Director’s Notes

This film came to life with an assignment, an observation, and an image in my head: a paint drop slipping from an eye. In the fall of 2002, my screenwriting instructor asked us to write a six page script incorporating a picture given to us at the beginning or end of the story. The picture was a family embracing in a hospital waiting room or at least that's how I interpreted it.

At the time I noticed that a majority of film students make a “suicide” movie sometime in their school career. So I decided that it was my “time” to make a suicide movie. The difference? Instead of focusing on the suicide itself, I decided to focus on the why. A thing that most film students don't do. I even went so far as to not even show the actual suicide take place. Instead I hinted at it in the script and let the audience make the logical assumption. And so “Living Dreams” was created during a trip to Big Sur in 2002. A year later filming ended in the same location.