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“Action,” my brother called out as I crawled out from under the bushes wearing my favorite dark green silk taffeta dress that I wore as my cousins flower girl. There were leaves in my hair, our dog licking my arm and an incredible smile across my face.

Growing up on a farm, in a house that sat in the middle of nowhere, my brother and I were forced to create our own entertainment. For him, that meant making movies. I’m not just talking about your ordinary home-made movies. At 9 years old, Justin created master pieces. Short films that were shot on our rinky-dinky family video camera which he edited with soundtracks, credits and cut to’s all using a simple VHS player and remote. Dick Tracy, Alice in Wonderland, Wayne’s World, Home Alone . . . every week was a new adventure and every week I acted out a different character as he directed, shot and played make believe that his next film would be screened at the local movie theater.

Looking back I remember those moments as the happiest days of my childhood. Not because I was having my moment in the “spotlight” but because it was the happiest I ever saw my brother. He was in his element and his positive, playful energy was absolutely contagious.

After many years passed of living life, Justin found his way back to his childhood dream. A few years ago he moved to Los Angeles to produce movies and last weekend, his first feature film made its Los Angeles debut at AFI Fest at Chinese Grauman’s Theater. I was so sad to miss the premiere at Toronto Film Festival in September {thanks to NYFW}, but it was well worth the wait.

As we walked through the doors, crossing over the hand prints of iconic celebrities and into the sold out theater, an extreme feeling of pride overcame me. I rounded the corner and there it was, a long line of people waiting to see his film. It was a breathtaking view.

Appropriately, the entire film was shot back in our home town of Texas on the same dirt that he would produce our home-made movies on. It was an incredible work of art and a wistful walk down memory lane.

After the credits rolled I looked down the row at my brother who had same huge smile across his face that he had when we were kids. He was home {and so was I}.

P.S. Turns out I’m not the only fan of the movie, We Gotta Get Out Of This Place won the AFI Audience Award {woop!}

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We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams.