeah, I got the name wrong. It
should have been Atalanta, not Atlanta. In Greek mythology Atalanta is a
beautiful princess, but she is a strong and fiercely competitive athlete who
doesn’t want to get married. I thought I remembered the name correctly so I
didn’t bother looking it up until much later – like years later. That’s why
she’s named after a city instead of a mythical badass female athlete. My bad.
Oh well, it’s way too late to change it now. THE SCRIPT
By the beginning of August I was ready to start writing. Although thinking up the idea was a
slow process, writing the scripts was not. I wrote each script as an hour-long episode. Even though I knew I would be editing
them into half-hour episodes I didn’t feel that 24-26 pages would be enough
time for a good, solid script involving time travel. So the scripts were
written as Episodes 1-7, but through editing they became Episodes 1-14. It's a bit confusing, even for more, but it's not nearly as confusing as the episode numbering for Pandora's Box, so...um...that's something. I guess.
The first part where they get the statue, the gold ball
appears, and they travel through time accidentally were all planned. Even
meeting their Aunt Camilla was planned, of course. What wasn’t planned was the
male character who turned out to also be a time traveler. When I was writing the scene where the
sisters are captured and confronted by one of the villagers, and he reveals to
them that he is also a time traveler, I was like WTF? Who the hell is this guy? They’re reactions to him in the scene were basically my
reactions to his character showing up in the first place.
Xavier wrote himself.
I decided that the Berry (aka the Gift Bearer) was a
trickster and that any “gift” from him would be fickle. I thought it would be funny if the gold
ball rarely took them to whatever period in time they wanted to be, or if they got to the right time they ended up in an awkward situation, like in the middle of a lake. They could plan to be in 15th
century France and end up in 18th century Illinois, which is exactly
what happens in the second script (episodes 3-4). I planned that. What I didn’t plan was that time traveler guy showing up again.
I don't think he even had a name in the initial rough drafts of the first two episodes, I just called him "X" which led to Xavier (which is a name I've always liked anyway). I have a very clear memory of writing the scene where he
appears for the first time in the episode and recognizes the girls. He groans
and talks about all the times he’s met them before and how they keep messing
things up for him. I was just sitting there typing it going WTF?!? He’s met them how many times? Victorian
fiasco? What the hell is going on?!? 
This happened again when he confronts them in the attic and
calls their bluff. That was a
problem for me because I didn’t know how to give the girls the upper hand in a
situation Xavier was already familiar with and prepared for. I hate it when my
characters suddenly become smarter then me. It makes things complicated (General
Leffridge did the same thing to me while writing Episode 3 of Pandora’s Box). I wrote that episode in record time because I really wanted to know who that guy was, what he was doing there, and how he fit into the series as a whole. After I had written the first seven scripts I had to go back and make sure that
everything foreshadowed by Xavier happened and made sense, since Xavier had a
different timeline. 
Even then I got things wrong, the best example being that in
Episode 8 when Crumby says that he was captured by the sisters Xavier asks him,
“did they hide in a corner and hit you with a mirror?” but Peri doesn’t
actually do that to Xavier until after that point in his timeline. Crumby rejoins the Echelon in Episode
8, but when Xavier is hit with a mirror by Peri in Episode 9 Xavier and Crumby
are working together. Does that
make sense? Basically, I messed up.
Writing the first seven scripts for the Gift Bearer,
especially the first three, is an experience that I will never forget. It was a
magical creative moment in my life where the characters and scenes wrote
themselves and I felt like I was just along for the ride.
CASTING
When it came time to head back to SIU at the end of August,
I knew I wanted to film the Gift Bearer and was both excited and ready to make
it happen. I was the Director of SPC-TV at the time and unfortunately in my
eagerness to film the Gift Bearer I did a bad job being in charge of the TV
station. It took me all semester
to realize that though. 
Anyway, I had done some casting in my head by this point and
I had decided that the five main actors I was going to cast in the lead parts
for TOASTT were going to be the leads for The Gift Bearer. I probably should have asked the actors
how they felt about that first.
The original cast (in my head) was Michelle Chapman as Atlanta, Morgan
Thomas as Minerva, Brittany Ann Whalen as Peri, Mike D as Xavier, and Michael
Meyer as Crumby. Although Morgan,
Brittany, and Michael were willing and able to play Minerva, Peri, and Crumby,
Michelle and Mike D were not able to play Atlanta and Xavier, so I had to find
new people for those parts. 
There were other major and minor characters that I was able
to cast without having to audition them.
When Morgan introduced me to her sister, LT, I immediately decided that
she had to play Camilla. She was a
really great actress who did a wonderful job in the part. Unfortunately LT
wanted to play Morgana and wasn’t sure she wanted to take on such a big role. I
managed to convince her, with Morgan’s help, and I’m glad I did (although I
don’t know if she is. I think she still wishes she could have played Morgana).
I cast Morgan’s boyfriend as Minerva’s boyfriend Tez (for
obvious reasons), and got Paul
Costello to play Loki, one of Drake’s henchmen. I also talked Mike H into playing Blackheart, the main
villain in Episodes 3 & 4. I asked Ja’e DeSoto to play Victor Drake, the primary villain of season 1, and he agreed Whatever else you may say about him, he did a kick ass job playing Drake. Seriously, he played the character with just the right amount of smirk and sleaze.
Two of the characters in the third script (Episodes 5 &
6) were going to be played by actors from CU who were planning to travel down
to Carbondale to film with us for one weekend – Annamarie MacLeod as Dimitria,
the villain’s henchman/sidekick, and Margaret Olson as Venitia, aka the sisters’
mother. I wrote the parts in that
script specifically for those two. I can’t remember if Annamarie wanted to play
an evil sidekick or just wanted to participate and was willing to play any
part. However, I do remember that Margaret wanted to play a character who was
clumsy which is why Venitia is always bumping into things and tripping over her
tunic.
I decided to hold auditions to fill out the rest of the
cast. This was the first and only time I have ever actually held auditions for
any of my productions. I wrote up
monologues for each character that I needed to cast. I also had short dialogue scenes written so that I could
test the chemistry between the person being auditioned and those already cast,
primarily the sisters. I needed to
make sure that the person cast as Atlanta would work well with Morgan and
Brittany, who helped out in the casting process. 
I really regret not having taped the auditions. I meant to, but didn’t, and I so wish I
had because there were some awesome performances. Russell was a brand new member of SPC-TV and I had my eye on
him as a possible actor to play Xavier, but when he did the audition it blew me
away. He was amazing and I knew he
would be perfect for the part.
Russell is an incredible actor, versatile and professional, and I very
lucky to be able to work with him.
I can’t imagine anyone else playing that part.
The character of General, who doesn’t appear until Episode
13, was originally written to be a male character but I’m open to switching
genders for characters where gender doesn’t really matter. When LaQuesha Harris performed
General’s monologue, she was beyond amazing. She actually scared me with her ferocity and although the
monologue was never intended to be used in the script I had to find a way to write
it into a future episode because she was phenomenal. 
The character was expanded just because I wanted to see her
do more. To this day LaQuesha is one of the most talented actors I have ever
worked with and I would jump at the chance to work with her again. She was in
the acting program at SIUC and should be staring in major motion pictures by
now but I don’t think she ever got her big break, which is a very sad thing for
the rest of the world. Everyone should be able to see how amazing she is. She does star in a movie that you can watch on Amazon and other streaming platforms called The Gift of Grace (her stage name is now BlaQue Pearl). She's amazing - go watch it!
I knew the hardest part to cast would be Atlanta, because
she was a lead character who would need to be at almost every film shoot. I needed someone who could look like
she was Morgan and Brittany’s sister, who was comfortable playing a lead role,
and could devote a lot of time to the production. We filmed almost every
weekend and some times on week days or evenings as well. That’s a tall order to
fill. There were two women at the audition who were both really talented and had good chemistry with Morgan and Brittany. 
Technically speaking Latasha did a
better job at the audition, but this is one of the few times I could not cast
colorblind. I hate the fact that I couldn’t cast her as Atlanta, but the other
two sisters were already cast and I wanted it to be a surprise that they had
different fathers, so they all had to look Caucasian. I cast Latasha in the second largest female role available –
Hela – and expanded it by having the character of the other Minerva (aka
Minerva II) in Episodes 5 & 6 be Hela in disguise. In the end she was only
able to play Minerva II and had to drop out of playing Hela because of the time
commitment it required.
So I cast M.W. as Atlanta and she was great. During her audition she portrayed a combination of confidence and vulnerability that worked really well for Atlanta. Also, she had wonderful chemistry with Morgan
and Brittany and they seemed to get along really well. I was excited to start filming. 
Other characters cast at the auditions were Morgana and Taget, Shaw the villain from Episodes 1 &
2, Verner and Will the henchmen in Episodes 3 & 4 (played
by R. A. and Ryan Homberg respectively), Electrode,
and Genna There were still some characters that hadn’t been cast, but I figured I
could cast them later (i.e. grab some poor crew person and fling them in front
of the camera).
Once everything was ready and the cast list was assembled,
the actors gathered together for a big, long read through of the first seven
scripts, except a few people like Annamarie and Margaret.
I think we only got through the first five scripts at the read through though. It was great to see how everyone interacted and it felt like I was doing a real TV show somehow.
I scheduled the first weekend of shooting. On Friday evening we would film five
scenes from Episodes 9, 10, & 11 with just the sisters to get M.W.,
Morgan, and Brittany used to working together before our first big, long out of
town shoot for Episodes 1 & 2 at Fort Massac on Saturday. We would conclude
our first full weekend by shooting the law office scenes in Episodes 7 & 8
on Sunday.
That was the plan.
It didn’t work out that way.
Well, it sort of did, but not exactly. Let’s just say there
were some major setbacks and serious problems that would have a lasting impact
on the show. I almost had to
cancel the whole production just when we were about to start.
Tune in next month for
The Gift Bearer, Part 2 – The First Half of Production, where we’ll find out who really played Atlanta, meet some reenactors
when we film in a few forts, drown in costumes, and take an amazing trip to
shoot in an amazing place. Oh, and Yibble goes crazy. Again. (Damn it Yibble!)
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