Flying Changes is the story of a birth mother seeking redemption for twenty painful years of her estranged daughter's life by introducing herself as a riding instructor and inviting the girl into her upper class family, all of whom are unaware of the girl's existence.

This feature film debut of husband and wife team Brady and Andrea Nasfell is practically the direct result of a dare. "We were asked the question, 'Are you going to keep talking about making films, or are you going to go do it?'" explains producer/director Brady Nasfell.

So the Nasfells started writing a script and raising money. And like the dressage riders in the story, they were saddled up for an interesting ride.

Synopsis

Dressage trainer Marilyn Mitchell (Melissa Kelley) has two daughters. Rebecca (Laurie Warnecke) has grown up on the family horse farm with all she needed and more. Her father, and Marilyn's husband Mike (Joe Gatton), an architect, is making plans for a dressage training center that the family will build and manage together.

But her other daughter, Kari (Julie Hudson), Marilyn has never known. She gave her up for adoption twenty years ago, and out of a sense of guilt, kept a distant watch over the girl as she ran from bad situation to bad situation. Marilyn even inspired a love for horses in her by asking a friend to introduce her to dressage.

Marilyn invites Kari to the farm for the summer to train, and conceals Kari's true identity from everyone, even after Bags (Kenny McKinney), the old hand who has been on the farm for two generations, advises her to let them know.

Kari quickly proves her competitive nature, winning out over Rebecca in any way she can, even in chasing after Will (Damon Boggess), another farm hand who has been the object of Rebecca's affection for years. In dressage, Kari shows that she has easily mastered the skills that Rebecca works hard at, including the "flying change," a dressage move in which the horse changes his lead foot mid-stride. As Marilyn and Mike see the potential for Kari to advance to international riding levels, they begin to invest more and more in Kari. Rebecca's jealousy and frustration mount until she is confronted by a mysterious man from Kari's past, Scott Parkin (Paul Tarrants)--a "stalker" according to Kari.

It's not just the Mitchells who take notice of Kari's riding. Wealthy young horse breeder, Charles Crenshaw, Jr. (Jeff Baier) agrees to help fund the Mitchell's training center if they will allow Kari to spend some time in Europe under his care, riding for the best trainers. Kari is thrilled about the offer and agrees to go. Marilyn's plans crumble as Mike uncovers her secret and it seems that she will lose Kari again, this time to the very sport that she had hoped would bring them closer.

Out of love for both her daughters and a desire to right past wrongs, Marilyn decides to reveal the truth... but with different results than she had hoped. Kari explodes and, in her usual manner, runs away--this time to Crenshaw and the prospects of training in Europe.

Rebecca tries to resume life as usual, but can't. Her struggle to master the flying change turns into a struggle to face the essence of the sport she loves... that she, and her family, must be willing to be uncomfortable in order to grow and succeed. As Bags tells her, she's got to "stop doing what feels natural, and start doing what works."

In her new resolve to help her mother, Rebecca realizes that Scott Parkin has the missing piece of the story that will be the tool for Marilyn to reconcile with Kari, if she will only listen...

The Horse of a Higher Caliber

Flying Changes explores the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation, as well as overcoming fear. "It emphasizes the fact that taking responsibility in the face of adversity is difficult. It's not always our first instinct," explains producer/director Brady Nasfell. All three of the women have a first instinct that perpetuates problems. Kari's tendency is to run away, while Marilyn ignores problems and Rebecca pities herself. "Bags pushes Rebecca along when he tells her that 'a horse of a higher caliber is willing to be uncomfortable in order to learn.' He uses the basic concepts of dressage to persuade her to step out of her comfort zone.'"

The story also touches on the mysterious concept of generational sin--that the mistakes of the parents are often paid for by their children. "Marilyn's intentional action at the beginning of the story, followed by Kari's at the end, are the only means of preventing history from repeating itself," suggests screenwriter Andrea Nasfell.

"Marilyn discovers the essence of maturity," says Melissa Kelley, the actress who portrays her. "Until now she has been locked in a kind of immaturity. But there comes a time when you ask yourself 'Am I going to be scared all my life, or am I going to confront the things I'm afraid of and get over it? Am I going to wait for my ship to come in, or am I going to make things happen on my own?'"

It's an interesting parallel, because it is the same question Brady Nasfell was asked that caused him to proceed with the vision to make the film.

Stop Talking About It...

"Andrea and I had talked and dreamed about being filmmakers," he says. "She had attended film school, and we were saving money to move to Los Angeles and look for work in the industry."

The Nasfells took opportunities locally to produce and write for video and television, but it wasn't satisfying. Brady Nasfell explains, "We asked ourselves if there was anything else we really wanted do with our lives but make film, and we could easily answer no. It was about that time that we saw people like Ed Burns and Kevin Smith making films on shoestring budgets with the resources they had at hand, and that excited us."

The breaking point came in April of 1996. Nasfell's friend, Jim Owens, a television professor at Asbury College, was planning to attend a producing seminar because of student interest in film production. He knew of Nasfell's goals and invited him to come along.

"It is ridiculous to think that you could learn everything about the producing process in a weekend seminar," he said. "But what it did was demystify the process."

He came home with one question, "Why don't we stop talking about it and do it?"

...And Do It!

Andrea had two completed spec scripts, but neither was suitable for a low-budget production. "We were trying to keep things under control as far as budget, number of actors and locations, complexity of the shoot...," she says. "It took us several months to come up with an idea that we felt would work within those guidelines and still be compelling." The idea for Flying Changes evolved out of the story of a real girl who came to live with some of Andrea's friends in high school.

Even in the idea stage, the Nasfells knew that Flying Changes would inevitably be different from most independent films in setting and tone. "There isn't any gritty urban life," admits Andrea Nasfell. "We wanted to make a film about things that happen to the people who live between New York and L. A. We felt we could make a truer picture about these kind of people, because they are the kind of people we know."

During auditions, it was clear that an entirely local cast would also add to the realism of the picture. While most of the actors had generous amounts of theater and commercial experience, only Joe Gatton (Mike) had experience in feature films. This was his third. He made his first appearance in 100 Proof, which premiered at Sundance in 1997. "What makes Flying Changes different [from some independent film] is that it is hopeful," Gatton says. "It's not easy-answer, but it is about people willing to work through hardships and not just be resolved to hopelessness."

The pre-production process wasn't without its hardships and discouragement. On top of working regular jobs, the Nasfells completed fund-raising, writing and pre-production in an eight month roller coaster ride. As Andrea Nasfell notes, "There are a lot of people who feel that it`s their responsibility to give you a reality-check. To tell you that your budget or timeline is impossible. In some cases you listen and make adjustments, but in other cases you have to ignore the skeptics and push ahead."

The Nasfells found it necessary to surround themselves with a team of "can do" people. The first was director of photography Thomas McCarty, one of Andrea's classmates from the Los Angeles Film Studies Center. He could identify with the idea of pushing ahead despite the skeptics--he was told by an elementary teacher that he had no creativity or artistic talent. But he never let it kill his passion for painting with a camera, whether it be still photography or film.

"We asked Tom to come on board because of a 16mm short he had produced as a student project," explained Brady Nasfell. "We were impressed with his work, and we knew he was someone we could trust." Trust was very important because, due to budget constraints, the director and DP didn't see dailies until two weeks into the shoot. McCarty was jokingly calling them the "monthlies."

What is dressage?

It was important to the filmmakers to write a script that would utilize the natural resources of Kentucky--beautiful horses, stately farms, rolling hills, sunsets. "The benefit of using horse imagery in the film was evident to most everyone," explains Brady Nasfell, "but when we said dressage, the response was usually `What's that?'"

"Not many people know what it is!" laughs Andrea Nasfell. "It's really a beautiful sport that is about harmony between the horse and rider. I thought that the formality and grace provided an interesting backdrop for the story and characters."

Dressage is one of the fastest growing equestrian sports in the United States, and in Europe it is a century-old tradition. According to the American Horse Council Foundation, 7.1 million Americans are involved in the horse industry as horse owners, service providers, employees and volunteers. 3.6 million and 4.3 million of those participated in showing and recreation, respectively, with some overlap in cases of people who participated in both activities. The United States Dressage Federation has registered 22,000 horses for showing in over 600 events yearly.

The film was shot at the home of Margee Koffler, president of the Kentucky Dressage Association. "She and her daughters were invaluable to the film," says Brady Nasfell. "They probably had no idea what they were getting themselves into, but they contributed significantly from script consultations to production, supervising every moment with the horses."

Working with Horses

One week before Flying Changes production began, one of the horses that had been secured to perform in the film became unavailable. The horse and rider team was training for possible Olympic level shows, and riding in the film would take her out of the "amateur" category, even though she would not be paid for her work on the film. "It was heart-breaking because this rider had worked with us from the beginning and really wanted to do it," said Andrea Nasfell.

"Our production manager was scrambling," explained Brady Nasfell. "He and all the other volunteers he could find spent the next week calling every person on the Kentucky Horse & Pony Club phone list." Unfortunately, this was the horse that would be required to do the flying changes for which the film is titled. It takes a horse trained to third level or higher, and in the midst of show season it was difficult to find someone willing or able to take the time.

The production accountant was the one who eventually found the horse that appeared in the film, and none too soon. It was three days into production. "At the end of each shooting day that turned up horseless, our assistant director would once again rearrange the schedule and pray," explained Brady Nasfell. "As it turned out, Monde was a gentle and patient horse, perfect for the situation. Again, her trainer probably wasn't fully aware of what she was getting into, but the two of them hung in with us for the few days we needed them."

"Everyone was blaming me," laughed Andrea. "I swore to them no horses next time. After a long day, hiding in stalls with carrots and hay, our production designer jokingly titled my next script, Two Guys in a White Room."

Complete Cast & Crew List