CRISTNA PENA/ROUND ROCK LEADER
Photo: Director Jerry Alden Deal (left) is joined by actors Tim O’Connor and Erin Gray at a recent screening of his award-winning film “Dreams Awake.” Deal is raising money for his next project, “One Hand Clapping.”
November 21, 2013 By Cristina Peña
Austin Community Newspapers Staff
When Jerry Alden Deal decided to make independent films, he knew one of the set locations had to be in Central Texas.
Deal has strong roots in Round Rock and the Central Texas area because he lived here on-and-off through his life and partially raised his sons in Round Rock. His brother, Jay, still lives in the area and his father was an accomplished journalist, working for years at the San Antonio-Express News.
His dream to make a Texas-based film might become a reality with his newest venture, “One Hand Clapping,” which is set to begin filming next spring. The story will take place in a small Texas town and is centered on reincarnation through a multi-generational storyline. The movie is anticipated to be filmed as a result of crowd funding – a financing mechanism that utilizes public donations – and has garnered nearly $11,500 toward its $1.25 million goal.
To introduce the new project, Deal recently screened his latest feature film, “Dreams Awake,” which he wrote, directed and produced. The film has toured festivals around the world and won 17 awards, including “The Best Feature Film” award at the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema in the United Kingdom.
“I like to say I don’t do it for the awards,” Deal said. “It’s fun to do, but I enjoy the work much more. It’s good when you realize that you and your family aren’t the only ones wanting to see it.”
Deal began his film career as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, but said the ageism in Hollywood lessened his work and pushed him to make his own dreams come true.
“As I got older I wanted to develop some of my own projects so we filmed ‘Dreams Awake’ in Mount Shasta, Calif.,” he said. “I was really frustrated with all the screenplays I was writing not getting made so I directed the thing myself and put a pretty good cast together.”
“Dreams Awake” follows a family through a unique experience in a mountainous region of California. The mother, played by Erin Gray, struggles with finding herself and mysteries surrounding her parents’ sudden death in the mountains during her adolescence.
Gray, a main cast member of the late-1970’s science fiction series, “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,” said she was drawn to the film after finishing the movie, “Ghouls” in Romania. She was killed in the film and as she sat in the Romanian streets, she couldn’t believe where her acting career had taken her.
“I said to the universe, ‘Please bring me a film that embraces the ideas that I so love and that is more inspiring and uplifting than a horror film where I get eaten by ghouls.’,” Gray said.
That film was “Dreams Awake” and Deal said he knew he wanted her in the project from the beginning. Gray could not immediately audition, but once she read a scene, where her character finds long-lost journals from her deceased parents, the producers were blown away. Gray then recruited fellow “Buck Rogers of the 25th Century” star, Tim O’Connor to join her in Deal’s film.
The story not only shows real-life struggles of family connection, but also a stronger theme of faith and metaphysical possibilities.
“Some films are just popcorn, fun films, but I like to tell stories with more substance to that,” he said. “That’s what we tried to do with ‘Dreams Awake’ and what we’re going to try to do with ‘One Hand Clapping’.”
Story: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/local-filmmaker-seeks-to-start-production-in-sprin/nbzF9/
