What an amazing location this turned out to be. Right in the heart of Safety Harbor.  And what an amazing amount of work it took to create a restaurant out of an empty gazebo!! Thank goodness the tables came with the gazebo rental. EVERYTHING else we had to bring!!  White place settings and white tablecloths. Wine and wine glasses. Silverware. Food. Center pieces (designed with fresh cranberries). Candles. White chairs. We even varied up the menu between salads, pasta and soup to it would come off as authentic. 

Gearing up for day 1. Zach must have had his morning coffee. 

Shooting Henry on Jackson Street. We did 11 takes of Henry's scene in front of the towering skyscrapers. We wanted the shot free and clear of pedestrians. This became a  challenge because of the duration of the scene, almost a full minute with no cuts. 

My daughter Morgan, watching the monitor during Henry's main street scene. 

Day 3, last shots of Henry & Elena together in the city. Only one more location to shoot after this. 

Composer, Sound Engineer & Magician Tim Fowler at work during one of our ADR sessions. 

Chris in his ADR session, recording his lines again as Henry. 

Watching the magic happen. Such a great cast and crew, hard not to smile. 

Dan & Tim in the recording studio during an ADR session. 

Somehow I wrangled my wife Amy into being a "producer" for the shoot. She had no idea what she was getting into. 

Some of the first shots of the day, Elena sketching. 

One of Dennis' early sketches of Henry. 

Winding down for lunch during the city scenes. 

We shot Henry's city scenes early on a Sunday morning. In the background, off-duty police officers block traffic so we can shoot on Jackson Street, one of downtown Tampa'a busiest areas. 

Location scouting with Christian who's taking lots of notes.  We also ran through some general blocking so we could see which way the camera would likely be facing for various shots. You can tell by Christian's expression here that we take our scouting duties very seriously. 

Last stop on our location scouting day. Philippe Park. Christian is channeling his inner Henry. 

Magnificent set of stairs. Movie worthy. 

My daughter Morgan and wife Amy make cameos during a scene in the park alongside fellow Extra Bob Matricardi.  

More than 600 films were submitted to Gasparilla this year. Of those only 100 were chosen. Short films like mine accounted for 65 of the films, the 35 remaining were feature films. This was my first foray into filmmaking, truly excited to be part of the event. 

At the Gasparilla International Film Festival with my daughter Morgan.

My wife Amy and I, on the final day of the festival. Morgan, our 8-year-old is taking Mommy and Daddy's photo on the red carpet. Lucky to have such an awesome wife who genuinely supports my creative endeavors.