Fire Creek released in Utah theaters on May 8th. It has been kicking around film festivals since 2006. Based on a novel by Nathan Chai, which was published in 2005 by the short-lived Mormon publisher Palmyra Press. Interesting note at the end of Tribune piece, about the Mormon CEO of Cinemark Theater chain helping out.
Official website:
http://www.firecreekmovie.com/A C- review:
http://www.independentcritics.com/reviews/firecreek.htmBYU students put movie into theaters
Posted:05/07/2009 10:14 PM
By Sean P. Means
The Salt Lake Tribune
A group of Brigham Young University students, graduates and faculty are nervously watching the weekend box-office tally to learn the fate of a movie they made, "Fire Creek," which opens today in five Utah theaters.
Jed Wells, the 30-year-old BYU grad who directed the movie while still a student, said that "Fire Creek" -- made for less than $100,000 -- doesn't have the marketing push of a Hollywood studio. "There's no money to go toward advertising," he said. "It's all Twitter and Facebook, and pleading e-mails to our friends."
"Fire Creek," believed to be only the second movie developed as a university project to open theatrically, began as a class project in one of Dennis Packard's writing classes. "I was teaching writers how to write scripts and turn them into novels," said Packard, a BYU philosophy professor who is one of the film's faculty advisers and producers.
One grad student, Nathan Chai, submitted the story of a G.I. wounded in Afghanistan and questioning why he survived when his comrade was killed. Packard and Charles Cranney, associate director of BYU's production and graphics department, took the story to BYU's business school, where students analyzed the script and produced a coming-attractions trailer. On the strength of that trailer, "Fire Creek" was approved -- or "green-lit," in showbiz talk.
Packard came to Wells' photography class looking for a cinematographer because "the still photo students were getting a different
kind of training in lighting and storytelling" than BYU's film students, Wells said. After interviewing Wells, Packard asked the student if he would like to direct the movie as well as shoot it. Wells, realizing his internship prospects left "just enough doors that weren't opening," said "yes."
Each phase of filmmaking -- storyboarding the film, auditioning actors, shooting scenes and editing footage -- was done as part of a college class, Packard said. (Professionals were hired for the final technical stages of correcting the color and sound.) Business students, meanwhile, worked on the distribution and marketing side of the equation.
A big lesson the students learned, Packard said, is that early planning saves money later. "At a university, we've got a lot of time, we don't have a lot of money," he said.
Packard said the search for theaters to screen "Fire Creek" was aided by Alan Stock, CEO of the Dallas-based Cinemark chain. Stock, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who got his start running theaters in Ogden, waived the customary "virtual print fee," which can run $1,000 per theater.
But Cinemark required the movie be submitted to the Motion Picture Association of America, which gave it a PG rating.
Starting today, "Fire Creek" will screen five times daily at Cinemark's multiplexes at West Jordan's Jordan Landing and Orem's University Mall, and once a night at Cinemark's Provo, American Fork and Layton locations. Whether the movie makes it to a second weekend depends on whether an audience comes.
Y. film opening in theaters
By Jeff Vice
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, May 7, 2009 8:51 p.m. MDT
Move over, Wolverine and the Starship Enterprise crew. You've got competition in theaters this week from — of all things — a Brigham Young University-produced theatrical feature.
The drama, "Fire Creek," opens this weekend at a handful of Cinemark Theaters locations in Utah. Cinemark's University Mall (Orem) and Jordan Landing (West Jordan) locations will play the new movie on a full schedule for at least a week. And the American Fork, Provo Towne Centre and Layton locations will show it in "split runs" with other movies.
The first theatrical movie release owned by BYU, "Fire Creek" follows a U.S. Army soldier, Jason Malek, who was wounded in Afghanistan and is now struggling with his faith. According to BYU philosophy and film professor Dennis Packard, the movie was produced in-house, using university students from various departments as the crew, actors and even its target audience.
"It's been a monumental undertaking," said Packard, who also doubles as the CEO of the BYU-centric Campus Studios, which is helping distribute the new film.
"Fire Creek" was actually shot in Utah in 2006, though it has taken three years to get it ready for theatrical release.
Target audiences were used in almost every step of production — including the final script rewrites, storyboarding, editing and post-production phases. "We wanted to make sure that we got everything right," he said.
Campus Studios' aim is to produce "thoughtful movies … (that) encourage better family communication, which will affect other areas of family life."
The films also have to please BYU officials. Especially since the university's Creative Works Office is helping fund the movies.
Packard said that precludes them from making R-rated fare, obviously.
However, when "Fire Creek" was originally submitted for rating to the Motion Picture Association of America, it received a PG-13.
That created further delays in the film's release, as director Jed Wells and others cut some content and changed other sequences. (In particular, Packard says some blood had to be darkened.)
The film now boasts a PG rating for "thematic material, some violent content, brief language and smoking."
At first, Campus Studios was hoping to get the film into theaters in the less-competitive spring months. Unfortunately, the delays prevented that from happening, and Cinemark Theaters, which had agreed to show the film, was overbooked with fare — including the animated kids film "Monsters vs. Aliens."
Consequently, the "low budgeted" "Fire Creek" now finds itself going toe-to-toe with some of the biggest summer movie blockbusters. "At this point, we'll take what we can get, and hope that audiences can find our film and that they will enjoy it," Packard said.
He and the other Campus Studios leaders have big plans for the fledgling production house. Packard says they'd like to help other universities organize their film and other departments in a similar fashion.
"And eventually, I'd like to do at least one or two movies a year," Packard said. "There is a lot riding on the success of this film, though."
Campus Studios does have several projects in various stages of production. One nearing release is "HottieBoombaLottie," a romantic comedy that was written and directed by "Fire Creek" star Seth Packard, who just happens to be the son of the studio CEO.
