In 2006 after being asked to write a movie by veteran local actors Dann Seki, Allan Okubo, and others, Eric Nemoto took story concepts offered by the group and wrote the 120 page "Parts Of The Same Circle" script in nine days.
"Parts Of The Same Circle" began with a different group. Allan Okubo, Dann Seki, and Eric Nemoto were eventually joined by Denny Hironaga and Jim Tharp. The five coined a made-up word to symbolize their company, "Serenergy," a combination of portions of two words they felt symbolized their team, "Serendipity" and "Synergy."
The production team spent 2007, 2008, and 2009 periodically meeting, discussing various strategies that eventually went nowhere, until in 2010, the team reached the conclusion that they were wasting time merely talking about making a movie. They decided then to pool their own money to finally "just do it."
The original script for "Parts" had the lead character of "Kats" patterned after the late Dr. Mitsuo "Mits" Aoki, who was an expert in the field of death and dying and who helped many through the process of dying for decades. Believing this central lead character would likely be the most difficult to find, the team thought to reserve this casting for last. But on the first day of open casting, 10-time Po'okela recipient Jim Tharp, arguably Hawaii's finest actor, walked in the door and was the very first actor to read for a part. Though he auditioned for another role, once he was done it was very clear. On August 21, 2010, mere days after the passing of Dr. Aoki (August 19, 2010), "Parts" had found its pivotal lead actor. Jim would eventually join the team as a partner and the rest, as they say, is history.
The five partners, very connected within the local performing arts community, spread the word about casting the rest of the 'parts' for "Parts" and between them were able to cast every role with the actors they wanted. Eventually EVERY actor who was either recruited or who attended and stayed for the open auditions was cast in some role.