Local indie filmmakers prepare for busy year
Dec. 29—Two Greenville filmmakers, Michael Lester and Taylore Nicholl Mullins, plan to work together through the next several months and release two films in 2023.
The two first collaborated on a 33-minute drama titled "What We Become," which was 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.
"I feel like we kind of maxed out on what we can do with a $400 camera and a few lights. So [the new productions] will have us aspiring to take the next step," Lester said.
In an effort to take things further technically, Lester and Mullins set up a fundraiser on crowdfunding site Indiegogo in December, and managed to raise about $1,200, mostly from friends.
"We're still in the fundraising stretch," Lester said. "Because of lack of experience with that aspect, we aren't going to come anywhere near the money we really need, but hopefully we'll at least raise enough for a new camera setup. Then, everything else will be kind of DIY, hard work and hoping for some more help from friends."
The two films that they plan to produce and release this coming year are titled "Inspirational Blame" and "Seasons of Change," with Mullins heading up the former and Lester leading the latter.
"Our projected date to start principal photography (for 'Inspirational Blame') is January or February 2023," Mullins said. "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.
"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," Mullins added.
Later this coming year, the two plan to begin production on Lester's "Seasons of Change."
"My film is an LGBTQ acceptance story," Lester said. "It's a platonic love story between two people who just want the best for each other, as we all should.
"It's supposed to challenge people on the way that we love and accept people who are different from us," Lester explained.
The productions will continue the hard work and dedication that both Lester and Mullins have put 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 has been "left unsaid."
"Carry On" can be seen in its entirety on Mullins' YouTube channel, listed under "Taylore Nicholl."
The last couple of years have also been busy ones for Lester, who has worked with his longtime collaborator Brandon Westbrook on dramas like "No Good Deed" and "The Actor."
"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 that 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 romantic comedy, "Love Story," in collaboration with yet another local filmmaker, Holly Rice, who served as producer.
Despite their experience, both Lester and Mullins plan to expand further out of their comfort zones with this coming year's projects.
"It is our goal to get through these two films, but they are bigger projects than anything we've done, so we don't exactly know how they'll go, but that is the goal," Lester said self-effacingly.
