When You Are Feeling Blue And Everyone Else is Wearing White.

Synopsis

Julie thought she was with the love of her life. She thought she would finally be the bride instead of the bridesmaid. But things didn’t go according to plan. Mending a broken heart is never easy, but it’s even harder when you are surrounded by blushing brides aglow with love. How will Julie get through another wedding toast to the “happy couple” when all she wants to do is burst into tears?

Director’s Notes

In the making of Wedding For One, it was my goal as a director to find the deep emotion connected to the loss of love and humanize what so many women experience into a touching and poignant story of hope. In addition, it was exciting to work with HD technology and experiment with new filmmaking techniques on this project (and it was good fun to work with the dogs). Although, it was a challenging project the cast and crew stepped up to the challenge and made it a seeming effortless production. Many thanks to Jenny, Nicholas and Mary Alexandra for all your invaluable input in every way.

Writer’s Notes

Who would have thought that something so painful could turn into something so productive? Well, that’s what happened. It was “wedding season”, and there I was at the end of a long relationship. I had pictured myself wearing the white gown, but instead I was once again in the “ever-popular-lilac-bridesmaid-dress”. It’s hard to make a toast to the happy couple when all you feel like doing is crying in your champagne. Wedding For One, popped out of me one night while I was stuck in traffic on the 405. It had been months since my ex and I had broken up, but every now and then I would breakdown with a terrible pang of loneliness and hurt. So when I finally arrived at my destination that night, I parked the car and began writing. In fifteen minutes, I had an outline for a short film. That was enough to start the ball rolling and four months later we were making the film.

There hadn’t been any idea that compelled me write until now but suddenly I felt the urgent need to express myself. I needed to get it out! Once I had the story on the page, I thought, “This can’t be that hard to make!” So I started by meeting with Kristina, who agreed to direct and we created a shooting schedule. With the shoot dates solidified, reality set in and we put together our production team and cast. SAG was very helpful guiding me through all of their paperwork (it’s a long process!). Friends jumped in to help with locations, props, costumes, and acting. The final weeks leading up to the shoot were pretty crazy and for a minute I wondered what I had gotten myself into, but once the first day of filming started, I couldn’t stop pinching myself. My hope is that people will be entertained and that people find something they relate to in the character of Julie. Whether it’s the feeling of suddenly being alone or the frustrations of being the eternal bridesmaid, her story is not that uncommon. What she discovers is that even though she feels alone, she’s not. There are people all around her who care. Even strangers on the 405 in rush hour traffic!

Production Notes

Wedding For One was shot by Director of Photography, Nicholas Leland, on the new Canon HD XLH1 as well as a Sony DCR-PC330. Created on a minimal budget, Wedding For One was made possible through the generous contributions of friends, family and the artistic community. This is the first cinematic endeavor combining this dynamic team of female Director/Writer/Producers, who have been friends since their UCLA days.

Interesting Facts

• All three women who helmed this project are native Californians and attended UCLA school of Theater, Film and Television together.
• Wedding For One was shot on one of the first XLH1 HD cameras of its type to be released for independent use in the State of California.
• The first draft of the script for Wedding For One was written in less than 30 minutes on scratch paper in Jenny’s car. *The filmmakers were ambitious in creating the visual effects for Wedding For One. They used HD technology, mixed media, voice over, green screen, 8 locations, 2 dogs and staged 4 weddings.
• As a nod to their favorite acting teacher at UCLA, Joe Olivieri, Jenny’s character, Julie, has his same last name.
• The some of the jewelry “Julie” wears in the weddings was designed and created by Producer, Mary Alexandra.
• This is Linus Jojo (the dog) Martin’s acting debut. He was of great help to the filmmakers on this endeavor and his friend Roxy (the dog) Bodensteiner enjoyed her cameo as well.
• Christopher, Jenny and Mary Alexandra were all studying and working in London at the same time.
• Christopher and Jenny went to Palo Alto High School together.