WhatsNew
The You Don't Live On My 'Street-Sound Tracks "dropped" April 14, 2012! Six
local singers and a background vocalist recorded eleven tracks and one
instrumental was added. The album contains two gospels, two up-tempos, two high
show tunes, two contemporary pieces and several beautiful ballads. This is a
unique listening experience. The CD's will be available at a "CD Listening
Party" and for download from this web site.
CurrentNews
The World Premier of You Don't Live On My Street -the Movie was Sunday, April 15, 2012! What is amazing is that it was exactly one year ago on this date a Parisian film director approached me with the idea of turning my poem into a movie. I used a 21 year-old poem, wrote the screenplay in 21 days, casted 21 characters, shot the movie in 21 hours, and had a 21 week post-production period. This must be what it means when an idea meets its time.
RecentNews
On March 3, 2012, You Don't Live On My Street --The Experience, a Readers Theater was presented to rave reviews. Seven members of the You Don't Live On My Street Movie cast performed thirty-three of Dr. Foston's original poems. A homeless orphan once defined "a family" as just a group of people who share the same experiences. The goal of the Readers Theater was to allow the participants to enter as distinct members of a vibrant community, share a common experience and leave as a family. We hope we accomplished that.
Synopsis
YOU DON'T LIVE ON MY STREET
YOU DON’T LIVE ON MY STREET is a melodrama that takes place at Worthy Academy, a behavioral treatment
center for troubled youth. Being nestled in an idyllic setting at the end of a long, winding country road,
betrays the emotional, psychological and physical chaos inside. Based on the poem by the same name written
by Dr. Rebera Foston twenty years ago, YOU DON’T LIVE ON MY STREET – the movie, is the story of Teresa
Huntly, a recreational therapist, who begins her new job at Worthy Academy. She quickly finds out that it is
not like any other place she has ever worked. Teresa is immediately challenged by Audina Godwin, a Mental
Health Aide, who has her own philosophy about how the center should be run. Audina is convinced that all
interactions with young people should be punitive. Teresa also finds out that Audina will stop at nothing to
protect the status quo.
Out of necessity Teresa forms a relationship with Shana, the other recreational therapist, who is obsessive
compulsive. Teresa also tries to befriend three girls and three boys. The girls are Femi, a biter, Yolanda, a
cutter and Bonnie who has attempted suicide ten times. The boys are Braydon, a druggie, Sebastian, a
woman-hater, and Keon, a chronic runaway. Teresa is anxious to find a way help these kids begin to heal from
the trauma in their lives. As Teresa makes plans to test out her theory of helping young people heal, she is
confronted with some harsh realities of working with abused and neglected teens.
YOU DON”T LIVE ON MY STREET is a classic tale of a struggle to gain respect, while struggling to hold on to
one’s self-respect.
Production Notes
Preproduction
April 16, 2011
I was approached by a director from
Paris, France who suggested I make a movie from my poem,
“You Don’t Live On My Street.”
He had just heard me perform it in Pine Bluff, AR and
insisted that it had all of the pathos, tension and chaos
worthy of a movie script. I didn’t believe him at first but
the idea of a movie touched my spirit.
I mentioned it to my two sons and they secretly
bought me some scriptwriting software for my birthday.
May 8, 2011
I opened my birthday present. It was Final Draft. I immediately sat down to the computer and began writing.
May 21, 2011
I finished my 125 page screen play. I felt like it wrote itself. The characters would wake me up and drag me up to my office at 4:00 a.m. to continue their intense discussions from the day before.
June 18, 2011
I just spent several weeks e-mailing the script to the Parisian director and looking at movie business plans, and budgets. I decided that the resources needed to shoot a movie were not available to me. But my spirit would not let the idea die. I sent out a casting call on June 18, 2012. The response was tremendous. I received responses from as far away as Memphis, from Nashville, and from a number of actors and actresses from my hometown of Clarksville, TN. There were also a large number of students from Austin Peay State University who responded to this “call.”
July 2, 2011
The principal roles in the film were cast with a minimum of two people. The agreement I made with the cast was that we would have double rehearsals all summer and I would select the movie cast on August 27, 2011. The actors who were not picked for the movie role would star in the stage play later that year.
August 1, 2011
Rehearsals were held at the Foston Institute for Holistic Mentoring. While one scene was being rehearsed in the conference room, other scenes were being practiced in the kitchen, foyer, other offices and even in the parking lot.
August 27, 2011
I announced the selection of the movie cast and set the shooting schedule.
Production
September 9,10, 2011
We shot the film in 21 hours on location at the New Provident Outreach Center. The cast and crew began arriving at 6:00 p.m. It was the same evening as a lakefront festival in Clarksville. The traffic was so bad we were unable to begin the shoot until 9:00 p.m. The movie was shot using two Canon 5DMK2 and one Canon 7D. It was shot in 1080HD. We shot nine cafeteria scenes, five gym scenes and four bedroom scenes before we took a break at 5 a.m. Caterers prepared dinner, breakfast, and lunch, while we continued shooting the remaining six scenes. Uniform security was on duty and handled an incident in the parking lot without disturbing the filming inside. We completed the filming marathon by 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 10.
September 16, 2011
The outdoor driving scenes were filmed
along with a cameo appearance for one of the cast members
who were unable to make the shoot.
Postproduction
October 1, 2011
The photographer who was also
contracted to edit the film was unable to be contacted by
phone, e-mail or text for twenty-five days. During that time
no work was done on the movie at all. The movie with all of
its sound footage was miraculously returned to the
Foston Institute.
October 10, 2011
Another editor was hired and the grueling process of editing the film was finally under way.
October 23, 2011
A rough cut of the two-hour film was completed .
October 27, 2011,
I flew to Charlotte, North Carolina, where for the next five days my son, Bryan Foston, scored the movie.
November 21, 2011
A third cut of the movie was prepared, but needed special attention to the text of the opening and closing sequence and the trailer.
December 8, 2011
Another editor was hired to complete the film.
January 6, 2012
Submitted the Director’s Cut to the Nashville Film Festival
January 15, 2012
Flew to Los Vegas with two of my sisters for an intense round of meetings with the next editor who also became the narrator for the film
January 29, 2012
Submitted most recent cut to Film Festival
January 31, 2012
I released the movie trailer via YouTube
February 2, 2012
I received the most recent cut and found several more editing changes that needed to be made.
March 25, 2012
I discussed the next steps with the final cut with the editor.
April 3, 2012
Received Final Cut
April 14, 2012
Released Soundtrack CD at a “Listening Party”
April 15, 2012
Premiered the Movie at the Custom House Museum for two shows
