Joyce DeWitt as Nikki

Meet Joyce DeWitt, who plays Nikki, the kindhearted waitress in MY BOYFRIENDS’ DOGS. She’s the one who coaxes the story from Bailey, who knocks on the cafe’s door and begs to come in. Dressed in a soaking wet wedding dress and accompanied by 3 dogs, Bailey quickly warms to Nikki, and the story unfolds.

You may recognize this spunky actress from the long running TV comedy, THREE’S COMPANY.

So, what about the guys? The boyfriends? I promise to get to them next time. Tomorrow I’m off to NYC to present the Edgar Award to this year’s winner of the best young adult mystery. Lucky me!

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Emily Holmes as Amber

 

Emily Holmes–Friend “Amber”

This is Emily Holmes, the wonderful actress who plays Amber (Bailey’s best buddy) in MY BOYFRIENDS’ DOGS. Can’t you just tell that she’d make a great best friend? In fact, the director, Terry Ingram, commented that something pretty amazing happened about the second day of filming–Emily and Erika (Bailey) actually became good friends. Terry said that in all his years directing, he’d only observed the phenomenon a couple of times. Schedules are so full, and everyone is so focused on getting things right, that there’s rarely time for friendships to develop. If you watch this movie (premiers on the Hallmark Channel July 19th, Saturday night at 9), see if you detect what we did–genuine friendship.

Emily won us over in a scene that takes place in a yoga studio, where she and Bailey attempt to keep up with the pros. Poor “Amber” had to collapse from exhaustion, not once, but over and over again, take after take. Her physical comedy had us laughing out loud.

Teryl Rothery plays Dina Daley, Bailey’s (Erika Christensen’s) mom in MY BOYFRIENDS’ DOGS. The book describes Bailey’s mother as petite, cute, foxy, attractive, funny, smart, and tenderhearted. All of that makes Teryl Rothery the perfect actress for this role. She was one of the first people I met on the set, and she was so gracious that she put me at ease. She told me that when she read the script, she knew she had to play Dina, and she instructed her agent to do whatever it took to make it happen. What an honor to have her in the movie!

Teryl has been acting her whole life. Currently, she stars in the Hallmark series, Cedar Cove. Or you might know her as Dr. Janet Frasier from Stargate. But on July 19, Teryl Rothery will be Dina Daley.

Erika Christensen stars as Bailey Daley in MY BOYFRIENDS’ DOGS

 

I couldn’t have asked for a better Bailey than the incredibly talented Erika Christensen. She stars in the popular TV series Parenthood. And the long list of her movie credits includes: Traffic, The Upside of Anger, Swimfan, Flightplan, The Banger Sisters, Wuthering Heights, The Sisters, and on and on. As a person, she’s a delight–sweet, funny, charming, and such a hard-worker. I never heard her complain, even when she had to do take after take in the rain. Plus, she loves dogs! I’m so grateful Erika said yes to MY BOYFRIENDS’ DOGS.

 

 

Wedding & Country Club Scenes

I confess that I knew nothing about how movies are filmed. I still know very little, but it was fun observing the process. My first day on the set of MY BOYFRIENDS’ DOGS, one of the producers (and they were all so generous and kind) handed me a headset. Through it, I could listen to actors saying their lines and to the director overseeing the action. If you look hard, you can see small TV screens, where we watched each take after take. Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll find a better close-up of the action on the screens.

Dog Stars: Adam and Eve and Shirley

I fell in love with Adam and Eve and Shirley, the three dog stars in MY BOYFRIENDS’ DOGS. Shaking my hand is Adam, who, much like his fictional owner, loves women and pretty much ignores men. The Dalmatian is Eve, and she reminded me of the first dog we owned when I was a kid, Susie, also a Dalmatian. As it happens, “Susie” was my first word, much to the chagrin of “Mama” and “Dada.” Shirley the Shih-Tzu was a huge scene stealer. She proved to be unflappable, never displaying the slightest big of stage fright.

ON THE SET OF MY BOYFRIENDS’ DOGS

I’m home from Vancouver, where I met the most amazing group of professionals on the set(s) of MY BOYFRIENDS’ DOGS. What a surreal experience to see characters who began in my head now walking around, saying words I put on paper! The producers, the director, actors, crew–they were so kind and welcoming. I was afraid I’d feel like a fifth wheel, but they treated me like family. It’s hard to know where to begin, so I think I’ll break up my tale into several blogs. This is Take One.