Movie in the Works

As it is with almost every idea that gets into her head, Julia is now whole-heartedly invested in her idea of making a movie.  In fact, she spent a good chunk of time yesterday afternoon doing prep work.  What I thought was just simple coloring turned out to be actual character sketches.  Julia presented me with her three characters:

After I heaped praise upon her artwork, she held up the girl in the top image (whose name is Matilda, by the way) and asked me, "But Mom?  Do I have to, like, hold this picture right up to the camera so that you can't see, like, my arm, or see that I'm holding on to it?"

I had been unaware that this was meant to be a cartoon.  Julia looked crest-fallen when I explained that, although we could use her drawings for the film, in order to make cartoons actually move, nowadays design is all done on computers. 

JULIA: Well, then Mom, what CAN we do?
ME: Well, I thought you were going to use real people in your movie.
JULIA: (grinning self-consciously) Well...CAN I do that?
ME: Sure.  That's what I figured you were going to do. 
JULIA: But, like, who else can be in the movie besides me?
ME: Well, you and Madeleine can be in it.  And hey, maybe next time we have a play-date with Nate and Anja, I can film them too.

Julia took a moment to chew this over, then asked contemplatively, "But, like, HOW will everybody know the right DAY to come over?"

Oh.  Okay.  So she wants a legit movie shooting schedule.

It wasn't until later on in the evening that I saw how seriously she was taking this whole idea.  I came across her cast list in her notebook:

It appears that for the names whose spellings she did not know, she listed only the starting consonants or letters.  Aunties Shannon and Caitlyn, it's possible that you are on this list...

Not only did she put together her cast, but Julia has also made tickets AND a credit card for us to use as admittance to the film's premiere:

What can I say besides Julia most definitely takes after her old mother?  My first home movie, which is basically a re-enactment of "Pollyanna" with some potty talk and impromptu, completely irrelevant songs fit into it, was shot when I was also six years old.  I remember all too well how desperately I wanted to poke holes in a piece of black construction paper and write "HBO" on it so it would look like the opening logo on an HBO movie.  And just like Julia with her Fresh Beat Band songs, I stood on the mantle of my family's fireplace and bellowed out a completely made-up-on-the-spot song with these stunning lyrics: "I know what I'm doin' with a kite, I know what I'm doin' with a kite, you don't have to tell me!  You don't have to tell me!  You doooooon't have to teeeeeellllll meeeee!"  Clearly, we can see where Julia gets her creative genius from.

I do have to admit, however, that Julia's musical compositions are way catchier than mine were.  I never came up with anything on the scale of "What Kind of Path Do You Take?  Usually Straight," or "I Have Bangs, Can't You See?"  I mean, I had bangs as a kid and everything, and I knew what I was doing with a kite, but clearly my creative talents were inferior to those of my progeny.  And that's exactly how it should be.