About the Movie
THE PROJECT:
The Cookie Thief, adapted from the poem of the same title by Valerie Cox, came to life by a mixture of inspiration, opportunity and sheer chance. I wrote it several years ago after hearing a reading of an insightful little poem on a motivational tape by Dr. Wayne Dwyer. It caught my fancy and short script followed. Years later an opportunity presented itself to make a short at a Production company where I was working, and I ran with it. A green light is a green light, even if at the time all it meant was a DV camera and a miniscule budget. Of course the film happens to take place entirely inside a crowded airport, not something easily attained at any budet, but nearly totally impossible when there is almost no budget. But the bug had already bitten me so I persisted. LAX wasn’t interested and neither was Burbank airport, but thanks to the internet I stumbled onto an airport location built on soundstages in L.A. Robert Shalhoub, the VP of Operations was willing to read the script. The script spoke to him and he opened his doors to me at a price I could afford. On that day, back in December of 2005, the film became a reality. I spent the next few months working full time and casting on weekends and pulling a crew together. Rene Vara joined the production early on, bringing a Panasonic Varicam HD camera to the table. 
I got the script to Eric Roberts through some personal contacts, and he loved the script and came aboard. All the pieces were in place. Until the Production company that was producing the film was forced to lay me off one Tuesday. A film without a backer, a filmaker without a job, and a dream on the verge of collapse. A few phone calls, a new job and some European investors kept the momentum moving along….and a few months later the cameras were rolling and The Cookie Thief was getting made. Thanks to a lot of amazing people, who bent over backwards to help make it happen. I am forever indebted to all those who gave their time, talent, love and money.