Being on the set of All You’ve Got was a complete blast. I loved all my girls, wonderful actors who took the rival volleyball players off the page and brought them to life with integrity and warmth. Ciara could not be more different from the mean-girl character she played. In real life, she is as genuinely sweet and caring as she is beautiful, but on screen she embraced the character of Becca and gave us reasons for her bad behavior. Adrienne Bailon captured the energy and explosive passion that defined Gabby. Her performance in the scene where she discovers her father’s fate in the fire, the way she channeled Gabby’s pain was electrifying. Singer-songwriter Jennifer Pena made her acting debut with All You’ve Got. A natural talent, she has an allusive quality that the camera loves. And Daniella Alonso who took on the complicated role of Rada, had to first overcome her fear of getting hit with the volleyball. But by the end of the shoot, she was peppering with the other players like a real pro. Sarah Mason was the perfect Lauren in looks and attitude. She with Doug Savant (Desperate Housewives) and the elegant Barbara Niven looked and acted like a real family with problems. Taylor Cole faced the on-screen challenge of proving that “dumb blondes” sometimes have brown hair. As it turns out, she is a natural comedian and just as funny off-screen as she was on screen.

Taylor actually played volleyball in college, but the other girls had to learn the game during a grueling week of boot camp volleyball. Even though they had body doubles for some of the tougher shots, they had to look authentic on the court, which meant they had to know the fundamentals of digging, passing, hitting and serving so they could duplicate the moves in the game sequences. Their Coach and instructor, former AVP player Jenn Meredith, helped them master the basics in a very short time. Pleased with their progress, Jenn said if she’d had another week with Ciara, she could have developed her into a real player because of her natural athleticism.

The one “real athlete” on the set was Laila Ali, prize-fighter and Mohamed Ali’s famous daughter. The guys on the crew stopped work and stared transfixed when she first walked into the scene in the role of the SC recruiter She is a big girl, powerfully built and drop-dead gorgeous, but more than that, she wears the aura of a champion like a comfortable pair of jeans.

All the actors were hard-working and down-to earth throughout the entire shoot. We might have had one or two diva moments, but we had no true divas on the set.

Onto the boys. Michael Copon (Artie) is charming and gracious. As cute as he is – and he is very cute – he is also very approachable and unassuming. Efren Ramirez (Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite) constantly cracked us all up with his bizarre sense of humor. Parker Torres (Monster) added his own dynamic flair to the trio. The guys hung out together in-between takes and created their own brand of group energy which comes across on film.

I don’t want you to think I spent all my time on the set hanging out with actors. Every single day, I revised one scene or another. I worked very closely with our wonderful director, Neema Barnette, executive producer, Loretha Jones and producer, Max Wong. A film is always evolving and if scenes need to be changed or combined or if the dialogue needs re-working, I want to be the one who write the revisions. That way, the voice of the characters remains consistent and the storyline stays on track.

On the last day of the shoot, the three guys- Efren, Michael and Parker- showed up with armfuls of red roses which they presented to all the ladies. Late in the day, we shot the interior club scenes, filming performances by artists Frankie J., Li’l Rob and Play-N-Skills. These guys were off the charts. Everyone was rocking out, the actors in front of the camera and the crew behind the scenes. That night felt less like work and more like being at a private concert with your favorite bands.

I had no idea what time it was when Neema called a wrap. And just like in real life after a totally amazing party, the cast and crew walked out of our dark movie-set club to the breaking dawn. I couldn’t believe that I’d been up for over twenty-four hours or that this remarkable experience of being on the set of All You’ve Got was about to be over. But under the canopy of a pale morning gray L.A. sky, I hugged everybody goodbye and headed for home with roses that would fade and memories that never will.

More photos from the set. (Click on an image to see a larger version.)

Neema Barnette and Karol Ann Hoeffner.

Writing on the set.

The writer is always plugged in.

Staging volleyball moves.

Club scene.