Red Carpet Premiere of The Family Crystal

Last night, the premiere of The Family Crystal finally happened at MBar in Hollywood (Vine and Fountain.), along with the promised red carpet.  It was a small red carpet, not a long one, but that's okay... after all, we wouldn't want me to trip on it.

For the event, I had purchases a beautiful plum Lauren Ralph Lauren gown with a plunging wrap around V-neck and slit up the left leg, hidden by a ruffle that ran from V-neck to hem.

And I had my makeup and hair done by friend/professional makeup artist extraordinaire, WES O'NEIL. He made me look gorgeous.  I asked him to take some photos of me and he did, of my makeup, which is cool. But he obviously misunderstood me that I also wanted one full length of my dress. Because he didn't do that. He, being a guy, isn't aware of how important having photographic memories of our dresses are. Now I have to wait and hope that the photographers at the event caught it.

See how gorgeous I am.  Wish though he had taken a full photo though. The necklace is Mayan, given to me by my ex-husband Grant.

Gosh, I sound like one of those stars on the Red Carpet telly, don't I?  My dress is from... My jewelry is from...

But that is how fabulous a night it was for me.  We grow up watching the actors and actresses walk the red carpet to the various Awards shows.  We watch the pre-shows to see what they are wearing in terms of dresses and jewelry. So can you imagine how awesome it was for me to have that experience for myself? 

I thank everybody who contributed to the series and to this night from the bottom of my heart. Here are a few photos from the talented SCOTT BROWN -- photographer, editor, cameraman, director, and all around nice guy.

 

 

These are friends of mine who came to share the evening with me and view The Family Crystal for the first time.  I was relieved to hear them laughing throughout the episodes... in all the right places.

 

This is me with the awesome Scott Baker, who took these photos. Well, not this one, of course.

 

This is my cousin, lead singer MIKE FISHER, who came to applaud me on. And see how the other part of the 'Industry' does it.

 

With me here is one of our fabulous producers, SUSAN SHEARER.

 

With me here is the actor who played my alcoholic dad so well, TOM KATSIS and his guests.

 

With me here is the guy who made us sound so good and clear, RALPH MILLER.  Between gigs, he paints U.S. Mailboxes.  Bet you never thought that somebody has to go round and paint all the mailboxes to keep them in good repair. 

 

 

With me here is are illustrious cast -- those who were able to come -- along with our equally illustrious director/writer/producer, ELAINE ZICREE (far right).

 

And a shot of our room with the screen on which The Family Crystal unfolded for the first time.

 

The one thing I wasn't prepared for was having to get up on stage and talk to the crowd. And of course, as luck would have it, as the leading actor, I had to go first. Don't even remember what I said as I had nothing prepared.  However, Elaine gave me these cute little crystal champagne glasses that are the size of charms on charm bracelets.  Love them.  Great remembrance.

 

Tom playing the dad got a jar of peanut butter. Angel playing Beauty Crystal got the mirrored tray she used to look at herself in the scene.  Leah as Rhonda got a copy of Tale of Two Cities.  Wish Barry could have come so we could have seen what his little gift was.

 

It was an awesome night, for which I am grateful to so many people. You all know who you are.  Love to you all.

Clips of Crystal in her Starring Role in "The Family Crystal" Web Series

Although the web series, The Family Crystal, is still in post, I was able to pry some clips out of the hands of my writer/director/producer extradinaire, ELAINE ZICREE. The very talented editor, SCOTT BAKER, helped me by taking the footage and creating the clips I wanted with my headshot back and front. However, these haven't been color-corrected yet, and I won't be able to put those up until the web series comes out of post and I get the final version to work with.

I've already uploaded them to IMDBpro, somewhat as a test to see how they will play and look. Next is to get them up on Now Casting and Actors Access, etc. with the hopes that people will like them and hire me as an actor in their projects.

You can view them on IMDB or here and be sure to let me know what you think. This first clip is from the episode called "The Party" and stars me, TOM KATSIS, who plays my father, and LEAH ALLERS, who plays my sister.

The second clip is from the episode "Dad Has a Nice Nap" and stars me, BARRY ALEXANDER, who plays my brother-in-law, and Tom Katsis.

The third clip is from the episode "Feeding Dad" and stars me and Leah Allers.

The fourth clip is from the episode "The Guest" and stars me and Barry Alexander.

The fifth clip is from the episode "Sisters" and stars me and Leah Allers.

Hopefully, the web series will finish posting soon, because there are a lot of other great scenes in it.

And if people like it, we hope to do a third season.

Poster from Photo Shoot of The Family Crystal

Jim Metropole who is a great photographer shot our outdoor photo shoot for the one-sheet announcing The Family Crystal web series. Jim also did the attached mock up of the poster. Director Elaine Zicree hasn't signed off on it yet, nor has she said what she thinks of it, so it isn't official. But I think it's cool.

The pose is from a series where Elaine wanted a photo that would suggest what the web series was about. So I did various muggings for the camera. I guess this is the one that Jim liked.

Last Rehearsal for The Family Crystal before Principal Photography Begins

Today is the last rehearsal we have for The Family Crystal web series. Tomorrow we begin principal photography and my call time is 7 am. Means I'm going to have to wake up at 5 am to be able to feed the kitties, get my act together and get there by 7 am. Ugh.

Cast members:
Crystal - played by me, Crystal Ann Taylor
my sister Rhonda played by Leah Allers
my Dad is played by Tom Katsis
Rhonda's husband is played by Barry Alexander
The beauty consultant is played by Peter Bedard
Therapist is played by Katherine McEwan
Beauty Crystal is played by Angel Wainwright
The tutor is played by Eric Rubin.

These actors are terrific and it's awesome that I'm in their presence.

The writer/director is Elaine Zicree
Producers are Susan Shearer and Richard Redlin.
Eugenia Care is assisting the producers and doing everything else we need.

We have a crew of professionals working on this as well, but I don't know who yet.

Rehearsals for the Family Crystal web series

Rehearsals for The Family Crystal web series has swung into high gear. We had rehearsals yesterday and today. Both days of rehearsal concentrated on the family dynamics scenes.

Yesterday we concentrated on season 2 while today we concentrated on season 1.

We will be shooting out of sequence just like traditional TV and movies do, so we are going to be doing both seasons simultaneously over the course of two weekends.

Rehearsals are so much fun as the script is very funny. We can't help but laugh throughout. And of course, that's me in the title role. However, all the actors are great. Elaine Zicree is the writer/director. Tom Katsis stars as my drunken, alcoholic father.

For a description of it all, visit the website, The Family Crystal. It's still sketchy but will have more info as things get further along. Hey, I'm not doing the website, so I have no control over it.