We finished shooting Sundown: An independent film, so buckle up for a ride on the gratitude train. We couldn’t have made it through an ambitious 20-in-23-days shoot without an amazing, always game and positive crew. Thanks so much to Pearl Lung, Cecilia Prestamo, James Ryan Welch, Ben Northrop, Jill McCarty, Krystle Feher, Jack Garrett, Jen Kruh, Yahna Harris, and (of course) Porcelain Dalya for making my job so much easier than it had any right to be.

Thanks to all the folks who generously opened their homes and places of business for us to use as locations, Chrissy Fantone at Twenty20 Cambridge, Gwen and Kathy at Mount Pleasant Home, the great people at Niko’s Restaurant in Weymouth, Hanover High School, and Artlounge Arlington. The biggest thanks of all go to my mom Bonnie, my brother Colum, and my sis-in-law Katie for allowing our production to take over their lives for two weeks. Eternally grateful.

There were several times during shooting when the production team looked at each other and said “Wow – we did a good job casting, didn’t we?” Huge thanks to Lamont Price, Veronica Anastasio Wiseman, Nina Kremer, Anna Rizzo and Nick Chambers for bringing their immense talents to this project. I think the most amazing thing in the process was watching a group of actors become like a real family. Caitlin Graham is a breathtaking talent who stunned me with almost every take. Zele Avradopoulos and Paul Kandarian brought such life and reality to a couple of very difficult roles. And big thanks to our lead Grayson Powell. He became everything I imagined and more. I’m so proud of this cast for what they accomplished.

Ok, I know it sounds like I’m accepting an award or something, but a couple more: the film simply would not have happened without our producer Sally Northrop. She was a constant rock of competence and beacon of kindness and positivity through the entire process. She is a treasure. Filmmaking is really hard, but it’s a hell of a lot easier when you’ve got Sally by your side.

All right – one more and then I’m done spewing gratitude and I’ll get back to the regularly scheduled cynicism and dick jokes. It’s tough to encapsulate what Leticia De Bortoli Alves has meant to me artistically and personally during the process of shooting. She has been my partner and my friend. She has been the voice of calm and reason, talking me down from Anxiety Tower more times than I can count. In my life as a musician, I was lucky enough to find a “music wife” in Magen. Well, I now consider Leticia my film wife. Hopefully, she won’t divorce me any time soon.

The film is safely in the editor’s hands now.  I’ll continue to give you updates on the progress as things go forward.  Thanks so much for coming on this ride with us!