A final note. As I was just about to hit 'Post Comment' on this slightly belated Big Update, I received a call from the very wise and Yoda-like Robin Hartsell (see above) whose advice I take very seriously. And that advice was that perhaps we might actually be enlisting too many actors on this project. Her point was that if we are going for emotional intensity we may be better off with just 2 or 3 main actors rather than 6. I told her that it was basically too late and that I had already informed most people verbally whether they were in or out. And besides, most of the decisions on what to leave out still have plenty of reasons behind them even if they didn't make room for more actors. And Robin said afterwards, "Matter does it not. Happens for a reason everything does. Learning experience it will be." Well, not exactly like that, but you get the gist.

Her point is well taken. My intention in recruiting so many actors was to rotate pairs or trios through the improvs so that everyone gets a chance to advance their own potential version or subbranch of the story, and since we will be shooting the entire time, I was thinking that we would end up with some different versions of the story performed by different people, one of which would be submitted to the contest. But mostly I was thinking about possibilities for enriching the process and not necessarily the inclusivity of the finished product, and Robin's call made me think that maybe this is not fair to everyone (which is not really the point she was trying to make, but it got me thinking in that direction).

I must admit that when push comes to shove and we are up against the clock and end up having to grab whatever is most developed and run with it, it is quite possible that some of the actors will have committed an entire weekend only to end up with very little time (or even no time at all) on screen in the actual competition, and end up just having been part of the process. Everyone will have plenty of tape shot of them regardless, but it is possible that you won't appear in the final take that is submitted for the screening. If it would really annoy you seriously for this to happen to you, please let me know now because I value you all as collaborators and I don't want anyone to finish out the shoot pissed at me—I would rather avoid it by working out what our expectations are going in.

Any points of view are welcome below or in email.

I've just been asked in an email if that last post is an invitation for actors to drop out. No it absolutely isn't. I really want everyone above participating, and I still have a gut feeling that having as many improvisers as possible in the mix will greatly increase the scope of what we can discover, whether it all ends up in the final take or not. And I want to follow that instinct. I just want to make sure that everyone is aware of the limited screentime and what that might mean. If it does bother you, now would be the time to express it.