The Leads Are Now Two!

Hello readers!

Just got back from LA and boy are my lungs tired, "cough! Cough!" Hehehe. You know cause of the smog. Anyways lets jump in.

Updates:

And the lead role goes to....

First and foremost I have very exciting news. After months of search-

ing, auditions, and random submissions Love, Concord has officially casted it's #1 lead role of Gerry Guerra . And I'm happy to announce the role had been accepted by Jorge Ezra Diaz. Jorge is a very talented up and coming actor who recently just finished a feature film in where he played a lead entitles "Budz House" but he has also appeared on "Boston Public" and "The Brothers Garcia" check out his IMDB link:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0246612/

He also happens to be a St. Mary's College Alumni, class of 2006 (are you starting to notice a pattern with my cast and crew?). But our history is a bit of a funny one. Let's start with our "re-introduction" this past November by my producer Virginia McCarthy. We met on the set of a feature film none of us were working on and right away we could both tell we knew each other but didn't know how. We discovered through Virginia that we were both SMC alumni, but since he graduated a semester before I began teaching there in the fall of 2006, we couldn't quite place it. It took him giving me his headshot and resume to realize we had met on a former student of mine's thesis film in which I served as Director of Photography and he had a small part. Hence the "re-introduction."

Jorge and I later got together with my lead actress Angelina Leon (SMC Class of 07) for a "call back audition." He and Angelina did two scenes together and also did some improv as well. It was easy to see how talented and well prepared Jorge was. But as he was the first person I'd seen try out the part of Gerry I had no reference to truly judge him by. So after seeing several other actors try out for the part, I had Jorge do another scene with Miguel Caballero my actor playing Gerry's brother. Right off the bat their chemistry just mixed perfectly. So after a brief discussion with Miguel after Jorge left we both easily agreed he was a perfect Gerry. So again, with great pleasure and a huge sigh of relief, I once again want to welcome Jorge aboard.

Fundraiser #4

This weekend was our LA fundraiser and while a smaller gathering than I'd hoped it was still a successful event. I want to give a big thank you to the Luna and Simeon families. Araceli and Fermin Luna graciously hosted the event in there beautiful home in Walnut. Also, my mother-in-law Leticia Simeon kindly prepared her delicious homemade Mexican rice and beans for the event which, by the looks of our guests were a true success. Thanks to both families once again for your kind selfless generosity.

We had several winners at the event and here they are:

Frances Leon won the Coppola Merlot wine bottle

Lily Ortiz took home Two tickets to Regal Cinema Theaters

As did Claudia Simeon

And Hanieh Jodat won the $25 gift card to Jamba Juice.

Thanks to everyone who came and all you Bay Area readers stay tuned as we're working on the next fundraiser and it's going to be something we haven't done yet!

Well that's all for this week. Tomorrow I'm taking a much needed day off from pre-production as I've been working pretty much everyday for the past two weeks. Until next week....

Forward!

-Gus