The Getaway is the second in what I hope will be a series of short films based on short stories by American women. My first, Psychoanalysis Changed My Life, was a contemporary film based on a story Amy Bloom. The Getaway was written and takes place in 1934. The author is Dorothy Thomas, and, although she lived and wrote in the West, her work was known all over the country. This story was published in the New Yorker, and founding editor Harold Ross called it "the best damn story ever in The New Yorker."

I first heard the story on NPR's Selected Shorts and fell in love with its tone. which is both funny and sad, and its characters, who are people revealed to us to be very complex in a very few pages. My goal for the film was to retain the tone of the story, use the performances to deepen the characters even more, be true to the period, and tell a complete and satisfying story in a short space of time.

We shot for four days in August, 2008, in Fort Totten, Queens, NY. The weather goddesses were with us, and we had four beautiful, warm days, allowing us to eat our meals on the lawn of the house where we shot our interiors. The two big challenges were working in period on a small budget and working with a nine year old boy. We managed the former because we were lucky enough to find talented and resourceful production and costume designers and a skilled and knowledgeable hair and makeup person. Instead of going to the expensive movie car rental companies, we tracked down two private car collectors and were able to afford two beautiful Model A Fords. The car owners generously allowed us to do anything we wanted with the cars except mount cameras on them, which we managed to do without.

I have a background as a casting director and have cast child actors as well as adults. (I gave Hayden Panettiere her first job when she was four.) We didn't have time for a long search, but I auditioned about 30 boys, and chose Dante Bruzzese for his straightforward acting and his strong little face which the camera loves.  I was lucky enough to have brought a fellow professor from the Yale School of Drama, where I teach film acting, to stage the fall from the car, and she, a movement teacher, stayed on set and kept Dante's energy up by playing games with him and worked on parts of his scenes. The four days went smoothly, and several of our very experienced crew declared it one of their favorite shoots.