Looking back on the last year, I find myself somewhat amazed at how much we’ve accomplished… and how much is still left to do. Different Kinds has been in development for over two years now, and it’s exciting to think we are finally entering the post-production phase. This production hasn’t been easy; it’s had its share of ups and downs, but looking back, I wouldn’t’ change anything that happened. The experiences of the last four months have made this movie what it currently is, and given it the potential for what it could yet become.

I began writing Different Kinds in the fall of 2004. I was living in Los Angeles at the time, working for a production company specializing in reality television, but even then I knew that I wanted this movie to be shot in Colorado. I am head over heels in love with this state. The scenery out here is breathtaking, and I knew that I wanted to feature the landscape very heavily in the movie. The script has gone through a lot of changes, but the location is one of the few things that has truly remained the same.

I moved back to Colorado in January of 2005 and began working as a broadcast operator for a satellite company. It was here that I met Damon Martens, a graphic artist and video editor who also possesses a strong interest in low-budget films. He read a draft of the script around May, and agreed to help out in some form on the project when I got around to producing it. He would later become the director of photography and co-producer.

Pre-production would last for almost a full year. During that time, the script went through about three more stages of revisions, bringing it to a grand total of nine drafts before becoming finalized in March of 2006. We began scouting locations, Damon planned his shots, and dates were scheduled. We finally reached the next stage in April of 2006; it was time to find our cast and crew.

Auditions can be great fun, but they can also be a bit of a nightmare. We were very fortunate in that we had many, many talented actors and actresses audition to be in our film. At the same time, I found it difficult to turn away individuals I wanted to use but simply didn’t have roles for. Because of our budget, it was important to keep our cast (and crew, for that matter) as small as possible. Different Kinds was written with said budget in mind, so we knew going in how many people we would be able to use. Unfortunately, it didn’t make telling people no any easier.

Jackie Billotte is something else. In addition to being an incredibly gifted actress, she’s got one of the warmest and good-humored personalities you’ll find. Her energy is fantastic, and became one of our biggest assets on this production. She is incredibly dedicated to her art, and it shows. The role of Natalie was very large – she ended up being scheduled for a whooping sixteen shooting days over the four month shoot, more than any other cast member – but she was always there, always prepared, and always had a smile on her face.

One of our biggest worries about Jackie, ironically, was that she might be too good. The Natalie-Jared relationship is extremely important to the film, and we needed to find an actor and an actress who could match the other in talent and range. As if that wasn’t enough to worry about, we were constantly waiting for Jackie to call us to let us know she was dropping us for another production. It’s not that Jackie strikes us as the type to do that sort of thing; she’s just that good. She could be on any production she wanted, and the fact that she had chosen ours is something we’re still amazed by to this day.

(This is something we worried about with all of our actors and actresses, actually. Damon and I often wondered when our cast would “wake up and realize they’re too good for such a low-budget production.”)

Luckily for us, Chris Borden also attended the auditions, and became our immediate first choice for Jared. Chris read for both the male roles, Jared and Sal, and we actually found ourselves thinking he could probably pull either role off. We especially liked him as Jared, though, and felt he was a perfect match for Jackie. Jared is a complex guy; we needed an actor with the ability to play a wide range of emotions, be both quiet and thoughtful and dark and violent, sometimes going from one extreme to the other in a rather short time. We could tell from his initial monologue that Chris had just the acting capacity we needed.

Later that night, after the auditions, we were deciding who to ask to return for the callback session, and I remember Damon and I freaking out more than a little bit when we saw that Chris lived in the Springs! Most of this movie was going to be shot in the northwest part of the state, which meant he would have an hour and a half commute at the very least, just to get to the meeting point. The role of Jared is the male lead of the film, so there were going to be a dozen shooting days easily. We were afraid Chris would reject the role outright based on the distance he would have to travel. I sent him an email that night and laid out all the cards for him: we’re considering you for the male lead, but you need to know that the part is going to have a very large time commitment, and with your commute we want you to be forewarned. Fortunately, the response we got from him was very positive, so we went into the callbacks feeling hopeful.

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