DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Like Drugstore Cowboy, A Star For Rose is about people on the margins of society.

A decade ago, Danny DeVito, who donates generously to homeless organizations, gave me a green light with a promise of $125K to make a DV film on the homeless issue based on an outline. Five months later the project died, a victim of a business assessment that projected no profit for DV films.

So I picked up a camera and shot (and edited) three features with actors and no crew (trailers on cascadeskyfilms.com). Finally I revisited the idea of a homeless story, writing a screenplay with actor-writer collaborator Tara Walker. I took the script to Debbie Allen (Fame), with whom I'd once written another script. Then Debbie, John Savage (The Deer Hunter), Tara and I took to the LA streets with an HD camera and shot A Star For Rose in 12 days, no equipment, available light only, and a half-time sound man.

The result is an entertaining film, with humor, a heart and a purpose, thanks to Debbie's immense talent, Tara's wonderful collaborative work, and John's skills, so finely-tuned, that when he gets into character the script almost becomes irrelevant.

What a joy to work this way. And spending a 10th of what had been previously offered surely is proof that money isn't everything, in love or film