From High School Drama to Web Series
My high school drama teacher once put an unwanted spotlight on me in class by calling me “The resident jetsetter.”
For someone who ordinarily loved being center stage, that comment made me want to dig a hole in the floor and go south. A year later I did, finally moving in with my family in Los Angeles to attend the Hollywood Professional School of Performing Arts. Some people leave home and never look back, but I loved where I attended high school in the coastal farming community of Watsonville. Some of my favorite things (Taylor’s Hot Dogs!) and people are still there, and over the years I have gone back to visit often.
A few years ago, my friend Dawn – who played ‘Marmie’ to my Jo in the W.H.S. production of Little Women – announced she was starting her second chapter of life in Watsonville by opening Carriage House Collectibles with her best friend Kelli on the property of the historic Tuttle Mansion in the heart of town. Their store occupies the actual old carriage house of the Tuttle home, a large, red Victorian beauty with over 120 years of history (and spirits, according to multiple ghost registries across the nation). Carriage House has the sweetest spot in the city to showcase everything the ladies hunt and peck for from their travels to flea markets, estate sales, garage sales. Every nook and cranny of the store and workshop is filled with interesting finds, like Victrolas, mid-century (and older) furniture, vintage toys and lots of other truly great treasures. Look closer and you’ll find, at first glimpse, what some might deem “another man’s trash.” There are so many things they’ve found and lovingly refurbished/repurposed (to be honest downright Frankensteined) into funky fabulousity. Some of what you and I might label the most hopeless of finds, magically turn into the most glorious of gifts. For example? One of the first items they sold out of the store was a gutless banjo that became a quirkily charming wall clock. Oh, and the Victrola cabinet missing its Victorla? Well, they transformed that into a groovy steampunk mini-bar. One that people were just about willing to arm wrestle over to purchase.
About the time they were opening the store, I was looking to unload a nearly 30’ storage unit that was filled to the brim with antiques and collectibles. For over a decade I’d been paying for this storage unit and really didn’t know what to do with the things inside. Sure, there were some things that were glorious, but there were a lot of items that just...weren’t (see above-mentioned gutless banjo). In a moment of SMH and *see the light* clarity -- I made the decision to turn it all over to Carriage House Collectibles. Let one (wo)man’s ugly, dusty and emotional ten+ year storage relationship end and another of happy hearts and “someone else’s treasure” begin!
Dawn and Kelli drove all afternoon to arrive at the storage unit at dusk. They were exhausted, but immediately began walking around each item telling the story of where it was going to go and what was going to become of it. Their energy levels shot up and the excitement was absolutely palpable. It was, in a word: Magical. These women had worked and raised their families and at a time when most peeps were slowing down and retiring, they’d found a drop of Ponce de Leon’s mystical formula, by taking on a ginormous amount of responsibility and work (some of it backbreaking, too).
Not long after the store’s Grand Opening, I got a phone call telling me about someone “in the industry” who had made a comment about the two women being their “own television show.” It didn’t surprise me in the least. It’s true. Dawn and Kelli are funny, witty and sometimes downright frustrating to watch (despite being BFFs they don’t ALWAYS agree). But even when they’re frustrating, they’re still funny!
My initial response to the television comment was to tell Dawn and Kelli that the Tequila Mockingbird team could shoot a short proof of concept for them to maybe show around. I talked to my partners about it and they assembled a crew to drive up to Watsonville to film one weekend. The footage that came back was fantastic! It was a love letter of imagery, so crisp you could almost smell the ocean at nearby Pajaro Dunes and apples of Martinelli’s cider. It was a delicious walk through a place I love with people I care about. The more I went through the footage and the final sizzle reel -- the more I thought, “This actually could be a show. And... I wanted my team to make it. As an independent, small (but mighty) production company we don’t have deep pockets, so the series was shot on a shoestring budget made of our own monies. But the quality? It holds its own next to any show you’d see on any DIY network. [HGTV, Gaines Channel, are you listening? We’re standing by 24/7 to take your call.]
After multiple creative meetings and a few more road trips to Watsonville (and Taylor’s Hot Dogs!) Tequila Mockingbird Productions had gathered enough stories and scenarios (and many, many cases of Martinelli’s Cider purchased by crew members) to craft it all into a mini web-series. As a team, we are pleased and proud to announce a test-run promotional release of Two Chicks and a Truck on Gal/Pal/Valentine’s Day on February, 14th 2021 on YouTube and Facebook.
In the middle of a pandemic.
As our promo trailer says, “You know you’re staying in. Grab the good chocolate for yourself and watch!” Oh, and be sure to Like and Subscribe.
