How would you describe this story, and what inspired it?

Racing Daylight is a tale of love, loss, hope... In the years I was germinating this story, writing it, my mother, brother, and sister all died in a series of wasting illnesses. Enough time for us all to speak a whole lot of truth. While it has been an incredibly painful era, it has also been one frought with great magic, many gifts. Racing Daylight is just one of them.

I will admit to writing this piece at the creek behind my home. A wonderous place which has become a major character in the film. I will also confess to finding artifacts in that creek (a ring, a paving stone, and a rusted metal contraption with the remains of a wheel) which became plot catalysts for the story itself. It's all a byproduct of this place I had come to grieve. But I will not acknowledge the rumors that it was ghosts that appeared to me, told me their stories.

Tell us a little about your writing background. What else have you written and/or produced? Is this your first feature length film?

I've written numerous spec. scripts which have generated buzz, been optioned, won awards...and I have been a writer for hire at HBO, Showtime, the networks, and Egg Pictures, but I have had no feature produced. I would say that it probably has a lot to do with how I see the world and my disinterest in churning out stereotypic premasticated renderings of life, though believe me I did try. Then one day I woke up and wondered why I was trying so hard to write away from the reasons I was hired in the first place. I guess they wanted me-lite. So it makes sense that I would ultimately produce my own work. When you're weird-wired a quirky product is perhaps more palpable than the idea of one.

Discuss the process of writing for film. Did the screenplay change at all as a result of the Makor reading in 2003? If so, how? Please discuss David's early involvement with this project.

In October 2003 I was sitting on a slab of glacial rock in the middle of the Stony Kill Creek surrounded on all sides by water. There was something in the air that day, I was noting it in my journal when Sadie popped into my head. And shortly after Grandma, Henry, and Edmund introduced themselves and we were off.

During that same time period I was obsessed with Peter Jackson's Ring Trilogy, a Tolkien-geek from an early age I even had a dog named Balin. It was one late night watching Gandalf stand down the Balrog in the mines of Moria for the 20th time that the triptych idea took hold; 3 stories to tell one.

I don't think a piece is finished until you stop writing it. So much happens in a lifetime from first finished draft to the one you shoot, I've had the luxury of updating the script whenever new ideas which improve on the exisiting come up.

Recently Strathairn asked some important questions about Henry and about the structure of the piece, and because what he said made sense and I'd been thinking about the Drifter having no contemporary character, I recently cracked it open again and a new draft is currently circulating amongst us.

I first met David Strathairn a dozen or so years ago when we read a piece for a theatre company called Actors & Writers which I would later join. He has continued to read with us, and he's so good, his everyman quintessential, that I have written many pieces with his voice in mind. See, I know he's gonna mine the part for even more than is there, so it encourages me to put a lot there. Good actors do that--they don't try to become a character, they let the character try them on for a while, tailored to fit.

I first gave David the script when he was perfoming in A Winters Tale. He said, 'It's beautiful' and has been attached since.

This story is very character driven, and you've assembled an amazing cast of actors. How did the casting fall into place? What have these actors brought to the production, besides their obvious talent?

I am very fortunate in these actors. Both Melissa and Mary Louise are members of Actors&Writers...and DS...well, we're all chums, neighbors of sorts, we're all actors...and what that brings to the project is incredible support from iconic professionals who maybe like the idea of working on something magic in their own backyards.

We have added the talents of casting directors Lina Todd and Laylee Olfat to complete the company.

The character of Sadie is so wonderfully, sharply defined. Women in particular will relate to her wry humor and the awakening of her spirit. Is she based on a real person or experience?

Sadie is a character I continue to write though her story changes as does her race and age. She's my everywoman. My me. And by that I mean she's the misfit in all of us who finds the strength to become herself despite all societal measure to the contrary. I was raised on the razor's edge of cultural reality and I hope that it is the place from which I write; with the eyes of an insider who never belonged but still flourished.

The independent film business is a difficult one. What has been the most challenging aspect of this production so far? What keeps you motivated?

The most challenging aspect of this project was in deciding to produce it myself, it's so much nicer to continue in the illusion that others care as much as I do about what I write. The rest has been potent and inspiring, I like learning new things, but try to only wear one new hat at a time in an effort not to frustrate myself and others.

To that end I have linked with experts in their respective fields; from attorney Innes Smolansky who creatively comprehends the intricacies of independant filmmaking and accountant Fred Siegel a jazz musician/accountant who helped Christine Vachon structure her company and director Mark Richardson with whom I had worked as an actor, and whose committment to art coupled with social justice is inspiring.

We have been fortunate to have funding sources come to us with creative and innovative ways of structuring our financing. And we include in that your paypal idea which has indeed garnered us prodcution donations from fans! The audience we are trying to reach. Thanks so much for that.

I'm not reinventing the wheel here and our package is strong and attractive. So far the road has been lined with generous well-wishers who see a product they would be proud to be alligned with that is also viable in the marketplace. A win-win. Goodwill and a blind certainty that this story is about something more than me, spurs me on.

This story seamlessly moves through history and spans generations. What are some of the unique challenges in filming the Civil War era scenes? How is the film kept historically accurate?

We are fortunate in the Civil War scenes to have a company of Civil War Reinactors who will camp in our meadow and do battle. The meadow has been in agricultural use for 300 years. Reinactors are meticulous in their attention to detail. They come with their own uniforms, horses, tents, armament, facial hair, etc... And we have Ingrid Price in costumes and Melanie Dimitri in make-up; both experts in period and wounds respectively.

Which filmmakers and writers inspire and influence you?

I hate this question, sorry, it's just that my tastes are so varied and ever-changing. As if somehow I feel that my answer will define me. Hmmm...at present I admire Charlie Kauffman for his vision and for paving the road for those of us with non-linear vision... John Sayles for continuing to follow his own path telling stories that peel at the layers of life... I love Austrailian films which are often quirky and stark and in your face rubbed raw journeys of simple people in everyday life... Chinese films, French films, English, American, South American, comedies, dramas, road movies, bio-pics, thrillers ... I love movies! I'm a perrenial Charlie Chaplinaholic; so physical, visual; Buster Keaton, I've had a Goddard addiction...and by writers do you mean writers or screenwriters?! You see, it's just not so simple, except that I'm not a fan of horror. Too vivid an imagination of my own to let other seeds germinate there.

I am interested in the collaborative process. As writer/producer you must rely on a director, cinematographer, editor, actors, etc to bring the story to life. How do you surround yourself with people you "trust" to tell the story the way you envision it? How hands-on are you in certain aspects of the production? Will you have creative control over the editing process, for example?

Collaboration is what film/theatre is about. It's about creating ad hoc families, little intimate units who join together for a finite amount of time, each adding their fractal to make the whole. And with that in mind I have approached friends and acquaintances who possess both genius and kindness. A compelling combination; actors who know the crew by name, the a.d. who will explain rather than yell, a director whose crew is loyal to him, his visions ... costumes, make-up, music, working with people you trust to be brilliant, because that's who they are in life.

Creative control is key. I have spent so many years without it, that now I will not let it go.

It is often said that the greatest films make use of location as character (Vertigo=San Francisco). Racing Daylight also seems to be a film with a scenic location (upstate NY) as a character/essence of the film. Please discuss.

The Hudson Valley is a character, and specifically the Rondout Valley area of the Shawangunk Ridge. There's so much American history here; from Revolutionary war battles to the Underground railroad, and that Hudson River School light which makes everything glow from the inside out. The atmosphere of that history is embodied in the landscapes and vistas some of which remain virtually unchanged since before the advent of man. Rocks, trees, water, basic elemental primer to our planet.

Will the film have an original score? Please discuss the role of music in this film.

Sarah Plant will be scoring our film. She's a gifted composer/arranger/musician whose work on 'mambo taipei' and incidental music for Eat, Drink, Man, Woman contributed to our deeper understanding of the divide between past/present, the overlay of one culture on another.

What is the timeline for the rest of the production? How is the financing progressing? What type of distribution is expected for the film?

It looks like we will shoot in the Fall, late Spring would be my preference, but I suspect we will push back.

We hope to ink a deal which includes distribution in the near future. But until the ink is dry...I've learned never to count my chickens until they're in the oven... There is always hope...

We've been talking about a small release of 400 screens, build on reviews and word of mouth, festivals.

Does the casting of "name" actors, like David Strathairn and Melissa Leo, give the film an edge in terms of distribution/financing?

Absolutely, casting indie icons David Strathairn and Melissa Leo, with Broadway grande dame Mary Louise Wilson has certainly opened many doors and kept them wide open.

What other projects can we look forward to from Blue Barn Productions? What is the status of Freddie and Fiona, the screenplay read by David last year?

If I pull this off with some aplomb and still have a smile and a laugh to offer up, you can look for an interesting and varied slate of films from Blue Barn Productions.