i began writing the script for Just Outside the Door in december 1996 and had a rough draft by february 97. i then spent the next 7 months revising and fine-tuning it,which turned out to be a lot longer than i ever anticipated. i had started getting a crew together in september 97, beginning with the director of photography, chris freilich. my good friend lisa strongson introduced me to chris, and through chris, i met up with gigi de roux, who became the script supervisor and editor. chris also began recruiting a camera crew that ended up consisting of sherry bryan (as AC) and regina squire (2nd AC).

after placing an ad in the nov. 14 issue of 'backstage,' i held auditions at 'center stage' on w. 21 st. in manhattan on the weekend before thanksgiving. 49 actresses tried out for the 3

i chose the 3 principles (linda hetrick as wendy, janet amateau as sharon, and michelle solomon as iris), as well as 2 minor roles (victoria steele as carol the co-worker, and elise molinelli as the restaurant hostess), from the pool and started rehearsing in december. i also filled a few other minor roles with people i already knew, including bruce matthews as rich, wendy's boss, who had co-starred in one of the shorts i worked on at NYU, "form space & murder."

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at that point, i had only secured 2 of the 5 major locations that we needed. i knew we had my parents' place (john sr. and tina tranchina) in ocean township, new jersey (just north of asbury park) to act as the nice suburban home of the delinos.