Sitting week after week in our directors group: Directors and Actors. I saw some incredible work. DnA is a diverse group of directors working in film, television and theater who meet weekly to explore the craft of directing actors. i was inspired creatively every week and ideas started bouncing around in my head. Nothing took hold till I came up with the idea, but it took me a few years.

Our little director group would gather at the 'high end' rehearsal and audition places around New York City. The oder of mold, failed auditions and the energy of a possible dream come true permeated our work spaces.

The main goal of DnA’s members is to sharpen directing skills. We focus on expanding our ability to listen and to communicate effectively with actors. We examine different approaches to our craft through occasional workshops with prominent acting and directing teachers. We inspire and learn from each other’s work through feedback and critique in an environment that supports exploration, creativity and risk taking for both directors and actors. DnA is based on Judith Weston's "Directing Actors." The book encourages directors to avoid directing pitfalls while allowing for personal style. In fact, it includes overviews of many schools of acting and their histories.

Directors and Actors is a great training ground, especially if you are stuck in your own head after completing more than one project. For me it was great to see how other directors would work, think and inspire actors, to their vision, with the written word.

SCHEDULE of a DnA TYPICAL EVENING

DIRECTORS HOUR

4 quadrants, 20 minutes each

1st QUAD: Director works with actors

2nd QUAD: Director receives director's feedback from other directors, (sometimes this only lasts 10-15 minutes if the director wants more time with the actors)

3rd QUAD: Director reworks with actors using director's feedback

4th QUAD: 10 minutes - Actor’s feedback

10 minutes - Director’s feedback (We usually go over a bit so the 10 minutes that should be left get used up)
8:30-8:35 - 5 minute break. During the break, bring the round robin actors into space and make them comfortable, give them a quick overview of round robin.

ROUND ROBIN

8:35-9:40 - 5 or 6 directors at 12 minutes each do their round robin.
Depending on how much time is left: 15 minutes actor's feedback, 15 minutes director's feedback. Feedback is an essential part of DnA.

The exercises called 'round robin' was where the idea for The Wonder Project started. We would take an hour and a half out of the 3 hours and give each director 10 to 15 minutes to work with usually two actors from a previously produced 3 page movie scene. There I saw Thelma pick up Louise in a bar, from the filmed screenplay. I saw it AND it worked. You're thinking yeah right.. The round robin really opened up my mind on what is possible within a scene and that it's OK to explore and fail.

The'Round Robin' exercises always left me with quite an impression that the idea to do a film started to germinate. We were a group of directors, just stretching our ideas in rehearsal spaces, But not actually making anything.

Sitting down in the local public library I worked on a script that would not only challenge the director, but be able to bridge many different genres using the exact same lines of dialogue. I wrote.. and then re-wrote and re-wrote. It occurred to me during this part of the process, that there should be some specific difficult lines of dialogue. These, I thought, would be the keys to the viewer's enjoyment of how the lines are said within each movie. So I re-wrote again, using inspiration from Stevie Wonder to Oscar Wilde to 50's horror movies. How does it all work out? That's for you to see and judge for yourself.

Below are just a few of the Wonder Project rules should any director from DnA be interested in joining the process. We had many directors interested, then dropped out for one reason or another. Then we picked up a few and lost a few. We finally settled with 9 directors and 10 visions of the words in action.

The rules.

Rule #1 :There can be as many characters and locations as you want. You can add laughs, screams, falls or any props anywhere in the script. Any sentence can end any way you want (ie: question, exclamation).

Rule #2: It must make sense as a narrative and have a mood, it can not be experimental.

Rule #3: It has to be shot in a 16/9 format, Any camera you want.

Rule #4: It must have a title that uses the word “Wonder.”

Rule #5: List of locations, actors and actors phone numbers must be submitted before you shoot as well as some sort of shooting schedule. All location and actor releases will be required

Rule #6: All actors must be non-union or be willing to work non-union. There are no duplicate actors in any scenes.

Rule #7: No dialogue can change, but a line before or after can be combined (ie: WOMAN: It’s Dark. Damn. MAN: what?) Any extra lines will be cut from the final product. Final Cut is the director’s, unless otherwise stated in the rules.

Rule #8: No items (like Coke) or T-Shirts that say Nike

Rule #9: Each director gets final cut on their film, but the movie stays as a whole for 2 years, then the director can do what he/she wants.

                                                                      On set of Peggy Chane's "Wonder/Love"

You might still be thinking.. Really? Can 10 movies using the same script really be that different from each other. I can assure you they are. Seek out our little movie. Without the 9 directors, their dedicated actors and crew's inital excitement, the compilation editor Ed Roy and the brilliant Composer Ross Williams, The Wonder Project wouldn't be where it is today. I hope we can bring the surprise I had in those New York spaces to you, the viewer.

Links for more info:

Directors and Actors: directorsnactors.com

Innervisions Media: innervisionsmedia.com

Wonder Project: wonderprojectmovie.com

Judith Westons "Directing Actors" book: http://www.amazon.com/Directing-Actors-Memorable-Performances-Television/dp/0941188248/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255380944&sr=8-Ca