After six weeks of intense filming, we wrapped principal photography on my latest film You Don't Say! this past July. Although most of the film was filmed on location in Chicago, additional scenes were also shot locally at The Softer Side and White Street Gallery in Frankfort and The Blissful Banana Cafe in Orland Park.

You Don’t Say! is my sixth film to date. It is a contemporary comedy about a successful career woman who gets caught up in a comedic whirlwind of events when a mystical necklace, given to her as a gift from her boyfriend, may be causing her to uncontrollably speak her mind in the politically-correct world of corporate business.

We live in a world now where saying what you really feel has become wrong. You read something in the papers or on the internet almost every day about how someone said this word or that word and then some organization gets in an uproar with protests and demands for apologies. I mean, Billy Crystal getting slammed for doing his Sammy Davis Jr. routine on this year's Oscars? We’ve become an over-sensitive silent society. Freedom of speech has become a freedom under someone else’s terms. You Don’t Say! addresses that issue and has a lot of fun with it.

The film is now in post production. That's where the filmmaking process REALLY begins as 29-30 hours of footage is edited down to a less than 2 hour running time. Then, the film is turned over to film composer and fellow Frankfort resident, Doug Adams who will create the music to complete the film. Doug recently received his first on-screen credit in the Academy Award winning film Hugo directed by Martin Scorsese. He has also been working with film composer Howard Shore on the upcoming film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This will be Doug’s fourth music score for Sole Productions, which include Bitterblue, The Vision and D.I.N.K.s (Double Income No Kids).

Another exciting addition to the music soundtrack of You Don’t Say! will be the title song “You Don’t Say” which was written and composed by Grammy Award nominee, songwriter Alan O’Day, who had a number one hit in the 70’s with “Undercover Angel” and has written several other hits for other performers, such as “Angie Baby” for Helen Reddy, “Train of Thought” for Cher and “Rock ‘n Roll Heaven” for the Righteous Brothers.

I am also honored to have had the privilege of working with actor, Larry Thomas (Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi”) who plays the role of Mr. Melendez, a powerful CEO of a communications company called Telemex from Meixico City. As my Asisstant Director, Sarajane Crowley wrote about in her previous production blogs for the Patch, we filmed a couple scenes with Larry in June. Larry had some great behind-the-scenes stories about his role as the "Soup Nazi" on Seinfeld and the fame that it has brought him. Working with him was deinately one of the highlights of making this film.

As post production continues I will be keeping everyone up to date as we move towards the advance screening at the Marcus Theaters in Orland Park in February, 2013. More to come!

Robert Alaniz - Writer/Director