Duo of Greenville filmmakers happily nearing film's completion

Sep. 23—Since January, Greenville-based independent filmmakers Michael Lester and Taylore Nicholl Mullins have been investing much of their time outside their day jobs (and braving sweltering heat and other challenges) while working on their current, feature-length project, titled "Inspirational Blame."

Last Sunday, the two were busy shooting scenes at the Greenville Municipal Auditorium.

"It's been a slow process but I'd say after this weekend, we hope to be about 75-80% through," Lester said.

Being an independent production, the filmmakers have been financing the project by taking on extra work (by "Door Dashing" or doing other delivery work), as well as fundraising through apps like Venmo, subscription services like Patreon and through "fundraising nights" in coordination with local restaurants and other businesses (in which they receive a small percentage of that night's sales).

The project itself, "Inspirational Blame," was written by Mullins and is somewhat based on her and Lester's working relationship.

"It'll be a feature film that's semi-biographical about the friendship I have with Michael and how passionate we are about making films, like we need to [create] to survive," Mullins said.

"It's about two down-on-their-luck filmmakers tired of waiting for their big break and deciding to craft and film their own independent movie," she added.

Mullins and Lester, who were both experienced filmmakers before joining forces, first worked together last year, on a 33-minute drama called "What We Become." Released in late October, it tells a story about a recovering alcoholic father who dutifully pays child support but struggles with feelings of unworthiness and shame when it comes to actually being in his daughter's life.

It can be watched online on Upward Trajectory Films' YouTube channel.

In addition to being the first project that Mullins and Lester worked on together, "What We Become" will also be the "film within a film" that their characters will be making in "Inspirational Blame," adding to the film's "semi-biographical" concept.

The hard work that Mullins and Lester have put into the two films is a continuation of the dedication they've both poured into their craft these last few years.

Mullins, who formerly attended Royse City High School, lived in Colorado for a few years before recently moving to Greenville. In the years since leaving Royse City, she has pursued her passion for acting, writing and filmmaking.

Earlier in 2022, she co-wrote, co-directed and co-starred with Josh Auten Jr. in the feature-length film "Carry On." In the film, Mullins' character spontaneously agrees to take an old high school friend on a road trip to Canada. While on their travels, they revisit emotional baggage from their past that had been "left unsaid."

"Carry On" can be seen in its entirety on Mullins' YouTube channel, listed under "Taylore Nicholl."

In addition to being a filmmaker, Mullins also hosted a podcast called "Extra...Ordinary" until late 2020. On the program, she regularly explored heavy topics such as emotional trauma and mental health, but also shared several uplifting stories about friendship and empowerment. Episodes of her podcast can be found on www.listennotes.com under "Taylore Nicholl."

Like Mullins, the last couple of years have also been busy ones for Lester, who worked with his longtime collaborator Brandon Westbrook on dramas such as "The Actor" and "No Good Deed."

"Even though we both watch a lot of YouTube videos where we pick up techniques with shooting, lighting, sound, editing and things like that, we're both pretty much self-taught and have been making videos since we were in the sixth or seventh grade," Lester said of his work with Westbrook.

"The Actor" is a 27-minute film about an aging actor who's looking back on a lifetime of choices and wondering if all the tradeoffs and sacrifices he made were worth it.

"[The Actor] is a simple story I came up with while ruminating on what it would be like to be a 70-year-old small-time actor looking back on their life and wondering, 'Did I spend my whole life just playing pretend or do I appreciate being able to do what I love,' " Lester said.

In addition to his work with Westbrook and Mullins, Lester also wrote and directed a short "dark romantic comedy" last year, titled "Love Story," in collaboration with yet another local filmmaker, Holly Rice, who served as producer.

"Love Story" also starred Rice's daughter, Rachel, whose performance earned her a nomination from the international Cannes Shorts film festival for Best Actress in a Short Film.

"It's been described as a 'dark romantic comedy' because a lot of the darkness comes from my character Hanna's psychological state and how she sees things as they exist in her own head versus what they are in reality," Rachel Rice said of her role. "It gets violent at the end, and someone dies, but it starts out like a classic, lighthearted romantic comedy."

Due to their compatible backgrounds in filmmaking, Mullins, Lester and production assistant Salina Drozeski consider themselves lucky to be working with each other on "Inspirational Blame," and look forward to being able to share the fruits of their labor when the film is released.

"I'm just sitting here feeling so lucky to know these two and to be able to make movies with them," Mullins posted on Facebook. "And also just how supported, loved and moved I feel from everyone who has donated their money, time and resources to help us.

"We're pouring every piece of our souls into this movie and making sure your donations are put to good use," Mullins continued. "We're quite literally throwing our blood, sweat and tears into every second of our work.

"Thank you so much."

So far, donations to the project have been used to purchase new equipment, including a 4K (high definition) camera setup, a tripod, microphones and — due to the sheer amount of footage they've had to capture for a feature length production — an additional hard drive for more storage space.

Those who would like to contribute to the completion of the project can reach out to Michael Lester or Taylore Mullins through their Facebook profiles, or through the Inspirational Blame Facebook page.