It seems no goal is too high for Ignition Theatre.
Having risen to the challenge of writing an original stage musical, the Ignition Theatre gang now wants to turn it into a feature length film. This will require raising $100,000 to cover budget expenses.
Year After Year received a great audience reception when it premiered on stage in Red Deer in May 2010. The play about a guy and his friends who are navigating through jobs and relationships in their 20s worked well as a live theatre production, said director Matt Grue.
“But we always thought it would make an even better film,” he added, since much of the story centres on the characters’ internal struggles.
Dustin Clark, a graduate of the Red Deer College Motion Picture Arts program, recently decided to film the musical.
The Red Deer resident, who performed one of the roles in the stage production, said he couldn’t get the idea of directing a movie version out of his head.
“Spending the last year thinking, writing and planning has only made me even more excited and more confident that we have something really quite incredible . . . the ability to do some wildly creative things with our imaginative team are all reasons why it appealed to me.”
Clark said he always believed in the “internal, personal” story of young people finding themselves.
Year After Year was originally written by Grue, with music by Curtis Labelle, and lyrics by Spenser Pasman and Stephanie Ridge.
A new screenplay is being created by Grue. It contains more locations, but the crew still intends to film 80 per cent of the production in Central Alberta starting in September 2012.
Grue said a loan of film equipment will enable keep costs to $100,000 instead of double that.
The filmmakers plan to seek government grants, approach Central Alberta businesses for corporate donations and to hold fundraisers.
The first one will be on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23 and 24, when 30 participants will break into teams to write and shoot 10-minute films in 24 hours. The resulting movie shorts will be publicly screened at 7 p.m. at the Nickle Studio, upstairs at the Memorial Centre in Red Deer. Admission will be by donation.
Anyone interested in contributing to the Year After Year film project can make an online donation at www.yearafteryearmusical.com.