Casting a child for me was harder then casting the other roles. This was the first time I ever had to deal with a child. I really did not know where to start. Therefore, I turned to a director friend, who I knew recently had a child in his last feature film. He gave me a few pointers and then I proceeded to start my first round of auditions.

Since I was dealing with a heavy story-line, I wanted to be as ethical as possible in this auditioning process. I wanted to make the children feel as comfortable as possible and create a safe environment for them to let go into very sensitive material. The first day of auditions, I saw about eight kids. It was quite interesting to see the different types of parents walking into the room and how each child was quite different. A lot of the kids were more focused on the parent being in the room, then on the work. My biggest problem was finding the kid with the right look for young Matthew, and who also could take direction well.

By my second round of auditions, I called an actress friend of mine, who had a child actor and asked her advice. I explained to her the story line, and asked her opinion as a mother to what would be the most appropriate way of auditioning a child. She told me to have the parents wait outside, because sometimes the kids could get distracted with them in the room. She then proceeded to tell me that she knew of the perfect child for my project, who fit the description that I was looking for. I told her I would have to bring him in to see if he can take direction.

It was my third day of seeing kids and this was getting harder to find the right child. Finally my auditions monitor introduced Eric Wilke. He had the perfect look and was in the right age range. I was hoping he could take direction. The first thing Eric said was, “Where are my marks, and what direction do I counter to camera?” The kid impressed me right away. He came prepared, had an outgoing personality, and knew exactly what to do. A producer’s best actor. If they showed up prepared, it showed their professionalism and work ethic. We had him do a series of emotional shots and he delivered each time. What stuck out to me was that Eric, had a vulnerable, helpless, and innocent look in his eyes that reminded me of myself at his age. At last, I found “Young Matthew!”

The day of shooting, Eric had an 8:30am pick up time and a 9am call time on location on our set in the house in New Jersey. We had much to do that day and had to start quickly, trying to beat the rain storm on its way. I was totally satisfied with his work and it met my expectations more then, I could ever imagine. Eric brought the character he played to life. He worked hard under difficult circumstances and was easy going, charming, and remained very professional the entire time. If Eric keeps this up, He will be a great success.

While I was writing the script for this project, It’s Me, Matthew! I saw Michael Musto, The Village Voice columnist, guest performing at The Uprights Citizens Brigade Theater. He was absolutely hysterical and entertaining! At that moment the idea dawned on me, he would be perfect for the role of The Therapist.

When I finished the script, wanting to break typical casting trends, I decided to approach Mr. Musto about being in the film. He asked to see a copy of the script. A few days later I was thrilled to receive a response saying, “he would do the project.” I was excited that a community icon and writing legend was going to be in my film.

Mr. Musto and I had met once, prior to working together. We had a meeting scheduled and I was running behind with auditions. The door opened and in the middle of a Broadway Star’s monologue, he walked in and casually took a seat beside me. This assured me that he was getting involved in my project.

We were scheduled to start shooting the therapy scene at the Callen Lorde Community Health Center at 9am, but were unable to get into the Center until 10. Once again, I was running late with Mr. Musto. I was mortified that Mr. Musto, who preferred a later call time on a Saturday, got out of bed so early just to sit around and wait. Yet, he remained gracious and understanding of the situation. Unfased, he took a seat on an outside lawn chair, while we waited to be let into the center.

With celebrities you never know what you’re going to get, but I was delightfully surprised that Mr. Musto, was such a down-to-earth and kind person. It was an honor and a pleasure to work with “La Dolce Musto” not only a legend but a class act!

Many people asked me, what it was like to make this movie from concept to post production. I have to say, I played around with the idea in my head for over a year prior to getting started. I kept going back and forth in my head, knowing I wanted to develop this project, but just not knowing if I was going to write a book or go ahead and make it into a movie. Having a passion for film, I followed my deepest intuition, that the calling for this project was to be a film.

The next step was to actually write the script and walk the walk. I already had a vision and knew where I wanted to take the story line, therefore it was just a matter of setting it up and putting it down on paper. This was the easiest part in the whole production. It took no money and I depended on no one, but myself. It turned out to be a harder project then I expected, but I got through it.

I learned, according to other filmmakers, the biggest problem would be financing the project. I already knew from many friends that finding funding was difficult, but I was determined to make this happen come hell or high water. I was totally focused on making this happen and I new it was a big risk, but I decided that I believed in the project enough that I was going to finance the project myself.

The next step was pre-production. Everything seemed to be running smoothly and coming together. I called in many industry favors and found that many friends were excited about the project and willing to help out. I could not have done this without much of their love, help, and support. Now it was time for production. We had set up a talented cast and crew and it was just a matter of shooting the film.

The first two days of shooting ran smoothly. Except for the occasional mishap: unwanted down-pour of rain over our equipment, being locked out of our second location by two hours and setting our schedule back, loosing our parking space for the picture car and causing for creative decision making and having to work around those circumstances, but yet nothing I could not handle.

The third day was the hardest for many reasons. First, we lost one of our major location. That was disappointing and set the production back. Then by the end of the day, I was filming with a skeleton crew in a extremely tight location. The crew had to haul the heavy equipment up six flights of stairs with no elevator. The crew was exhausted, but yet continued to work under those difficult circumstances. Taking us way over a fourteen hours work day. After dealing with stressful difficulties, little sleep, having to live through a highly emotional scene the day before, and having to juggle all the different responsibilities that the production entailed. I was so relieved that that day was over. I had to take two days off to recover before resuming our final day of filming.

Finally post production was quite tedious. After sitting through forty hours of dailies, picking out the right music to fit the project, and going through another eighty hours of editing. I was ready for this to come to an end. I had to push myself to meet the deadline that I had originally set for myself, in order to get this film out on time and “in the cann”. Already as it is, I was two months behind the schedule, which I set in pre-production. There was no more time to waste.

Looking back on the process, as a first time filmmaker. I am so happy and thankful, I had a fantastic team of people behind me, and friends and family, who were totally supportive of my project. Having been in the entertainment industry for over eight years, I thought I had already a good knowledge of filmmaking, but the truth is I learned so much more making this short film. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a career in the industry, because it gave me insight into every aspect of production and gave me a better understanding and appreciation of all aspects of the process.

I hope you enjoy reading this and I look forward to your feedback.

Always,

Michael

Hi Visitors,

Happy New Year! I want to thank you for stopping by this website. I am so grateful to have an awesome team of people behind this project, and we expect a great year to come! Everyone’s support has meant so much to me and I have a good feeling that this film, It’s Me, Matthew! will be well received.

To all those that are visiting this site for the first time, feel free to post comments…I would love to hear your thoughts.

Peace,

Michael Ferreira