Short film 'Trashy' to shoot in Kipton this month

Two independent filmmakers are bringing a vision of a coming-of-age story to Lorain County when the short film "Trashy" shoots scenes in Kipton later this month. There are about 20 crew members and half a dozen cast members involved who will film in the afternoons and overnight on July 14, 15 and 16. Writer/director Alyssa Standen said the short is a "proof of concept" for a feature film she wrote in 2016, which came out of her experiences living in the Midwest and growing up around factory workers, family and friends "with the same job at the same place." A graduate of Kent State University with a degree in digital media, she was living with her grandparents and working midnights at the Whirlpool factory in Clyde in Sandusky County from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., then going home to sleep and write her script. The experience "made me think about summers in junior high, the shenanigans we got into, what would have happened if I'd stayed out later, if I'd followed this guy back to a house, what would have happened had something different gone on," she said. Other coming-of-age films like Sofia Coppola's 1999 feature "The Virgin Suicides" inspired her, and she worked on several productions through KSU's feature film program. Standen held onto her script for a couple years, knowing down the line she wanted to turn it into a fully-funded feature film where she could pay a crew and afford to pay known or up-and-coming actors. "To have a concept short (film) where people what it is artistically, all of that is really important," as is getting it in front of a test audience, Standen said. "If they saw a 20-minute version, would they want to see a 90-minute version?" Producer Alyssa LoDolce, an Ohio native who attended Arizona State University to study film, has experience working on feature films and commercials and eventually met Standen through the film industry. They found they enjoyed working together and had "similar ideas about what film can be," LoDolce said, "and I wanted to help make her film a reality." The filmmakers crowd-funded "Trashy" through the website Indiegogo.com and raised slightly more than $4,000 of their $15,000 goal. They made up the rest of their budget from private donations of money and equipment, and those who volunteered their time. Editing and sound will cost more, so the filmmakers may again try and raise donations to complete it. In her 3-minute pitch video posted on Indiegogo, Standen said the word "trashy" is one used by women to describe other women, to criticize pop stars and was used by junior high school teachers to describe her when she got her first boyfriend. The plan is to submit the finished film to festivals and eventually make it available on streaming services like YouTube, Vimeo and even Amazon Prime Video. Kipton Mayor Bob Meilander and the people of Kipton were open and accommodating to the filmmakers' needs, they said, and thanked all those who offered their time, their services and their homes for the film. They had only planned to shoot for one day at the playground in Kipton, but Meilander took them on a tour and helped them find locations they loved. If he hadn't, the majority of the film would have been shot in Clyde in Sandusky County. Lorain County has become a destination for filmmaking in recent years, with almost one film being shot in the county every year for the past four years. Kipton was the set for director and Oberlin Conservatory of Music student Henry Nelson's "Asleep In My Palm." Starring his father, veteran character actor Tim Blake-Nelson, it was filmed earlier this year and is in post-production. Actors Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig filmed scenes for "White Noise" in Oberlin, Wellington and elsewhere in Northeastern Ohio last summer. LoDolce and Standen both worked in the production office for that film. It should be released on Netflix later this year. Wellington and Brownhelm Township provided locations for the Liam Neeson action film "The Marksman," shot in 2019. The Elle Fanning and Justice Smith movie "All the Bright Places" had scenes filmed on the Washington Avenue Bridge and on Leo Bullocks Parkway in Elyria in 2018. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com or on Twitter @daveobrienCT.