Sometimes, you just have to publicly acknowledge when someone did you a solid.
In fact, ALL THE TIME, you should do that.
It’s the easiest thing in the world for any of us to do — look at the person you owe thanks to and say, “Thank You.”
And if you miss an opportunity to do that, go back and fix it.
Find the time and place to express gratitude.

Soooo many people helped me make “The Happiest Book Trailer Ever!”
Letting the world know who they are is long overdue, so here it goes.

The Performers (in order of appearance):
Angela Kennedy, waitress, manager (and welder) extraordinaire, at the Blue Dog Beer Tavern;
Jenna Syde, rocker extraordinaire, playing the mom to my friend Liane’s two adorable kids (who Liane would not want named);
Roy Cain, who got conscripted into service as a cranky old guy by the misfortune of being in a piano class with me;
Earl Newton, who had no idea he was going to become both an actor and a stunt driver on the same afternoon;
Adorable actress, Erica Martinez, who even kindly brought her own parking ticket;
Mauricio Pena, who has mad martial arts skillz and is not one to lose to, or run from, a bully, and Neil Vachani, who has never mugged anyone in his life; and
Ashley Taylor, who so deeply understood what I was looking for in a “spokesmodel” that she looked like that when I opened the door.

The Editors:
Rob Chynoweth, who did an amazing job not only cutting this video, but also going against all of his instincts and good taste to make the cheesiest book trailer ever, and even allowed me to force him to do the voiceover for it; and
Bruce Novotny, who graciously stepped in when Rob’s work schedule made him unavailable to help me meet a self-imposed deadline (and follow the advice of everyone who saw my first version of the video, to make it shorter — yes, it was once even longer than this.)

The Unsung Hero:
Karen Barna — who did everything I dragged her into. She shot the in-car and Blue Dog segments, the latter twice.  She provided the mommy voice when I blew the original sound recording.  She even did some on-camera work which didn’t make the final cut, and she’s just the best cheerleader anyone could ask for as a friend.

I also want to give a special thanks to all the people who helped, but whose work did not make it into this round: Sarah Olim, John Mickevich, Lorrena Magana (you will see them in upcoming mini-trailers); Brandon Galvan and Laura Kranz, who were wonderful and adorable and fun to work with; and all of the people in my writers group and my piano class, who had no idea they would get yanked into this production — repeatedly.

You are all wonderful human beings. I love you. I’m very grateful for you.
I hope to work with each of you again soon!