Irina Peligrad as "Bess"

Late in our character- and story-planning process, we got the idea of pairing (as inventory-counting partners) Ukrainian hip hop diva Nastasia with a new character: a cheery Bible fanatic who has never actually read the book.

As the rehearsal phase was winding down, and we were preparing to shoot, an actress we had previously worked with was penciled in for the new role, to join the project when she returned to New England after a season abroad. Once she got home, though, she found herself overwhelmed by other commitments.

While we'd hadn't yet rehearsed or written (with our "scriptprov" approach, we usually worked in that order) anything for this new character, we were quite keen on that prospective duo dynamic. Suddenly, we needed to cast—and develop—a major character ASAP.

Facebook came to the rescue. For months, it had been recommending that I friend actress Irina Peligrad, who has memorably played edgy characters in numerous local films. I finally did, and soon after that, we met to discuss the movie, which was just days away from shooting.

After seeing clips from some of her films, where she's often cast as a domineering vixen or supernatural threat, I was quite unprepared for how she responded to a description of the various characters' arcs. With moist eyes, she kept saying "Aw!" to the story's revelations and milestones of emotional progress.

She showed not only an enthusiasm for the material, but also a sweetness and depth that would make her character "Bess" human and likable, not the one-dimensional religious phony that would be all-too-easy for a skeptic like myself to put forth on film.

Irina was incredibly mindful of all aspects of bringing Bess to life, making many great suggestions and helping create—and instantly mastering—new material that told her story in a way I think audiences are going to find convincing and compelling.

Irina's recollections of the Inventory project:

My involvement with Inventory resulted from a fortuitous twist of fate. I was taking a break from acting for the summer to pursue my other interests of sand, surf, and lying about, when I was contacted about Inventory’s last minute casting needs. The project had already been cast and character development meetings were underway, but one of the prospective actresses had dropped out. I was immediately interested, as I was familiar and impressed with Castparty’s and Dennis Hurley’s past projects. After hearing more about the story and process for the film, I knew I had to be a part of it.

They were in need of one Evangelical Christian, and as much as that would be the scariest character I have played to date (cannibal, crazed killer, and vampire being my common roles), I was ready for the challenge. And a challenge it was... I am not very well versed in Christian doctrine, or any aspect thereof.

I was raised on the atheist side of agnostic, and although I have tried to educate myself about religious thought, my knowledge of Christianity is limited to my cursory “Bible as Literature” college class. I tried to cram some Bible reading in leading up to my first rehearsal, but I didn’t have enough time to internalize it (or remember it). Justin helped set my mind at ease by helping me use my ignorance for character development.

I am so glad to have had the opportunity to work with this bunch of talented, witty, creative, and all around swell people! And the working conditions were great… Tempur-Pedics as far as the eye can see!

Ken Breese as "Chuck Spratt"

Played by Ken Breese, "Chuck Spratt" is a pot-smoking libertarian who's long on sarcasm and short on empathy.

On inventory day, he's paired with his sad-sack ex-girlfriend—to neither's delight.

Ken is a master of no-prisoners snark. For example, his response to his ex's "some people think I'm pretty" has proven to be the hands-down favorite line in the Inventory trailer.

In my cameo scene (also seen briefly in the trailer), as a customer who's mad the store is closed for inventory, Chuck distills the screw-you side of slackerdom to its essence. He has an ambitious itch, though, as he imagines himself one day climbing a corporate ladder. So, when crazy store owner John Panda threatens the store manager's job, it smells like an opportunity to him.

Ken's softer side and impressive musical pipes are on display as a laissez-faire dermatologist in our gross-out short (you have been warned!), Boil Alert.

One thing I've found when editing two features and a few shorts featuring Ken is that there are usually surprisingly few takes of his scenes. Sometimes I'll get a little panicky, that maybe we forgot to shoot some material. No, it's just that—even with improvised and semi-improvised content—he just nails it damn near every time.

Ken recalls collaborating on Inventory:

As much as Chuck has a lot of me in him, we are different people. Sure, we both love questioning religious dogma, verbal abusing the weak minded and, of course, bong hits, but, man, Chuck is kind of an asshole.

We built Chuck from an extrapolation of some characteristics from a small role I played in Castparty's first feature, The Observer. My role in that film was of one of four "nerds" at a table in a diner discussing things like Dr. Who, Alan Turing and who should've really been cast as Wolverine. You know, nerd stuff. I had this aggressively combative, acerbic energy in those scenes, and Justin asked for the same kind of bite in his vision of Chuck.

I'm an improviser and was excited when Justin decided to let some of the background and story arcs come about naturally as a result of some improvised interactions between the actors in character.

I distinctly remember trudging down to Quincy (MA) one early weekend morning in particular. We were all kind of tired at first as Justin explained to us his vision of the film and some of the characters. As the morning went on and we all hit our required caffeine and sugar levels, we started to improvise scenes between some of the film's pairings.

I was paired up with Amanda Hurley, who ended up playing my ex-girlfriend Eleanor. Amanda is a lovely young lady, and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, so, it was hard for me to think of her as someone I would dislike, or insult mercilessly. Luckily, Chuck did not have this problem. For a welcome change, my smart mouth was an asset, rather than a liability and we were able to get some good lines of dialogue and background story developed for the relationship between the two characters. I am happy to report that my favorite line that I threw out during that morning session made it into the film and the trailer.

My apologies to any Nickelback fans I might have offended. No, wait... you know what? I'm not sorry. They suck, and so do your ears for listening to them.

Christian Anthony as "Greg"

The West Coast giveth, and the West Coast taketh away.

With no known training whatsoever, Christian Anthony showed up in Boston a few years back and proved to be a director's dream. Always funny, always original, always prepared, and always credible—no matter how ridiculous the situation or role.

He's also an outtake-machine, both because of his inspired improv and because it's often impossible for his fellow actors not to fall over laughing mid-scene.

From the title role in the absurdist short Telemarketing Orphan (2005), up through Inventory (2011), Christian has brought something special to every film he's made with Castparty Productions.

He has a particular knack for roles where he dominates another character with sheer force of personality, like a comedic Robert Mitchum.

And, fittingly, Christian's concept for the role of Greg in Inventory was "abusive tutelage." This made for ideal chemistry with Dennis Hurley, whose genius for sympathetic, harried, low-status characters makes him natural pickin's for the likes of Greg. (Though, do see the aforementioned Telemarketing Orphan, which shows each actor equally gifted at the opposite sides of such a dynamic.)

Now back in California, Christian recalls the making of Inventory:

I started working with many involved in this project when I first moved to Boston. We started out doing sketch shows in the basement of the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge. It is only proper then that we wrapped shooting for our very first feature-length comedy on my last weekend in the city.

Being a part of Inventory was tremendous. It was great to have the opportunity to mix the comfortable dynamic that was formed with many of the cast and crew over our years working together with the fresh addition of new, talented actors and actresses.

In developing my own character, I was definitely informed by the creativity that everyone else brought to the project. I decided to go with the well-worn adage to "do what you know." Therefore, I centered my character on the sarcastic asshole model I have come to love.

Thankfully, I had the honor of adding depth to this character by working closely with Dennis and even closer with Cat Miller. They inspired my performance and made Greg a better character. The energy and spirit of the whole cast and crew was amazing and the process was an incredible experience. I think that will come through in the final product for the audience.

Chris Holliday as "Barbara"

A consummate pro and a smart and cheerful collaborator, Chris Holliday has played likable moms in commercials for big-name clients like T-Mobile.

But our first experience with her, in The Observer, saw her as a deliciously nasty mother who disrespects her daughter's easygoing boyfriend.

So, we knew she'd be a perfect foil for a group of unapologetic slackers—as Barbara, the imperious furniture-store manager they love to hate.

Will Barbara's icy cool hold as the clock ticks down on an ultimatum from volatile store-owner John Panda? Therein lies the tale.

Chris recalls teaming with Castparty on Inventory and other productions:

I’ve told people that one of the reasons I became an actor after a long career in business and years of being a parent was that I was tired of being in charge. I thought that as an actor I’d let people tell me what to do for a change. So it’s somewhat ironic that one of the things I love best about working with Castparty is the artistic collaboration that takes place working with them. Rather than being told what to do, I discovered I love being part of the creative process. Go figure.

Meeting with cast and crew months before we started shooting to create Inventory was a blast! I remember someone bringing up an idea we'd been kicking around for one of the characters. I left the room for no more than three minutes and that idea had been added to my character, which, in turn, changed much of the story line. The “writing” moved fast, always getting better and better.

Filming was even more fun, as the characters came to life through our talented cast, Justin’s direction, and a dedicated crew. There are several moments permanently etched in my mind: Shelly/Jackie’s monologue of all the jobs she’d ever lost, including how and why(!), Dennis/Percy’s face after one particular scene—a classic combination of stunned delirious bliss and an unnatural shade of bright pink, Matt/Panda’s filthy and hilarious improv, Cat/Zoë and I concocting hiding places in the store for her eccentric character, the orange “makeout couch,” real-life store owner (and truck-driver character) Dave’s constant wisecracks, and my own first experience with a chainsaw (happily, no one was injured). What’s not to love?

Interestingly, this role, as well as my role in Castparty’s Making the Cut has prepared me for new roles as a stern, if not bitchy, boss. Having played all different kinds of moms prior to this, I never would have guessed that the hard-ass boss would become the role for which I’m typecast. And that’s just one of the things I love about being an actor—you never know what to expect. Inventory is full of the unexpected, which is what makes it so great. I hope people watching it have at least as much fun as we did making it.

Katarina Morhacova as "Nastasia"

A few years back, when we were planning a feature-length film that didn't ultimately come to fruition, Katarina Morhacova wowed us in the audition and won the female lead. She subsequently moved from Boston to New York, and we never got to work with her as we continued to make short films and, finally, our first feature.

When we began casting for our second feature, Inventory, we were thrilled that Katarina signed on and would make several trips back to Boston to rehearse and perform in it.

She was also a key member of the story team at the project's most critical moments. We needed to go into hyperdrive and make fast, good decisions in choosing and structuring the beats we improvised and reimprovised in whirlwind rehearsals during our first days on location. A veteran of many stage and screen productions, Katarina dedicated herself to helping make sense of the tornado of ideas in flux in those heady days. Since access to the cast was extremely limited, the pressure was on to make the most of that moment of opportunity, and she was a trouper on both sides of the camera.

As I've noted elsewhere, the first question for every Inventory castmember was:

What character would be fun for you to play... and fun for the audience to watch you play?

Unique among the players in Inventory, Katarina brought to the film a character she already had in development, Nastasia: a self-centered, self-proclaimed hip hop star from Ukraine.

We paired Nastasia as the counting partner of Bess (Irina Peligrad), a very American character: a goodnatured Bible belter who doesn't seem to have actually read the book.

Off-camera, we referred to the duo of Czech-born Katarina and Romanian-born Irina (whose accent, for the record, is way more Cincinnati than Bucharest) "the Europeans"—well, once I learned not to call them the "Eastern Europeans" after being corrected a few times and looking at Google maps. But in the film, they're an ocean apart, with Nastasia's ever-present headphones and dismissive attitude forming a challenging barrier to Bess's cheery attempts to break the ice.

Katarina on Nastasia's origins:

Few years ago, while filming an independent film in Dover, NH in freezing winter, I came up with a character of a Ukrainian Hip Hop Princess. My fellow cast member and I went to hang out to a local bar in Dover and because it was very cold, I decided to wear the director's wife's over-the-top long leopard coat. When we walked into the bar, we quickly realized we were total misfits and decided to play the part. Since they played hip hop and I love to dance, I decided to pretend to be a hip hop mega-star from Ukraine. Being originally from ex-Czechoslovakia and wearing a heavy ridiculous coat, it wasn't difficult to pull it off. My fellow actor friend at some point came to the DJ and asked him to give a holla to the girl from the Ukrainian 'hood. When DJ asked me what my name was, I simply said: Nastasia.

Nastasia stayed living in my brain for a while and when Justin called and asked me to create a character I always wanted to play for Inventory, Nastasia couldn't wait to get out of my head. The challenge became how to include a Ukrainian hip-hop princess in an all-American company of misfits working in a furniture store. But that was exactly it, she was as big of a misfit as anybody else.

Justin helped out big time to bring Nastasia to life. Not having a lot of improv experience, and being used to working with a script, I did find it challenging to adjust to the process, but Justin's guidance and patience eventually paid off.

Also, most of actors working on Inventory had worked with each other and Justin before and were used to the process. I found it very inspiring and learnt a lot from Dennis Hurley, Matt Carbo, and Christian Anthony as well as other cast members. Their wit and ability to think quick on their feet pushed me to challenge myself even more.

Nastasia as well as I have learnt a lot about creative process, fitting in, humility and growing up. Thank you for a wonderful experience.

Amanda Hurley as "Eleanor Stanley"

Possibly the hardest role to play in Inventory was Eleanor Stanley.

In the mix of characters, we liked the idea of teaming a clerk who was chronically sad with her sarcastic ex-boyfriend—the last people in the store with whom either would want to be paired.

Going into the improv and reimprov armed with little more than sorrow was a palpably challenging task. Exhibit A: the actress who started developing the role in rehearsal dropped out before we started shooting.

We knew Amanda Hurley, who was achingly sympathetic as the victim of her mother and sister's verbal abuse in The Observer, had the chops to do it.

Though in real-life, she has a very sunny demeanor, she took to the character's sadness in a way that was so real, I was afraid we'd never see her charming smile again. So, I was very glad to read her account of the journey she went through playing Eleanor:

I joined Inventory a bit late in the process, so I was still continuing to develop my character as we filmed. One lesson I learned about playing a, for lack of a better term, "sad sack" character is that it can be hard to shake. I ended up going home with the pout on some nights.

Eventually I found that the fun in playing Eleanor was finding that light at the end of the tunnel. As I focused more on her journey towards the light, I started enjoying myself a lot more. Also, I found that with Eleanor, in those rare moments in which she showed some spunk and actually stood up for herself, she really got to shine.

No, she wasn't constantly hilarious and sarcastic like Ken Breese's character, Chuck, but when she had something to say, she was heard. I guess what I learned from her is that we all have a voice. You can feel weak and powerless as a human being, but it is only a feeling. We all have power even if we can't see it in ourselves. Eleanor is in a bit of a fog (of depression) in the beginning but once she gets out you really get to see the person underneath. And the best part is, the audience, I feel, will really root for her because the whole time you get these little glimpses of the true (better) Eleanor and you really root for her and want to see her emerge and shine.

So, thanks Justin:)

Quentin James as "Tucker"

To know Quentin James, or to see him on film or stage, is to love him.

He has a unique mix of gentle charisma and gravitas—see his performance as "Cautious Friend" in Esc—that makes for characters the other characters just have to love.

It takes no suspension of disbelief to imagine his co-workers are bummed that this inventory day is his last day at the furniture store.

Paired with profane martial-arts fanatic Jackie, Quentin's Tucker is the only clerk in Inventory's "island of misfit slackers" whose response to getting a pen and a clipboard full of inventory sheets is to count the furniture.

As Jackie whips her nunchucks around and pushes the too-much-information envelope, Tucker's Aikido-like nature is put to the test.

Quentin on his experience in Inventory:

I had a great time working with Justin and the entire cast and crew on the film Inventory. When he called me and described his objective and process of organically creating a script and character I was very excited. Creating and playing Tucker was a fun challenge. (The easiest part was coming up with the name.) He has an aloof likability that I think comes across on the screen.

An initial fear I had was that people would mistake his kindness for weakness, but with the backstory Justin and I created I realized that Tucker had long ago stopped worrying what people thought of him. He had been through too much and was very content with where he was headed with his life. If anything, for me as a performer, it was an exercise in patience.

I had the pleasure of being paired with Shelly Nun Chucks Finnegan. I love Shelly. She’s funny, honest, and interesting. And she’s also a little crazy, but only in the greatest kind of way. The only thing I learned to expect when improvising with her was the unexpected. Definitely kept me on my toes.

Sometimes I was just along for the ride. When we auditioned together, I recall on more than one occasion thinking and saying to her after one of her many unique diatribes, "Well... I’m not really sure how to respond to that." Quite a funny audition. Ultimately, I believe the relationship worked well.

Jackie/Maria helped shape Tucker. I learned a lot about him through his interactions with her. (You may have heard by now that Nun Chucks is a fan of Jackie Chan. This is a gross understatement. I have met few people in my life who like anything as much as Shelly likes Jackie Chan. Mr. Chan, if you happen to be reading my Inventory recollection post please do the entire world a favor and come meet this girl. She’s one of a kind.)

Overall, I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with such a group as the people at Castparty Productions. I was so impressed with the level of talent and dedication of all involved that I can only hope for more opportunities of similar value in the future.

Cat Miller as "Zoë"

From the project's start, we've often compared Inventory to The Breakfast Club and Clerks, in terms of genre and milieu and several other French words.

One might also see a little DNA-similarity between Cat Miller's Zoë and the former's Allison Reynolds. Zoë is as inscrutable and feral as the moody Ally Sheedy character, but she's also a distinctly active presence: as physical and playful as she is brainy and, at times, harsh.

While the other eight clerks work in pairs, the ultra-detached Zoë was aptly assigned to be "a floater" (yes, one of the clerks tries to make hay with that), mixing it up with the four pairs of peers as the whim strikes her.

We first collaborated with Cat on The Observer, where she held forth on all manner of geeky topics with inspired improv based on, and fueling, the movie's overarching themes. Her Zoë again shows off Cat's brilliance with eccentric, high-status verbal banter. But even more so, it demonstrates a can't-keep-your-eyes-off-her gift for silent comedy.

Cat recalls the germination of the Zoë character:

I went to my first Inventory rehearsal a bit like a kid who hasn't done her homework. I knew that having a good character to play was entirely dependent upon my ability to come up with one, but I just hadn't given it the time I should have. Driving to rehearsal I thought over what would be fun for me—what am I really unlikely to get cast as in any other circumstances? My first, overwhelming thought was "it would be really fun to be incredibly weird." Of course, then I had to justify Zoë 's weirdness and build an entire character around that desire to say non sequiturs and hide out in small spaces. This definitely led us down some unexpected roads in developing her backstory—like me somewhat accidentally declaring her to be Jewish—but in the end I had a great time doing all the stuff I could never, ever do in real life.

Lea DeGloria as "Tarot Woman"

I met Lea Marie at a south-of-Boston event called Filmmaker's Shindig, hosted by local actors Chuck Slavin and Jenna Lunarno.

Lea runs a popular local cable show where she reads fortunes, and she has a presence that's simultaneously imposing and disarmingly down-to-earth.

When a store is closed for inventory, customers inevitably come knocking on the door. Clerks either ignore them or brusquely turn them away.

Whether it's her charm, her story of "a furniture emergency," or the promise of otherworldly insight about his romantic quest, lonely clerk Percy can't resist letting "Tarot Woman" into the furniture store.

Lea comments on her first collaboration with Castparty Productions:

I was thrilled to be involved with this project. Fortune telling is my profession, so naturally I would play the tarot card reader.

I enjoyed bringing that mystical element, and Justin was so creative in the way he weaved it into the storyline. I had never worked with him before and didn't know what to expect from the cast and crew. I remember everyone being super-talented and super-professional and very funny.

More info at www.tarotbyleamarie.com and Facebook.

Matt Carbo as "John Panda"

Kurt Vonnegut warned against "missing Iago," that is, failing to establish a formidable antagonist.

Matt Carbo's comic ominousness as unglued furniture-store owner John Panda ensures there's no Iago shortage in Inventory.

After I first saw Matt do scenes in an improv class many years back, I couldn't stop bubbling about him to everyone associated with Castparty Productions. He just killed me every time, especially when embodying glowering characters in the John Belushi mold.

Among his most memorable turns in a Castparty film is his world-weary chef in our apocalyptic short, Human File #752. Matt is, in fact, a superb chef, so having him cook on-camera means a feast once you wrap.

Matt on his goals as an actor, and why he looks forward to Inventory finding an audience:

I have worked with Castparty Productions for almost a decade. The reason why I love to work with them, is the common belief we all share about entertainment.

Entertainment is something that is only rewarding when the audience is reached. Yes, the process of making a movie can be a lot of fun if you get along with the cast and crew (which for Inventory we all did, and it was great).

But the real reward is when showing an audience member the film, then listening to their reaction of laughter and joy. This is the true reward for the actor, director and crew.

Whether it's a film fest or just showing someone a Youtube clip, I always get this great feeling of accomplishment when I know that it was us that brought joy to someone.

Now, I may never get a chance to meet all of the people who have viewed our movies but I know I reached them using the vehicle of video production.

We all have trouble in our lives, and if a short film or feature can help us forget (even if for just a short time) our trouble, then I say it's a job well done.

So, enjoy this movie. we enjoyed making it, and we ultimately didn't do it for us, we did it for you, the audience.

Shelly Nunchucks Finnegan as "Jackie/Maria"

Kevin, Dennis, and I first met Shelly "Nunchucks" Finnegan when we were running auditions for The Observer.

To say she made an impression is an understatement in the extreme.

She bounded in and expressed how flustered she was in locating the audition site (ImprovBoston), by breaking the land-speed record for f-word utterances. We were in hysterics before we started running any improv scenes.

Auditions for that film were done in pairs, and the luck of the draw had her teamed with Quentin James, who subsequently worked with us as the "Cautious Friend" in Esc. Both impressed us: Shelly with her overabundance of personality and Quentin with his dry wit and disarming demeanor, making the most of the rare moments when Shelly caught her breath.

Alas, neither turned out to be available for The Observer's shoot days. But now in Inventory we've captured their hilarious asymmetry, as they play a furniture-counting duo with wildly disparate temperaments.

Nunchuck-swinging clerk Maria insists on being called "Jackie," after her hero, Jackie Chan. The other clerks are well-advised to, as the old punchline goes, call her anything she wants.

In addition to building Shelly's real-life fixation with Jackie Chan into her character, a set of outrageous rants she regaled us with after one night of shooting became an integral part of her Inventory performance. She insists these stories of scatalogical workplace nightmares are 100% true. All I can say is, it was hard not to crash a carful of castmembers as she piled on the jawdropping details. Driving while ROFL is a definite hazard of being Shelly's wheels to or from the set.

Shelly shares her thoughts about working on Inventory:

I have to say that I sincerely enjoyed working with the whole cast. It was a ball!

It was a really unique type of atmosphere, because Justin and the whole crew took something that I had a love for and really truly put it in my character.

Long story short, my dream is to work with my idol Jackie Chan.

So these crazy, lovable guys took something that I truly have been working on and added it into my character Jackie/Maria.

They let me swing nun-chucks on the set, and I am so glad I didn't decapitate Dennis Hurley, the brave soul he was, working with me.

I tortured and might have drove crazy my partner in the film, Tucker, who was played by Quentin James. He was such a saint. You could say he was like yin to my yang, so I say thank you Quentin for being a brave soul, too.

Mostly, I think the camera guys had a blast, because they laughed so hard, they had to stop filming to get their composure.

I really loved my character, Jackie, cause I wanted to be a strong woman, picking up furniture, swinging around nun-chucks and doing any physical activity in the film and kept asking if I could do stunts, since that is truly what I do, in sets, I actually do my own little stunts and fight scenes.

In downtime, some of the cast members picked up my nun-chucks and used them, but don't worry, no one got hurt.

I learned a silly lesson. On downtime, beware, cameramen can film you doing just about anything on set.

A few times, being around the cameraman Kevin Hammer, I was actually just staying in character and decided to just be real crazy in my character and improv things.

Little did I know, that Kevin would actually take what I was kidding around with and throw it in the film. OK, Kevin be glad that I like you, just kidding.

But I feel honored, and have to say, I think my idol Jackie Chan, would thoroughly enjoy this film, and when you see Jackie/Maria, you probably will understand my character, at what she is most passionate about, using nun-chucks and doing stunts, so in actuality, for my character, art imitated life, in this film for me.

I think Justin Fielding understands what type of actress I am, doing my own stunts and own type of fights, for which I have moved out of Boston to work and train with a production company called Unicovia Productions.

I have been re-training in Tai Chi, and in a future film, will have to get up on horse and such, and have had a little bit of a fight scene shown in a film called Anikryua, and that is on my Youtube account, Capoeirababe, on which you will see my first interview, where I actually take down one of the interviewers out of fun, but I think the guys loved every minute of it.

What I would love to happen someday, is for my idol Jackie Chan to see Inventory, since I have been watching Jackie's work for 30 years or so, oops kind of giving my age away, but being able to honor my idol and to dedicate something to a man who has brought me so much happiness for many years. I truly think he would enjoy this film, and plus, I would love to make Jackie Chan laugh.

I know I can be proud of this film, because the men in this production really understood what I really could give to a character and I feel very honored to have been part of the film.

OK, yes, Justin had us up to 2 to 3 a.m. and I had to be in work the following days at 5:30 a.m., but how on earth can you ever forget this whole crazy, loving, bunch of human beings, you just can't.

In Martial Arts, a sign of respect is a bow, so as I sit and write, I wish the whole cast and crew, and especially Justin could see, but I am bowing, thank you, or as my idol would say "Xie Xie".

It would be kind of nice for Jackie Chan to see this film, I am sure it would make him pee his pants with laughter...

Dennis Hurley as "Percy"

Anyone who makes a movie without casting Dennis Hurley is a fool.

I'm unfoolish enough to have made sixteen short films with Dennis, and now—with Inventory—two features.

In addition to playing Percy, a kindly and lonely furniture-store clerk, Dennis was a key collaborator in casting and story development, and he serves as Executive Producer on the film.

His recollections of the early days of the Inventory project:

I've worked a lot of retail jobs: KFC, Lord and Taylor, Starbucks, CVS and more... I had the fortune of never having to work on inventory day, but have always heard how frustrating and boring it can be, from fellow employees. So naturally I thought it would a great subject to tap into in a slacker comedy.

I was also very excited that Castparty would be doing a feature length comedy, it seemed like we've been on the brink of doing a feature length comedy for a while.

I was also happy to get a chance to really inhabit a character like Percy, and have the time to do it. You see, normally we only have a day or 2 till we shoot, because many of our films have been entries into timed film contests like the 48 Hour Film Project. This time I had months to develop my character's voice.

I enjoyed meeting with the cast early as we all developed our characters together.

As an actor who has to adjust to all kinds of sets, you can't ask for a better holding area than multiple rooms full of comfortable mattresses to rest on in between takes.