Film Maker
- Planting the seeds of a filmmaker
It's evening time, in my townhouse of Lomita, California. Sitting alone in front of my television, I saw the first news flash of the notorious murder of Matthew Shepard. I sat there disturbed as the reporter gave a detailed account into Matthew's horrific kidnapping and torture as he was left for dead, tied to a lone fence for days in the plains of Laramie, Wyoming. A chill went up my spin as I thought about my own cousin, a bright, strong and beautiful woman who shared one thing in common with Matthew-- they both happened to be gay. The thought of one person laying a hand on her (or anyone) because they happened to be homosexual angered me as a martial artist and as a human being. Something awoke in me.
Ironically, I had already been working on a piece about a young couple in love during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980's. But I needed a dichotomy within the storyline. For some reason, Matthew's case and the tidal wave of political and cultural reaction became a symbolic muse to the early stages of becoming a writer and director.
I patiently started to outline the first early drafts of my screenplay, The SENSEI. By 2004, I had a solid script -a blueprint. What I didn't anticipate was the difficult journey to find a director that would protect the message of my script. Given my background and martial arts origin, I can't tell you how many people jumped to the conclusion that I wanted to make a chop-socky, b-flick. I tried to express to people that this was an "indie" film that needed to have artistic sensibilities. The Sensei was to be a character driven film with martial arts being part of the background-something in the vein of CRASH meets Boys Don't Cry. Finally, I decided to take a chance on me.
Nervous as I was, I took faith and comfort in my years as a stuntwoman and actress where I had the privilege of working on A-list studio movies and T.V projects with some of Hollywood's best directors, producers and stunt coordinators. I had the kind of first hand education that you can't buy in film school. During my time on the set, I watched, I asked and I absorbed as much as I could on every project. Little did I know that these observations would come in handy for my time as a director and producer. My "Hollywood" memory banks would serve as a daily thread of information and guidance as I directed and produced my own films.
The SENSEI has been out for a year and has earned accolades and awards but most important, it has touched lives.