Local filmmaker Steven Boatman will travel to Los Angeles this winter to work on a feature-length independent film following a recent successful Kickstarter campaign.
Boatman and Los Angeles-based actor/writer/director Russ Russo recently reached their $20,000 goal for the project, raising $20,880 via the online crowd-sourced fundraising website.
Boatman will serve as director of photography for the project, which will film cross country from LA to New Jersey starting in January.
The 23-year-old Toledoan lost his hearing from bacterial meningitis at age 1 and was deaf for four years before receiving a cochlear implant at age 5. Boatman was homeschooled until enrolling at BGSU to study visual communication technology. He left BGSU after three years to pursue filmmaking full time.
Boatman’s skills grabbed the attention of Russo in July at the Northwest Ohio Independent Film Festival in Lima, where Boatman’s five-minute narrative film “Mowing Through Misery,” a dark comedy about the frustrations of a man trying to mow his lawn, was screened.
Boatman writes, directs, films, edits and acts in his films. He built most of his own equipment, including a dolly platform with metal pipe tracks, an 8-foot aluminum crane and a computer for video-editing.
Russo, who often travels to film festivals across the country, said he was impressed by Boatman’s creativity and ingenuity.
“It’s as if one sense gave way to another sense, which was his eye. The camera was always moving, always presenting something and coming into the next scene. What he was doing was something on a studio level. It’s presented in a way that feels very much like a big Hollywood feel film,” Russo said. “I saw Steven’s film right at the end of the festival and I thought, ‘Wow I’m actually in the midst of writing something and that kind of filmmaking is what I picture.'”
“Heat Wave” is a dark comedy that addresses modern day society, Generation Y friendship, moral decay, narcissism, self-discovery and more as two friends take a cross-country road trip.
The film will include some up-and-coming actors, including Kiowa Gordon and Bronson Pelletier, who portray werewolves Embry and Jared in “The Twilight Saga”; Natasha Alam of “True Blood” and “Entourage”; Amanda Clayton from “John Carter”; Jessica Andres of “Liberator” and “Gossip Girl”; and more.
Kristina Michelle, host of The Reel Show on the Reel TV Network, interviewed Boatman at The International Indie Gathering Film Festival in Hudson, Ohio, where he earned his first award for “Mowing Through Misery.”
The interview will air online for two weeks at www.ReelTVNetwork.com, beginning Sept. 4 at 4 a.m., 10 a.m., 4 p.m., and 10 p.m.
Between now and “Heat Wave,” Boatman plans to stay busy with other projects, including freelance videography and as a cinematographer for “Huntsmen,” a local web series project of director and writer Gerald Hill. The “Huntsmen” team is seeking to raise $1,500 before Sept. 22 to cover expenses. Production will begin in early September.
Boatman’s father, Glen Boatman, who helps with filming when Steven is acting, said he is proud of his son’s opportunity to work on a feature-length film.
“He’s doing very well. Fortunately he has me to bankroll him, but this is going to be big payback,” Glen said, laughing. “He’s getting started now.”
