Dear Daniel

Dear Daniel,

 

I’ve been on a roll as of late. Winning prizes at every festival I have screenplays or film projects at. I find myself thinking in terms of what next.

Right now I am neck deep in preparations for the Letters to Daniel feature film. There’s an actress I want to see read for the Amy role. She is simply put, amazing. I want her for this part so bad I can freaking taste it. So far Missy has been holding tight on the reigns. She wants to see everyone else first. She at least wants to see her read for both Amy and Missy before casting her in anything.

The truth is we’ve made up our mind she is going to be in the film. It’s just a matter of where.

That being said I’ve pretty much nailed down all the locations but three. I really want to finalize these if only because if something were to happen early on I want a back-up location for them.

Shooting dates have been laid down too. Dec 27^th-Jan. 2.

I’ve never been more excited for a shoot than this one. Don’t get me wrong. I love all of the productions I’ve been a part of. Even the ones that failed. Epically in some cases I might add.

But Letters to Daniel is a full 40 cast member production that spans nearly twenty years of mine and Missy’s friendship and how it was put to the test by my bipolar disorder.

If there was some way to invite you and Rachel to the local premiere here in Louisville, KY at Imaginarium next October 7^th (AS IF) I would. There would be media here for the cast and above the line crew but I would be sure to keep them away from you. Because as I’ve said before this blog, the book, the documentaries have not really been about you. It’s been more about how your work and the way you carry yourself professionally have inspired me a great deal. And how what you’ve become through these letters is a sounding board for me to process what I’ve been going through these last few years. The growth, the change.

The good days. The bad days and the blah days.

This film I’m working on is the culmination of what has become a close to three year journey of me healing and finding my voice. Of being brave enough to share when I’m at my best and when I’m at my worst.

I will always have this blog as it is an anchor when things are whirling around me like tornado.

Letters to Daniel the feature is only one of the projects I’m currently working on. I’m also working on a documentary, #yesallwomen. The interviews I’ve done have been incredibly powerful affecting me in a way that I remember what rendered me voiceless to begin with, the abuse.

There is also a scifi screenplay adapted my e-book No Ordinary Love.

As you can see I am busy. If I had the power to convince everyone that mental illness was not a death sentence but simply a disease to be treated like Cancer or Diabetes I would. In fact that is the hope of my memoir and the feature film. To have people see it and know there is hope. There is treatment. There is recovery.

I know I don’t know you. And you don’t know me. But your work inspired me to my best work. And for that I’ll always be thankful.

 

Sincerely,

 

Amy McCorkle