> Buoyed by the state legislature's recent passage of film industry tax incentives, a central-Kentucky independent film studio is launching its first project. Filming of the psychological thriller Unrequited got underway on Monday in Lexington.
Producer Jeff Day, a film professor at Asbury College and principle in Lucky Day Studios, said the production stars Michael Welch, famed for the role of Mike Newton in the blockbuster Twilight films, and Sara Habel, star of the Drew Barrymore's Whip It. Also signed from among the more than 7,000 actors who submitted for the film are Justin Boldoni and Gregory Alan Williams. Directing is Winchester native Jason Epperson, first runner-up in Steven Spielberg's FOX reality series, On The Lot with S. Douglas Smith, cinematographer of Disney's $200 million production Dinosaurs manning the lens.
"We started raising funds this time last year. We ended up writing something that got attention from a lot of people in Hollywood," Day said. "That helped us raise funds and all of the funds we have raised are local."
What about the script captured so much interest? Day said this is not your typical teen-thriller. "We wanted to write something that would appeal to that 13-22 age range. It's a thriller, but not the typical hard thriller of Hollywood where there's nudity, sex and a lot of language and gratuitous visuals, and such. That's not what we wanted to do. We wanted to write a story that had no sex, had no language and no gore. Just something that is really compelling as a psychological, character-driven story and we took that genre and added a romantic spin."
Lucky Day Studios is a partnership between Day and Nicholasville Commonwealth Attorney Tom Lockridge "Our goal," Day explained,"was to start a film company here and to help spur more of an industry in the state. It was up and down, trying to start a business, but we managed to keep it here in Kentucky instead of taking it out of the state."
A press release goes on to state that the studio "encourages up-and-coming film professionals by selecting college and university students to work as interns and apprentices in all productions."
"We are thrilled that they are making a feature right here in Lexington, and about the objectives of Lucky Day Studios," said Kiley Lane, a producer, editor and director with Video Editing Services in Lexington and founding member and President of the Lexington Film League. "We have a lot of talented and motivated filmmakers and film lovers in Lexington and LFL wants to bring everyone together; because a community that supports film and filmmaking means that those of us who are making the films have someone to watch them."
Day, who testified before a legislative committee considering the tax incentives, said the package which went on to win approval in the legislature's recent special session and has been signed into law by Gov. Steve Beshear was an encouraging factor in the decision to remain in Kentucky. "It's a 20 percent rebate on (production- related) money spent in the state" with a $500,000 threshhold, he explained. "Before, we were number 46 in the nation. Now this moves us up to number 6 in the country."
With a focus on family films, romantic comedies and thrillers with G or PG-13 ratings, Lucky Day Studios plans to complete up to six feature films by 2013.
More information is available online at www.unrequitedmovie.com and www.luckydaystudios.com