This post will be brief and more personal than usual.

My private life has taken quite a hit and I’ll leave it at that…

I am graced by good health, my amazing kids, a mother with wise counsel and dear friends/colleagues.

Projects and teaching have fortified me and proven that I am not failing or falling apart. If anything they serve as a respite from life’s challenges and for that I am grateful.

I find myself being even more selective than usual when it comes to projects I’m asked to cast but not produce. It is absolutely unacceptable if there’s a trace of discrimination, potential unfair treatment/payment of actors or clients being unreceptive to inclusive casting practices.  In one week by 2 different projects, actors were either referred to as “warm bodies” and payment offered was below industry standards. The conversations I start challenge, provoke thought, educate and serve a greater purpose than simply turning down a gig.

Our 2 main projects continue to forge ahead and progress.

Filming is 90% complete for our documentary And…Seen, iaintplayin.wixsite.com/andseen  We had the pleasure to shoot a roundtable conversation with Casting Directors and pals:  Donna McKenna CSA , Joy Dewing CSA and Harley Kaplan about the challenges and progress of inclusive casting. They are pictured here with myself and subject Jamie Petrone.

My editor and friend extraordinaire, Craig Williams of Red Wall Productions, www.redwallproductions.com assembled footage for our submission to the Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness grant, http://www.nywift.org/article.aspx?id=LAS Witnessing the birth of a film which has been in the works since 2013 filled me with a feeling of promise and potential and the motivation to keep going no matter the obstacles.

The second project Barrio Boy the feature, http://cautiousfilms.com/ will be discussed in the next post. Writer/Director Dennis Shinners and Producer Crystal McIntosh have been great collaborators and friends. We go back into production August 2017 and are thrilled with our brilliant cast.

Until then as we say in Spanish:

Hasta pronto y echa pa’lante

which means see you soon & go for it!

Love- Liz