Small project Big Journey- Scotland bound

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For a couple months now, I've been silently working on a film project, a short story that I've had for about 10 years called "Big Ears Learns to Listen". Although I must be honest, I've struggled for some time on where my life might lead me, but this is really the first time in a long time that I've felt very peaceful and connected to something. Although I know that this is a travel blog, I'm sharing all of this information because it has so much to do with why I am traveling to the UK to Scotland.

It all started about 6 months ago when I was unhappy at a job because I wasn't doing anything creative and it had been a while since I'd done anything creative for myself. So for months I made an effort to think about: "what would I want to do, if I could do anything?" I decided to go on vacation to Somerset, England where I stayed at a small cottage I found on Airbnb. I made no plans but to wander around, and get lost with my thoughts. I wrote, I took pictures and went on long walks around the countryside all with the intention of deciding what was next. I had wanted for sometime to make something of my own and this story popped into my head. It was a short that I had acquired 10 years before while I was living in Los Angeles. My partner at the time had heard the story and told me to listen to it cause it had won a BBC competition and was aired on the radio. After really thinking it over, I decided this was what was next. Although I did have a great time on this vacation, I couldn't wait to get back and really start thinking about it.

So over the next 3-4 months, I made the decision to leave my job, and really start making time to research directing, and storytelling. In January 2016, I quit my job, traveled to see family and friends, worked on building my reel and sought out a writer that I thought would be appropriate to adapt this short. After a month of seeking, in February I hired a young writer and she completed the adapted script in March. It is now June and over the following month leading up to this day, so much has happened. I have a producer who is in the states who had suggested that we shoot in the UK, which is where the short story writer is from and then I was introduced to a producer in Scotland who is one of many that recommended that we more specifically shoot in Scotland. One element of the story, which I have not yet explained, is that there are 2 teenagers that become deaf due to meningitis that has spread in their boarding school. The thing that really made me feel that Scotland was right was that I was having a hard time finding people I could actually talk to about working with the deaf and even finding schools that worked solely with the deaf. Many schools are now dealing with the deaf in addition to children with autism as well as other specific needs.

After months of research, the producer I starting chatting with in Scotland mentioned a school in Edinburgh. When I reached out to them, they actually got back to me and were very pleased about this project. So now my journey continues. I will travel to Scotland on the 13th where I will begin doing preliminary scouting for locations; boarding schools, Donaldson school for the deaf, woods etc. In addition, I will be meeting with "Meningitis Now" to discuss details about the illness. In addition, I'll be meeting with the folk at the Edinburgh film commission and possibly someone from the film festival which will be going on while I'm there. I feel incredibly blessed and excited about this journey and look forward to sharing it with all of you. My final message: "The only thing we can do, is trust and have faith. That is when our true journey begins!

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