11/13/2019
"It started with a saxophone...It always starts with a sweaty sax."
For me, it started with a conversation as I was headed out the door, on my way to a flight for home after being gone for five weeks putting on our 2018 summer camps in Missouri. Los Angeles beckoned man. Man oh man I missed home. But Josh Arnold asked me if he could talk to me. He had this thought and was wondering if he could share it with me. Yikes! (I hadn't finished packing, I had to close up the books, there was so much to do before leaving but I said...) "Ah, sure honey, that'd be great." So we plopped on the sofa and Josh said, "Showdown has meant to much to me and I want to pay it forward." (Okay, I'm paraphrasing for simplicity for the sake of the story, but like Flip says, never let the truth get in the way of a good story). And then Josh added, "I want to create a Showdown Camp. Would that be okay with me?" (Okay with me? Okay with me??? I was thrilled!) And that's how the conversation began. From there we fed each other's dreams and I needed that. Finn was going away to college so I was facing empty nest big time. And I'd just come off Finn's illness. I was scared. I felt adrift. I needed a life raft made of dreams and so baby I jumped on board. Both feet. Both hands. And my whole head. By the time I got on the plane, Josh and I had decided we would not only create a camp, but we would make a movie that centered around that camp. Thank goodness I had no idea what I was in for, because had I known, I might not have gone forward. In the year that followed, my back went out for three months, Flip got vertigo for two months, Josh landed in the hospital two or three times. And then there were the naysayers. The amount of people who came out of the woodwork to tell me "for my own good" that I was attempting the impossible. "Why bother" was another one I heard a lot. But never the less, I persisted. And in July of 2019 we did it. Showdown produced its first movie. The little film that could is now in post and we have many more hurdles to overcome, but we did it! So that's our story. The story of Showdown Makes a Movie. And now that we've done this one, we'd like to continue this dream. The naysayers? Many of them have jumped on board. And we hope hope hope you will too. Come play with us. Come dream with us.
And in honor of all we dreamers, let's play a game. Can you guess which movie this is from, "Having dreams is what makes life tolerable." (You'll get bragging rights). And if you can guess which star made his screen debut in this movie, we'll give you a gold star!
