Day One: A Prelude

The start of something real

Now, even though this is technically “Day One,” let me be clear—this journey began long before our first casting offer went out.

It was 2017. I was living in Baltimore, awake in the dead of night, outlining a script while grieving two major losses in my family. These weren’t just personal. They shifted something deep in me. I couldn’t fully explain it then, and truthfully, I’m still unpacking it now. But that grief cracked something open, and in that space, this story was born.

Over the years, I dabbled with the material. Then let it rest. Then picked it back up. I’ve learned the hard way: if a story isn’t haunting me, I let it be until it is. And when it is, I go all in.

By 2021, during the quiet disorientation of COVID, I was finishing up a how-to book I never released, juggling client work and developing a slate of new projects. And that story—the one that started in 2017—came back. Loud. Unrelenting. In early 2022, I had a full draft.

That’s when the hustle began.

If you’re a self-made writer or indie filmmaker, you know this part. Emails. Meetings. Pitch decks. Cold calls. Soft passes. I sent it to everyone I knew and plenty of people I didn’t. There was even an eerie thematic overlap with the pandemic. I'd written about something similar before the world shut down. No surprise there. Stories know before we do.

By mid-2023, I thought I’d found a home for the project. It wasn’t ideal, but it was something. I held on, stayed loyal, waited it out. Meanwhile, another team expressed serious interest. I didn’t jump. Integrity matters to me, especially in an industry that often rewards the opposite.

Once things cleared with the first group, I stepped forward. Gratefully. One of the trusted freelance producers from that arrangement continued on the path with me, helping to further develop the feature.

Since mid-2024, we’ve been building this thing piece by piece. Creating the framework. Setting foundations. Dealing with the unpredictable chaos that is early-stage development. The stop-start rhythm of indie filmmaking is brutal. One day it’s full steam ahead. The next, dead air. Then it’s back. Then gone. It messes with your nervous system in ways no one warns you about.

It felt like being in an ER room. The project had a pulse, then it didn’t. Then it did. Then silence. Then maybe.

But we kept going. My producer, an absolute legend, helped steady the ship. With strategy. With vision. With grit.

Cut to early 2025. A trusted casting director came on board. Someone who really saw the story. And just like that, we were back in motion.

As of today, our first casting offer is officially out.

We’ve been building and rebuilding lists for weeks. Cutting them down. Rethinking them. Starting fresh. But we’re here now. And this is where the real journey begins.

This docu-journal is called From Day One. It’s not a brand. It’s not a gimmick. It’s a promise. I’ll share the process as it happens—casting, prep, production, post, and eventually, release.

The good. The gritty. The doubt. The breakthroughs. It won’t be polished. It won’t be filtered. But it will be honest.

Thanks for reading. And welcome to Day One.

And as for that first offer… Stay tuned.

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