In the true spirit of independent filmmaking "Naked With Loons" was made on a shoestring budget by a lot of people who weren't paid and yet, miraculously, came back each day and worked their butts off for nothing more than a good lasagna lunch.

"Naked With Loons" started as a semi-autobiographical play I had written back in New York, and spent ten years in a drawer waiting for its next incarnation. I had always kept it in the back of my mind as the kind of piece that would be good for a low budget film (if I ever wanted to take on such a crazy task). But persistence being the most important asset of an indy filmmaker, I never gave up.

In the spring of 1998 I got sick of going to endless development meetings, talking about scripts, and never actually making a film. I got tired of sitting in rooms having my scripts criticized by people who have never been on a set! Never shot a foot of film! Never actually done anything except lunch! I had an epiphany: I came to Los Angeles to make movies, not just write scripts (especially scripts that no one made, even after they bought them)! The drawer was opened and "Naked With Loons" emerged.

Efficiency being the most important asset of an indy filmmaker, I took the month of May to turn the play into a screenplay. In June I gave it out to friends for their opinions. July started the fund raising and location scouting process (during the week I called everyone I knew and begged for money, and on the weekends I drove to the ends of the Earth (or at least California) to find the perfect campsite by a lake to film at).

Ultimately, $25,000 was raised from friends and relatives, and I borrowed another $5,000 from my 401K plan (at my day job at a Los Angeles law firm). We started casting in August, and filming commenced on September 18th 1998.

An indy filmmaker absolutely must possess, above all, faith. Many miracles occurred during the filming process (a few disasters too but, mercifully, I have blocked them out and prefer to dwell on the miracles). As we were running out of money, a deal was made for one of my other scripts and another $11,989, (WGA minimum for a polish) found its way into the budget. Of course they wanted me to do the polish as I was shooting, so I did what any indy filmmaker would do: both. What the hell, I was already writing, directing, producing and acting in "Naked" why couldn't I rewrite another script at the same time? I didn't really need that hour of sleep anyway. The script meetings via cell phone from the set had to be a highlight of the experience, at least from my cardiologists viewpoint.

A good support system being absolutely the most important asset for the independent filmmaker, my wife Jenny took on the responsibility of craft service after tasting the food we got the first day of shooting and finding out what it cost us. From that point on, I'm convinced the crew came back every day for the food. Jenny spent entire 24 hour periods cooking, crying, and dragging the food (and our three children) twice a day to the location 75 miles north of Los Angeles. For her the high point was falling asleep at a drive-up window after staying up 25 straight hours.

We finally exhausted the money and film in December, 1998 and I have been editing what we shot ever since at night after work (since I work at night I usually edit from about 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.).

On September 18th 1999 we started (the one year anniversary of our first day of shooting) we started shooting again! Finally getting some of the 5% of the film we didn't get one year ago. At the same time we have submitted the rough cut to several film festivals and have our fingers crossed. Did I mention that patience is probably the most important asset of an indy filmmaker?

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