The Forgotten Ones came to me unexpectedly.  I had written four different shorts, but wasn’t very passionate about any of them so I started writing a draft for a feature. The anxiousness, excitement, and anticipation of seeing my feature on the silver screen kept me writing for days.  I wanted that same feeling for my short, which I knew, could open a door for my features. In addition, I wanted to write something that would showcase my acting and writing talents, which are my first loves.   Yet more than anything, I wanted the passion, suspense, drama and taboos wrapped in one.  So I started playing with the idea of three women with three different personalities being forced to deal with the same problem. My first effort didn’t give me that flutter in my stomach, you know – that feeling that makes you stay up late and wake up early to craft the idea, the story, the dream that will end all others.  So I put the pen down and decided to go to lunch with my sister. As we ate, I ran the idea about the “three women” past her.  Her eyes raised in curiosity or confusion, I’m not sure, but she liked where I was going with it.  She finally suggested that I somehow use the concept of “shadows” that we had learned about and trained in.  That fluttery feeling appeared. Our conversation deepened and talks of religion surfaced. Two people sitting beside us were offended by some of our “liberalism” and didn’t understand why we held strong views about freedom of religion and freedom from it. They wouldn’t understand, because their experiences were different. They hadn’t met and befriended people from various walks of life and faiths. They hadn’t been ostracized for wanting to learn about the history of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and a host of others. They hadn’t witnessed people wanting to kill themselves because they were violated in the name of God and didn’t understand that if God loved so much, why some “things” ever had happen.  No, they didn’t understand these elements of faith or maybe they just didn’t care.And then, like a ray of sun on a stormy day, it came to me. Through anger, frustration and fear, The Forgotten Ones was born.  Three women, with three different personalities, three different views - having to face the same situation.  The flutter, the excitement, the anxiousness, the late nights and the early mornings came like a burst of wind.

I picked up the pen and started to write and suddenly my grandfather’s death didn’t feel so painful, my house burning down as I slept didn’t feel so hopeless and the on-going family tension finally seemed to ease.  Yet, even through the seven months I lost because I didn’t have anywhere to edit or the hundreds of hours and money I spent cleaning up my sound because of the former family friend that deliberately tried to sabotage the production – it was all worth it.  Every cent, every tear and every second was seeing my “baby” fully blossom and develop into a rewarding piece of work.