It started as a casual conversation between friends.
Mark Erickson, founder of The Ballet Studio in Temecula, and his friend, Inda Reid, actor, director, cinematographer, writer.
What if, Erickson asked, Reid were to film The Ballet Studio's annual Christmas production of "The Nutcracker?"
"People don't know what it takes to put on a quality rendition of the Christmas classic," he said, "The dancers, the parents, the volunteers from the community building sets, making costumes and just doing stuff."
Reid had already done some filming of the 2006 production and enjoyed herself.
But a documentary? She'd never made a documentary and wasn't certain what it would take to do one. She had no idea what the story even was.
Erickson's idea was to document what it takes for a small studio to stage "The Nutcracker," a phenomenon replicated across the nation every December.
"I had the idea a long time ago," Erickson said. "I felt it would connect with people all over the country."
Reid began filming without knowing whether she would produce a documentary, knowing only that she wanted to do something meaningful to her and that "The Making of the Nutcracker" seemed to offer that opportunity.
Over four months she filmed hundreds of hours of classes, rehearsals and interviews, the highs and lows, the laughter and the tears, the triumphs and frustrations.
Two years later the documentary is among the films accepted for the 2009 Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival.
And Reid thinks she did the idea justice, though the perfectionist in her had her refining the film just hours before it was to be shown at the Movie Experience.
She knows she is a different filmmaker.
"I have learned a lot doing this project," she said, about what it takes to make a documentary and about what it takes to dance ballet.
Though she is dancer herself, Reid said she learned what it takes to be a ballet dancer in a studio where good enough is not good enough.
"Mark sees it as a school for life," she said. "He sees it as his responsibility to be the best teacher at the best school for the best production possible and he demands the same of the students.
"He accepts no excuses, It is pretty amazing. They work so hard to make it look easy, as though you aren't tired."
And therein lies the story.
"This is not about 'The Nutcracker,'" Reid said. "It's about the dancers."
The former dancer even leapt onto the stage and filmed amid the dancers, shifting the perspective from audience to performer.
"There are points where you feel like you're up there," Reid said. "You might feel it's you up there."
There came a point at which the dancers, the parents, the volunteers forgot she was there.
"They got so used to me filming it was as though I wasn't there," she said.
Some sort of line had been crossed. People also forgot to be guarded, forgot not to lose their tempers, forgot to keep a smile on their faces, said what was on their minds and not just what was in their heads.
"Whatever happened, it didn't seem like they were paying attention to me," she said.
And that is where the story gets told, Reid said. And it is where it becomes more than a documentary, as one of the producers, Beverly Stephenson said.
"She said this is more than a documentary," Reid said. "And it is."
After performing all of the jobs needed to make the documentary, Reid said she has gained new respect for the skill required of those who normally invest their skill into the making of a documentary, the cinematographer, the sound recordist, the editor, the on-camera interviewer. And for the immense effort it takes for one person to do them all.
She even named her company, Predator Productions, for the experience. Producer-writer-editor combined to make Predator.
She thinks maybe the next time she makes a documentary she will make use of the talents of specialists. She also thinks there is something more she wants to learn.
"I'm going to take a ballet class," she said.
"The Making of the Nutracker"
Movie Experience 10 at Tower Plaza, 27531 Ynez Road, Temecula
7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday
$10
951-699-5514
