I had the great pleasure of hanging out this week with two women that both unknowingly inspired Stunt Mom so I thought this would be a great opportunity to share.
The phrase "Stunt Mom®" was coined by commercial Casting Director Stacy Osnow-Gallo who referred to me that way once she discovered my background in stunts. The idea to write a short film with that title was put in my head by my amazing acting coach Bill Timoney, when I told him what Stacy had called me. But honestly, that could have been the end of it because writing, producing and starring in your own short film is a lot of hard work, expensive and time consuming for anyone, especially a busy mom.
I found myself becoming intrigued by the idea and I started to really get inspired by women making their own films, first off was Hollis 'Fox' Wansley with her film "Night Runner" currently in post-prod. I had to meet her and talk to her about it even though I knew that I couldn't do what she did. Then I came across, Natalie Kim with "See Me See You" that I had the chance to see and was completely blown away, by her acting and the level of production. I thought it was taken out of a major motion picture. Every aspect was stellar. I had to meet her! So we found a time for a Skype meeting. We had a wonderful conversation and she shared quite a bit with me about the process and I was left feeling like, "well, she's amazing but I still can't do that, because I have 2 kids." After we got off the phone and she texted me, oh by the way, I also have two kids and my youngest is a 10 month old baby! Yikes! That blew me away! She's a mom and not just mom, but a mom of a baby, and she did that! Well, I can't use that as an excuse anymore. Then I started coming across these other moms that are creating their own work and using their MOM experience as part of their work. Liz Grosinger Samuel created a webseries called "Momtress" she's an actress and a mom. We actually did a commercial together but never met on set and discovered each other after it aired. Dina Drew Duva has a network called Mom Cave TV and wrote and produced a short called "Mama Drama." And Jeanine Bartel is the producer of a hysterical webseries called "Mother Judger." These women inspire me! Gotta love the Momtress, Mama Drama, Mother Judger names and add am thrilled to add Stunt Mom to the mix!
Then I realized that my age and motherhood are not excuses! I have mom friends who are still currently working as professional Stunt Women, Amy Jordan, Marybeth Ortiz, and Caroline Leppanen Vexler to name a few. And I have a mom friend who got into the BEST shape of her life at 50 years old, Tracy Kay Griffin's body seems impossible! Her stomach is a washboard and the rest of her is chiseled to match. She didn't make excuses, she did it!
All these women are amazing and whether they know it or not, they inspired me to make Stunt Mom! And I did it! I'm so proud of myself but I couldn't have done without inspiration.
SO THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!

Oh, the post production fun! I admit it, I started with the fun stuff. First I started researching the deadlines for Film Festivals. Fun, but time consuming, so I took a break. Then I though, wait, I gotta get this baby on IMDB. So I opened up the page and 2 hours later it was submitted. Yep, that's how long it took to fill everything out. Is that why some people don't submit their projects to IMDB? I don't know, but I am glad that I did it because now, it's on. It makes me so happy to see my film, my silly idea, turn into something real. Then today I got together with Shannon who is not only the Director but also the editor. She has completed the first rough cut of the film. By the way, that is like, record time. People just don't usually get it done that fast. So we watched it through and made a few decisions on what to extend, to trim to ... whatever. But I will mention a very important moment. After we filmed, she asked me how involved I wanted to be in the editing process and I'm grateful that I'm smart enough to know the answer. I answered, "very little." So all those amazing cuts from all those takes, were all put together by Shannon. I got to come in at the last minute to make a few tweaks. I guess that is one of the perks of being the Producer, but as the star, it is hard to be objective about your work as an actor. And just like we did on set, we worked together very well and we are that much closer to our finished product. There is still much more to come and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you. But for now, check us out on IMDB.