Actor/Producer, Noel G. (Fast & the Furious, The Dark Knight, Training Day) and partner, David Ramak teamed with writer/director partners, Richard Meese and Rocky Costanzo to produce a different, modern story on how young teens deal with a deadly tragedy. The concept was easy, Costanzo said. "What if 'The Breakfast Club' took place during a school shooting?" Noel, who used to make home movies with Costanzo when they were teens themselves, said "Let's do it."
"Ditch Party" became a reality in the summer of 2014 and the film went into production on September 13, 2014. With permission from the Lynwood School District in Lynwood, California, cameras started rolling at Marco Antonio Firebaugh
HIGH SCHOOL with the principal, staff and students participating in the film. "We were so grateful for them allowing us to film there that we wanted to invite the students to participate as extras in the film," notes Noel." The production also brought a taste of Hollywood to the students, as the cast includes Noel, and also Daeg Faerch (Rob Zombie's Halloween, Hancock) and Veteran actress, DeeDee Rescher, from several Hollywood studio films and network television shows (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Nanny, King of Queens) and others.
The film is about a group of students getting invited to a ditch party in the schools under construction admin building and while there, the chaos outside in the halls begins. They barricade themselves in the room and wait for help to arrive before the gunman finds them. "We were all fine with tackling a sensitive subject like this as long as it didn't glorify the shooter," mentions writer, Richard Meese. "The focus is on the kids in the room and how they react to death staring them in the face."
Director, Rocky Costanzo, has built a reputation of making films on ultra-low budgets, and was even the cover story on the popular Village Voice publication OC Weekly a few years back discussing the low risk of funding low budget films. "I'm like Tarantino, Linklater and Rodriguez... if they never became successful," Costanzo jokes. All kidding aside, he hopes this film will take his love of filmmaking to the next level. The partners are already discussing future projects with each other.
"Ditch Party" is slated for release in the fall of 2015, with special advanced screenings already being discussed, including an idea to screen the film at high schools. "We want to do something different and exciting for this film," says Ramak. "Festivals are wonderful but we are thinking of placing the film in front of its core audience, so high schools are being talked about."
Official Facebook and Twitter pages have been created for those wanting to follow the process of the film.
Photo: Facebook
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