Hollywood coming to Michigan?

Well not exactly. But an independent feature film will begin shooting right here in Macomb later this year. Unfortunately there won’t be any big Hollywood stars gracing the streets of Macomb come this September and October. No, Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks won’t become regular sightings. But the lower budget independent feature film titled What You Need will be begin production here in Macomb starting early September.

It’s all happening thanks to a chance meeting at the wrap party for a movie titled Winter Song, an independent film that was just shot in Brighton Michigan a few months ago, between Troy Bakewell and Virginia Bryant, formerly Virginia Negron. Mr. Bakewell is a Las Vegas based director and producer and Virginia is a Pontiac Michigan based director, producer and casting director.  Virginia was the Extras Casting Director for Winter Song and Bakewells’ company, Indie Gear Solutions, provided the production equipment for the film. 

At the wrap party Troy mentioned to Virginia that he had a film that he was trying to produce and direct but needed help with it. Virginia was intrigued by the story and offered to lend her experience, expertise and local contacts to the project provided that the film was shot here in Michigan. As a result of their chance encounter, the film will begin principle photography here in Macomb on September 10thof this year.

The film is the coming of age story of a young woman who learns that her parents are separating on the eve of her wedding and she kind-of overreacts and flips out a bit. “It’s really a combination of a coming of age story and a romantic comedy”, Troy says. “It’s a great date night movie. The type of character centered movie Hollywood rarely makes anymore” he says. 

“It has been such a blessing meeting Virginia and choosing to shoot in Macomb” says Bakewell. 

The film will be shot with an almost entirely Michigan based crew and a large part of the cast will be locals as well. In fact if you are interested in being and extra or auditioning for a speaking role feel free to reach out to Virginia at rebelfilmzcasting@gmail.com 

While “What You Need” will most likely not see Theaters is a wide nationwide release, like more and more lower budget Hollywood films even these days, it will be distributed on DVD, Redbox, Amazon Play, Itunes and likely cable television as well. So if you’ve ever been curious about the process of movie making, or if you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at acting, this just might be your big break. 

Come October, keep your eyes on the lookout for a smaller but determined cast and film crew that will be filming in and around Holly this fall because you might just catch a glimpse of the next big Hollywood stars, the future Clint Eastwoods and Emma Stones of the world practicing their craft right here in Michigan.