A few weeks ago we filmed a scene for ONE-EYED HORSE with actresses Kelly Potchak (who plays Katherine Louise Curry) and Ellana Barksdale (who plays Aunt Jewel). Kelly was kind enough to write a report for us to include in the production diaries about her experiences on the set.

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“Kitchen Talk” or “In Good Company”
A production report by actress Kelly Potchak

As my first day of filming began, I was stepping into a world of unknowns. I knew nothing about horseback riding and even less about Westerns. And, as is often the case when an actor takes on a role, I knew no one. But when I first arrived at Wayne and Pat’s house to their warm welcome and a hug from Cowboy Bob, it became immediately clear that this time was different. Unlike any other project I’ve done, I was going to be a part of something special—a collaboration not only of great minds and incredible talent but also of genuine, caring people.

From the moment we arrived on set, professionalism and fun were the themes of the shoot. With Wayne, our trusted, not to mention uncommonly relaxed, director at the helm, it became the kind of environment that makes work feel like play. Of course, it helps, too, when your scene partner brings her character to life in such a way as to make you forget she was born Ellana and not “Aunt Jewel.”

There were two roles in the scene as written, but everyone involved played many more, from costumer/seamstress to pastry chef, horse wrangler to boom operator, actor to hair stylist, and writer/director to set dresser, all with boundless energy and all without complaint. Our cinematographer, Jeff, who has a severe allergy to cats, worked for 7 hours in a house with eighteen of them. It wasn’t until the end of the shoot when he left with watery eyes and a puffy face that some of us even knew about it.

When the day came to a close, full of too much cake batter but unable to turn down homemade desserts, I sat with the cast and crew in the warmth of our borrowed house (lent in good faith by close friends of Wayne’s and Pat’s), and it could have very well been an evening spent at home with my own family and friends. And with Ruthie, production manager and chauffer extraordinaire, chatting away and making us giggle on the drive home, I thought back on the work we’d done that day. And I felt yet another glow—the feeling that maybe I’d caught a little glimpse of what it must feel like to be a superstar like Tom Cruise, having gotten to stand—even for one take—on a phone book.