I love working with actors who are truly romantics, artists at heart and who do more than I ask and contribute their time and energies to the fulfillment of the project. This is Carla. She is also a very giving and trusting person and I find that to be essential in any actor-director relationship.

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Working with Carla has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've had with an actor. I enjoy working with actors but Carla is the kind of actor I love to work with particularly as a writer/ director. I have always met with my actors individually, but she was the first to welcome breaking down the script with me line by line. Together we were able to discover motivations, quirks, gestures, movements specific to the character. She was involved with me through the process of rewriting which for me showed amazing devotion to the script and the character even though it was a short.

Lastly I just want to mention an anecdote. There was one scene we shot at night, very late after a full 12 hour day; the shot involved someone looking at Carla from outside while she was inside. The parlor was supposed to be full and Carla was going to have to act as if there were other persons in the room. She asked what the scene was and what was supposed to be happening. I explained the scene to her, and she went inside. We signalled action and she began. We had no idea what she was going to do, but it was planned as a cutaway so we completed a couple takes, closed down and went home. Weeks later in the editing suites we realized that Carla had chosen specific actions to match the earlier wide shots and they were almost perfectly identical. My editor was pleased and I was amazed and grateful because just like that Carla had preserved one of the key scenes to the film and she didn't even realize it. But that's Carla, always thoughtful, precise and perfecting a craft she loves.

Rae Shaw 2001/2002 Sundance Institute Finalist