"Before I left for Colorado seven years ago, I told my friend, "I want to be on David Letterman". She said, "Oh, you want to go see one of his shows?" "No", I said, "I want to be ON his show". She said, "Ok, yeah right". Well, I never did quite give up that dream. But Dave isn't getting any younger, so I guess I'd better hurry up! A few things have changed since I first said that. For one, celebrity is not that attractive to me the lack of privacy, rumor control, etc. I did try the acting thing, took a class, and surprisingly it was harder than I thought. I don't want to be on TV or films, I just want to run the behind-the-scenes stuff. I've always dreamed of, while having fun. I know it's not going to be easy. In fact, I'm expecting the worst. But I'm OK with that."

"I expressed my willingness to write since I had also considered taking a screenwriting course at one point. She really cared about what my goals were even if I did not know what they were at the time. I told her that I am willing to take this one day at a time but we both agreed that it would be helpful to have some structure. So she is going to think about the best way to set up a plan that will allow me to learn what I need to learn first as the fundamental basis so that the creativity will flow easily later..."

From her mentor, after the first few sessions:

"Betsy provides a definite potential in the development process of storyline structures. Her career interest continues to be focused in the area of television production and we have taken a course of action in that area for further advancement. She presently studies televised dramatic series and analyzes the franchises created for each program."

"My favorite directors are Darren Aronofsky- "Requiem for a Dream" and Quentin Tarantino - "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". I like these two particularly because they depict things in ways the naked eye won't ever see them normally. They give us raw images, and different sequences of order - I am eager to learn. I don't want to go to college, and get a 9-5 office job wearing pantyhose and complaining about how my high heels hurt my feet."

"During the month of April 2004, Tosha continued working on many areas of the film and video industry that she was exposed to in the previous months. Tosha has continued to work with industry standard audio and video equipment (field mixers, shotgun mics, wireless and hardwire lavs, BetaSP camcorders, DVCAM camcorders, HD camcorders, lipstick cams and portable record/playback decks). She has also continued reading and studying from the list of reading materials I recommended. She also worked another multi-camera shoot this month. This shoot included 3 cameras with jam-sync time-code, an extensive lighting set-up, audio, dual- monitor tele-prompter set-up and a 6 man crew.

We are currently attempting to coordinate with a full length feature production here in Dallas so that Tosha can work on the crew for a couple of days. This production consists of a 37 man crew, a 16 person cast, a full sci-fi studio set and multiple location set-ups.

In the coming months, Tosha will work on production coordination in our office, continue reading and discussing the books I recommended and begin editing in our Final Cut Pro edit suite. She will also continue working on various productions and continue working with the preparation of the equipment for these shoots."

Joe Cantu
Texas World Television, Inc.

"I would always wonder how all the special effects, pyrotechnics, cameras, and sound were put together to create a television show or film. I knew sometime in my freshman year in high school, television and film production was what I wanted to do. I would register for classes like electronics and photography to be stepping stones to my career..."

"Because of his willingness to try all aspects of production, we have decided to put Jon Togashi on the crew as production assistant/intern to be trained as camera operator first. We will tackle computer editing in the next phase, but for now he has been assigned to the weekly shoots at Pinko's Hawaii, and monthly shoots at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kahuna's Ballroom where he will partake in shooting interviews as well as being a part of a multicam setup.

So far, Jon is doing great!"

Thank you!

"June 4, 2004 - Lindsay has been learning everything she can on how to conduct a professional interview. We will take Lindsay on one of our commercial shoots and see how she does. If she does well we will hire her on a sub-contract basis as a production assistant.

August 26, 2004 - Lindsay just finished her 1st production assistant test working our 2nd annual music showcase at Sky in Downtown Denver. Lindsay assisted the director on four different shoots and took charge of the other interns in the company. We will be hiring Lindsay full time when she finishes her training program. She has been a great asset to the company and we look forward to her progress.

October 5, 2004 - Lindsay did great at our three camera shoot at the Soiled Dove on September 28th at 7:00 to 12:00 P.M. (www.soileddove.com). We interviewed a group called ION, rising artists in the Documentary "Music Scene." HBO is looking for a final cut from us. We are holding edit sessions every Thursday and Friday, in which Lindsay will be a part of. She has expressed great interest in the post production process."

Diego Ramos
Eye On Denver

"We have built our own business as well as working for others. Now our two older kids are in college and Sean and Nicole decided to finish high school in southern California with their father. This has given Paige and I an empty nest earlier than we expected and has opened up many opportunities for us. One of them is me getting back into my dream of being in the entertainment business."

A partial list of some of the projects Sean Casamento worked on with The Big Picture Film & Video Arts, Inc., Sausalito, CA

October 2003
Production Assistant on "Aids in Popular Culture" for MTV - interviews at local hotel.
Production Assistant on "Getting Naked (Naked Chef)" for MTV - location shoot in kitchen.
Production Assistant for 24/7 Media - Interviews regarding Quicken/Intuit Software.

November 2003
Audio Technician for MODA Entertainment - Interview with Lauren Bacall in Los Angeles - located in historic hotel.
Production Assistant for background story on Parenting for Dr. Phil - interviews with parents.
Production Assistant for episode of The Bachelor for Next Entertainment - location shoots in and around San Francisco.

February 2004
Production Assistant "Activision Editors Day" for G4 Media (gaming channel) - Interviews.
Production Assistant - San Francisco Police Dept Interview for G4 Media.
Utility/Production Assistant - "Merge" TV Show for Greenflash Entertainment.
Audio Technician - "I Love the 90's - Interview w/John Mayer" for MTV.

In addition to the shoots listed above, George has been working with Sean on development of a script for a feature film.

"My interest in films has only intensified alongside an intrigue regarding production to answer the question why I love films as much as I do, I can honestly reply that its because I see them as more than just a series of images and sounds presented on a screen. The lessons that can be learned from films, which I see as reflections of life or lives themselves, are endless. Regarding necessity, I believe films have the potential to be the most precise form of communication we have as well as the most influential."

Mentorship for July 2004

Mickey worked as a Production Assistant on a feature film, "God's Waiting List", directed by Duane Adler, the writer of "Save the Last Dance". Mickey shuttled the lead actors to set, including Roger G Smith, Nicky Micheaux and Lauren Tom.

Mentorship for September 2004

Mickey worked on prepping a 'Bollywood' style film tentatively titled "It's a Mismatch", starring Anupam Kher ('Bend it Like Beckham'). Shooting to start October 19, 2004

"I am interested in learning producing, directing, and videography in the shortest amount of time possible. I have a Master of Music, a Master of Science in IT, and will have my MBA in June 2003. I am also an ethnomusicologist. I have no experience in this field other than a dream to be an independent filmmaker. I need to know how to do that. I need a very intense program through May 2003, but I need to confine it pretty much to the weekends due to work and finishing up my business school. Certainly willing to pay for the right training opportunity, but you're going to have to convince me with a detailed training plan, references, etc. Let me know! Thanks!...."

"I also have an obligation to tell a story to the world of the Torres Strait Islander people, and perhaps others I do not yet have an association with. Real life stories that will help indigenous people be understood and help them with some of their social issues. And I have the opportunity which I must pursue. A big trip is being planned for June of 2003 in which the doors to the Torres Strait are being thrown wide open for us. For this I need to know how to be a jack of all trades in filmmaking. I'll be behind the camera. My daughter will handle the sound. My sister the lights. I will teach them (can you imagine?)! And I don't know how to do any of it right now. I need to know how to do everything!"

November 8, 2002

Our end objective simply is to prepare Carol with the basic information needed to shoot her film. She will be coached in technical aspects allowing her to use a camera, sound gear and basic lighting equipment. In short, the basic tools needed to allow her to confidently and competently capture the images she wants. We will also work with her, likely via exploring distribution possibilities for her film, on the business side of the film industry. This instruction will come via training in our office, phone conversations, introduction to vendors and set/location production time. Carol is certainly a capable person and I'm very confident she will enjoy much success. Thanks for contacting us, you have a unique program for learning and we're happy to be a part of it.

March 14, 2003

I can't believe that four months has gone this quickly! Carol is wonderful and we'll all be associated with each other for long after the mentoring period.

Eric Altman
Q+A Films