About Lost in Sunshine

Sun, 11/29/2009 - 08:10

You've probably visited a website for a movie before, and ours doesn't look or function the same as most.  That's because we're not just trying to be a billboard on the internet, with a trailer.  The trailer will come later! 

We're independent filmmakers, and we know we've got a snowball's chance of our movie competing in a cinema next to Iron Man 2.  Or, even at your local art house theater where perhaps you saw Waitress, Sunshine Cleaning, or Away We Go.

What to do?

We're thinking outside the box and embracing this blogging, tweeting, community-building-via-the-Web "New World" of social and digital media to reach out to you now - before we've even shot one frame of the movie. 

The idea is that we're putting on a show for you via this website.  Think of it as the Lost in Sunshine Channel over the life span of funding, creating, and distributing the movie.  We want to share our main characters and their journeys with you, here and in the movie.  We'd love for you to comment on their postings - chide them, applaud them, share your own insights.

Visit us often!  Pipe up, chime in!  Tell our characters to get their sh*t together, share a favorite inspirational quote or anecdote, or tell us you want more behind-the-scenes-of-movie-making content. 

Or, simply tell us you think everything we're doing is neat-o.  We'd really like to be neat-o. 

Oh, and, for you to see our movie when it's finished.  And, to bring lots of friends.  :)

Director's Statement

When I first began to write this story in 2007, I fell into what some call a "zone." I woke up, and had to write. I had to tell Lyn's story. All I knew is where I wanted her to go, and where I wanted her to end up - but in a real, authentic, yet bold and non-apologetic kind of way.

Lost in Sunshine deals with the emotional baggage we all carry around with us at some point in our lives. But, it's funny, too. Mostly, because life is funny. Really funny, even when it's not supposed to be. Especially when we look for answers in external forms, or through diversions, which only help push us away from the truth. We often get buried, lost beneath the debris we've accumulated over the years and haven't learned to deal with. Sometimes we're smart about our choices. Sometimes we're stupid. But every ten years warrants a reflective period, when we ask ourselves, "Is this where I thought I'd be?"

There's a definite comfort in knowing that we're not alone in making mistakes, and that if we are semi-smart and honest in our efforts to be better, we will learn from them and prevail. Might take a little trial and error... but hey, we'll get there. We'll just have more material to work with!

It’s a story about love, loss and finding stillness and light in a seemingly dark world of unruly.

– Jentri Chancey

Producer's Statement

If you'd asked me 18 months ago if this is where I thought I'd be, producing an independent film shooting in Texas while living in Minnesota, I would've said, 'Ideally, not until after my daughter turns three.'  She doesn't turn three until this April.

Jentri's script for Lost in Sunshine came to me as a script consulting gig.  Jentri was planning to approach some LA-based talent about signing on to her dream project, and she wanted to make sure that her script was the best it could be.  Six drafts together later, I felt confident she'd make a great first impression with her tighter, leaner, focused screenplay and sent along my best wishes for her trip.

I admired Jentri's talent and work ethic.  This was a writer who could absorb feedback, discuss possible solutions, and turn around an improved draft in short bursts of time.  I liked what she was trying to say, thematically, with her story.  And, the process of us working together was just so organic and fluid.

When Jentri returned from her trip, she had received so much positive feedback from her meetings, she wasn't sure which way to proceed next - but, she felt the momentum and was going somewhere.  I loved her drive (I still do).  I found myself suggesting that I come on board to produce her movie.  I told her, 'I've never produced a movie while raising a 15-month-old baby before, but if you're cool with me figuring out how to adjust as I go along, I'm all yours.' 

She was, and I am.  

- Lorie Marsh 
January 27, 2010