When Tiffani and I first began this journey in creating the film "End The Cycle", it truly was as an outlet to be creative, in what felt and still feels like, is a world that has no room for women of color in film.
The concept for the film came as divine inspiration to me, and through me, that was inspired by real events thanks to my internet addiction. One short video would spark the inspiration of the story line through the perspective of the character Andrea.
I was excited to share the concept for the film with Tiffani Barbour, my long time friend and creative collaborator. Tiffani was equally excited about the concept and we began working right away on the outline. The idea was to write the film as a vehicle for us as actresses since we are living in a world that is sparse for roles for women of color in film.
Tiffani created a writersduet.com account for us to begin writing, and we quickly began to mold and shape the dialogue of these characters. When I signed in after Tiffani began formatting the script, I was so excited to see the film taking shape and to begin writing truly as a "duet" as the program says.
From day one, we had one top choice director in mind that we felt was perfect to interpret this film in the way we envisioned cinematically, and that was Scott Ballard. Scott is someone I became aware of thanks to Portland based award winning actress, Rachael Perrell Fosket. Rachael and I met in an acting class in Portland and I quickly began to respect her work as an actress, as she is a phenomenal talent.
Rachael starred in Scott's latest film "Death on a Rock", which truly moved me to tears, as I could relate so closely to the characters journey based off my own experiences with the disease Endometriosis. I knew when I first viewed the trailer for the film that someday I had to work with its director.
Fast forward over a year later, and I find myself with Tiffani sitting at Zarr Studios in Portland, Oregon, where our corporate offices are housed, discussing the making of "End The Cycle" with Scott.
We had sent the script to Scott with the hopes he would even read it, and to our surprise he did. Scott responded right away, with no delay or hesitation, and his response was exactly what we had hoped for.
Sitting and discussing with Scott, the poignant social commentary, and how it reflects the reason the three of us got into the art of filmmaking, as actors and director, to begin with, was truly confirmation that this film has a greater purpose than originally intended.
Ladies & Gentleman, I am truly humbled to say that Scott Ballard is directing "End The Cycle". We are so excited to announce this to all of the films supporters and we are looking forward to announcing the rest of our team and our cast that will help to bring this story to life.