I arrived in Montana, September 28, 2003, to do hair, makeup and wardrobe on a film that hasn't been completely written yet. It doesn't even have a name, maybe Green River, maybe Green Something else? Somehow I had to design the looks for the 3 Lead Characters from a 3 page outline I kept in my pocket. And all I could think of was - I hope there's a Target or Kmart in or around Essex Montana (population 30).

When I got off the plane I caught up with the 2 female lead actresses, Danielle Frankie and Kristina Hughes playing Charisma and Allison, (the 3rd Actor wasn’t flying in for another 2 weeks) and they just so happen to have a script…....sorta. What they had was 126 pages of directors note, cinematography notes, and some dialog. In some places where dialog should be, there were notes that said ‘Dialog Here.’ One ‘Dialog Here’ actually read "let the girls improvise" following it. After reading through, I found out there was a Gas Station Attendant, a Police Officer, and about 10-20 extras at the local diner; whom I had no clothes for. Very interesting.

Roy, the Ever Smiling Roy, picked us up, and announced that we will start shooting in the morning. No prep day, no talking to the director, we don't even know what season the film is? Anxiety loves me; didn't sleep much that night.

Morning comes, 5:30 a.m., have to go and wake up ‘the girls’, which is what I call Charisma and Allison (especially since the rest of the crew is all guys, and I seem to be “one of the guys” as well. It’s a femininity thing -since I’m part of the crew, I snowboard, listen to KROQ on occasion and drive an SUV). Anyway, DAY 1 wardrobe is created in 20 minutes by mixing and matching the wardrobe ideas ‘the girls’ and I thought up in Los Angeles.

So as it happens, the film is going to take place in the fall. Simply because I don't want “the girls” to be walking around in shorts and tank tops, if the unpredictable weather of Montana decides to snow or hail.
Quickly “the girls” and I create back stories for their characters.
Charisma is sweet, grew up going to her parents cabin in the mountains every weekend and seems to be a no fuss kind of girl. I'll give her a green theme with a touch of carnation. Her look will be a little bit Jcrew with a hint of Banana Republic. Her hair and makeup will be simple; a little bit of gloss, powder and a pony tail everyday. As for Ally, she has issues and dresses herself by the event. Not only does she have to change her clothes for each event, but she also has to match her lipstick and accessories to each outfit. In the outline I counted 5 events (character changes) for Allison; the Drive Up, the Hike, the Cleaning Scene, the Leaving to go Home Scene, and the Raging Bitch. Which will mean lots of props; a Dior hand bag here, a Chanel Scarf there, different hoops for each look, and at least 4 shades of lipstick.

DAY 1 We (the cast and crew) started shooting chronologically with the ‘Drive Up’ scene. By the end of the day we all had a better idea of what “the girls” are really like. And sure enough, Ally became a little bit snottier than I’d originally expected. So, we sharpened up her image even more. And Chrissy is absolutely the humanitarian in every sense. She probably secretly felt bad for all the bugs they hit while they drove from LA to Montana.

It’s amazing, each part of the story is just coming together, each person involved is creating the same project, and everyone has the same necessity to create a great piece of Work (Art). This is the first project where I began to pay attention to more than just what the characters looked like. I even got to “Meet” Allison and Charisma that first day. And when I say “Meet” I mean I’ve worked with Kristina on a few other projects; one I made her look like the daughter of an ex-military sergeant in the 40’s (pearls, cardigan, day dress, perfect brushes out curls to the shoulder, soft lips, sweat face, the works), and another time I made her look like a suburban housewife that just got beat by her husband (huge bruises a cross her face and grab marks on her arms). But this time it was different for me. I wanted to smack Kristina even off camera because I kept absorbing the snottiness she portrayed on camera. I never felt like this before. I never took in the actual character being portrayed like she was real. Se really did have a messed up childhood, which gave her issues in her adult life; and she was going to go crazy, I could feel it.

I could go on and on and tell you about how the director’s Aunt was an English teacher for 20 years, and laughed at how bad the script was. Then proceeded to write dialog provisions, which were not even close to the types of things that Ally would say. She had Ally saying things like “Charisma I really don’t think it’s a good idea for you to trust everyone you meet. I think we should be leaving now.” When we all knew Ally wouldn’t use that many words to state an opinion, she’d just say, “Chrissy quit talking to that guy and lets go.”

Or I could tell you that I actually started to realize that Fashion Designers and Screenplay Writers have a lot in common. Both types of people want to create something from scratch. And creating a story has a lot of similarities to creating a dress. You brainstorm and pick out influences from history, popular culture, personal events etc. Next you construct a lay out (and try to get as much down on paper as you can depending of the time frame you’re given), and lastly you put it all together using all the parts and polishing if off in your own personal style.

Yes I am aware that I’m making Clothing Design and Writing sound much simpler than they really are. Both jobs are very complicated, and require a lot of experience and technique to create something of good quality. But I can't really explain it, up in Essex Montana (population 30) I felt a beautiful rush I'd never felt before by watching this Green Whatever Movie write itself just by letting life influence it.

A friend of mine asked me to think about this the other day when I explained to him that I was having a hard time convincing myself to write, for the simple fact that I reeeeeeeeeeally love to be on set. And he asked me one question that pushed me over the edge finally.

"Do you want to be on set creating a story for someone else? Or do you want the set to be Yours."