"Berlin" was originally inspired in February 2007 by DVXuser's SpyFest. Norm wanted to come up with a short film that would be different than what he thought many of the other entries would be, given the genre. Soon, the idea of having a story set in the romantic 30's-40's area, specific to WWII, became of great interest. Rebecca, the lead, was curious to know if Katherine could be a singer, perhaps in a Cabaret. Norm gave her the challenge of finding such a location that could accomodate that, and within a week or two she came up with the name of someone she knew who owned an establishment in Portland, Oregon that may fit. Norm contacted the owner of Huber's, Portland's oldest establishment, and soon struck up an agreement that would allow the filming of "Berlin" at that location, over the course of two weekends, during closed business hours.

While much of the primary crew was coming together, Norm was introduced through a series of connections to Jay Lance, a local professional who specialized in wardrobe design, specifically historical wardrobe. This one person proved to be a major asset to the film, providing nearly all of the wardrobe seen, including all of the military uniforms, without which the film would not have had the look & historical accuracy it did.

While nearly everything was in place, there were a couple of key elements that were proving elusive. Refusing to cut corners or sacrifice quality, Norm made the tough & shocking decision in April to cancel the production of "Berlin" only one week before the scheduled filming. Many were obviuosly disappointed, and some skeptical if the project would ever be revived or not.

Only a few months later, in July of that year Norm started looking at "Berlin" again, to see when it might work to pick it pre-production where it left off. Sending out an announcement, within weeks much of the Cast & Crew were back on again, and the search to fill remaining positions was back in full force. With the story expanded from the original 6 minute concept (a DVXuser time constraint requirement), and production now set for October of that year, the wheels started turning to ensure all was in place before day one of filming.