I’ve seemingly disappeared from my own Purplog! In reality, my “technical support”, the Purple People VP of Production took a leave of absence from Purple People (mostly, she dropped in occasionally!) to attend film school this past year.

Happily, I became part of that journey and was the Executive Producer, Co-Producer, Co-Writer and Director of the 2nd Unit of Tami Pivnick’s thesis film, “Let It Begin! A Filmmaker’s Journey!” In an effort to keep this “welcome back” message brief, I’ll save detailing that experience for future Purplogs, and yes, I promise to stay more current. (Tami fixed my technical problem that was preventing me from writing on my PURPLOG Well, Tami’s almost there. The FINAL version of the film will be shown at the ZAKI GORDON Film Institute “Shorts Film Festival” on Sat., May 29th and Sun., May 30th. Stay posted as I will update the site with the exact times her film will be showing. ZGI is located in Sedona, AZ. I hope many of you will be able to attend.

Tami’s film is an inspiring and warm documentary of her journey to fulfill her passion to become a filmmaker as she connects with others through the love of film and a shared insight that life can begin anew at age 50. Tami’s documentary uses the Sedona International Film Festival as its back-drop. Through this past 9 months, Tami met and connected with, through in-person interviews and many meaningful personal exchanges with Michael Moore, Doris Roberts, Alba Francesca, James Karen, Tony Curtis, Robert Osborne,
Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Connie Stevens, David Rasche, Mary Fisher (Artist and AIDS Activist) and other filmmakers (including those from “Ana’s Playground” –watch next year’s Academy Awards for exciting news about this Short Documentary) and “The Red Machine.”).

“Let It Begin! A Filmmaker’s Journey” has an original score with title song, “Let It Begin” and other musical components by Composer/Musician/Songwriter Suzie Schomaker.

My lesson in all of this? Well, there are many. One has been that people truly want to be helpful and loving. We shot with two cameras, two crews consecutively, and have over 48 hours of footage. My original goal was to do a low-budget film and to prove that through connections and the premise that we all want to help each other succeed on our various journeys through life, we could do this film on a budget of $200. With A LOT of donations of service (like ALL the music and mixing and dozens of hours DONATED) and lots of delicious food to feed the crew DONATED, and using students to crew the film for dozens of hours of hard work DONATED, and one professional DP for some of the footage DONATED and having Tami’s talent able to do ALL the Logging and Editing and initial sound mixing, color mixing HERSELF…my goal was met!

Having never produced a film, I learned so much about the film industry, the process of making a film, the art of successful producing (which is all about the basics of Purple People’s Philosophy- “Honor Our
Differences and Cherish Our Similarities” and MOSTLY, and Treat others as you want to be treated. Many, many doors were opened to some amazing opportunities.

We’re still in the final days of the final prep of the film for this Festival. As I promised, please stay posted as the next few weeks will be filled with much information on the times of the film’s screening and the details of this past 9 months that have truly changed our lives in such a positive way.

Purple People is expanding and entering the very exciting medium of FILM… which will allow our positive messages to be “heard” by an even greater audience!

In the meantime, please continue to support Purple People through your interest and purchase of our two Award-winning books, “Purple Love” and “Purple Puppy.”

Love and light, Susan