Saturday I went to my first private movie premiere for the very first viewing of an original family movie… that I just so happened to be a part of making.

My good friend from school was a part of the web-series produced prior to this film, and asked me if I’d be interested in being a Production Assistant for this film this summer.  Of course I said yes!  Come on, working on an actual film… who would pass that up?

So production began May 23rd and lasted for four weekends.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be there for all the production, only the scenes we filmed at the theme park and bus station.  Still, being there for a majority of the filming process was good enough for me.  I was very grateful to be a part of a fun project with both a great cast and crew.

The cool thing about going to the premiere to see the finished product was not only seeing how it all came together, but knowing what antics went on behind-the-scenes as we filmed each scene.  There was also points where I noticed something was cut out, but some took me a while to realize that a particular scene had been cut.  As I watched it a second time, I noticed more than I did at the premiere screening.

Being a production assistant might not be the most fun job to someone who knows what the job entails, which is doing all the odds and ends jobs to keep the production going.  I, however, enjoyed every single moment of it, even during the times we had to just stand around as our director made adjustments to scenes and gave the actors direction.  There was a lot of standing around and waiting time as a production assistant, but this was by far the best volunteer experience I’ve ever gone through… and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

I think I’ve done enough rambling on my movie experience, so now I am going to shamelessly promote the movie since we are trying to get it some recognition online.  You can check out the movie below, or on the Welcome to Grandpaville website.  The movie runs 45 minutes and is great to watch with your kids, nieces, nephews, etc.

Again, I am grateful to have worked with a talented cast and crew and hope that this movie gets the recognition we’re looking for!  And I can’t forget to mention how amazing it was to see my name in the credits of a movie on a giant theater screen!  (Right in the top-middle too!)

My only regret during the premiere was that I didn’t take out my cell phone to actually get a picture of it, but YouTube will work… for now.