QC high schoolers pursue filmmaking dreams
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A dedicated group of Davenport Central students has dreams of becoming the next Greta Gerwig or Martin Scorsese.
They are getting a leg up in potential film or TV careers through the free programs of Rock Island-based Fresh Films.
The national company has been in the Quad Cities since 2016, engaging local youth in learning film and media skills for college and careers. They were based at Augustana in Rock Island seven years, and after less than a year at Moline’s Spotlight Theatre, they are renovating a vacant 1912 home in downtown Rock Island (428 19th St.), next to Project NOW, for new headquarters, a small studio and production space to host a growing number of programs.
They now include both the weekly program for high school students (at Central, Rock Island High, and soon in the new HQ), as well as a training program for 18-to-29-year-olds that pays a $1,100 stipend.
“This is all student-driven – the one thing I love about Fresh Films is, I shift my hats,” said Clint Balsar, art department chair at Central and visual arts chair for the Creative Arts Academy of the Quad Cities, which is based at Central and Sudlow Intermediate in Davenport. This is his third year coordinating the Fresh Films after-school program, which meets Tuesdays and Thursdays 4-6 p.m.
“All day long, I’ve been a teacher at Central. Now all I am is an assistant. I teach some of the methods you use in film, but this is a student-driven project,” he said Thursday.
The Fresh Films weekly program is a hands-on filmmaking program that builds fundamental film and video skills, as well as industry connections and confidence, said Kelli Feigley, Fresh Films managing director and executive producer.
“Youth are exposed to the vast career opportunities and build skills to get there,” she said. “They work with professional equipment and learn from Hollywood pros from Sony, Roku, Paramount and all for free!”
Each program has multiple projects including: developing a documentary that has the chance to stream to over 70 million users on The Roku Channel, making a music video for a real band, producing a competition show with the team from Fremantle (“American Idol”), and creating a short film with Sony Pictures.
Fresh Films started at Central this school year in November, and this week the kids worked on a music video for a song by the QC indie rock band Subatlantic. Often, they have Fresh Films Zoom meetings with other schools.
Last year, the program did a music video for a Peoria band. The new video is a concept piece using the music as soundtrack (there is no dialogue), but not filming the band itself.
The concept is filming a student (sophomore Hal Sprague) working on an essay. The song is a happy, road-trippy mood, and the student struggles but figures it out, and by the end is happy and bouncy, matching the song’s vibe, Balsar said.
There are 16 students involved, including sound, lighting, props, location, camera operating, storyboarding, etc. Hal is the only subject on camera.
“One of the things they truly learn is in the filmmaking process is, it’s all crew, it’s all team,” Balsar said. The video includes planning, filming and editing in post-production.
“It works out really well to be the third year working with Fresh Films, too, ‘cause I have several who keep coming back,” he said.
Fresh Films partners with several entertainment companies, like Roku, which has national documentary contests that could potentially air on Roku. Sony and Paramount are also partners.
That Roku program is called “Change Makers,” highlighting people who’ve made a huge impact in their community, Balsar said. Last school year, the Central students did a short doc about Abigail Johnson – a Blue Grass teen who started her own nonprofit to help veterans learn technology. She was named the 2022-2023 American Legion Auxiliary National Junior Member of the Year.
Students have to apply to be in Fresh Films, Balsar said.
Student experiences
Four Davenport Central students traveled to Dallas this past summer as part of their internship with Fresh Films, where they worked on-set of new show “Job GPS” and filmed an episode with an American Airlines pilot and a digital advertising agency.
Central junior Fox Dobbins was one of the four in that internship (including students from around the country), over a week, in partnership with American Airlines and Roku.
“I liked working on an actual set, with real deadlines and a real client,” he said Thursday, planning to do another internship this summer.
Fox got involved in Fresh Films his freshman year through Creative Arts Academy (which he began in 6th grade).
The first two years, he learned camera and lighting setups, as well as acting and editing.
“I always like doing camera work, cinematography,” Fox said, noting he prefers being behind the camera versus in front.
His favorite directors are Stanley Kubrick and Rian Johnson (especially his “Knives Out”).
“They have their own variety and they pay attention to detail, which I really like,” Fox said. His favorite Kubrick films are “The Shining” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
This year, Fresh Films has provided more equipment than past years.
Fox may look for jobs at a production studio right after high school. “I’m looking more for work than school,” he said.
Rebecca Patrick, a Central junior, is in her second year with Fresh Films. She took a camera and lighting fundamentals class with Balsar last year before starting this program.
Rebecca liked doing the documentary project the most. For the new music video, she is director of photography, filming the main camera.
“I’m learning teamwork skills and I like to find out a lot of things,” Rebecca said. “It’s fun for me, which is weird because not a lot of people like the planning part, but I like the planning part.”
She said she doesn’t watch movies a lot (not even “Barbie”). She got interested in filmmaking because Balsar is a really good teacher, she said. “Why not try Fresh Films?” Rebecca said. She enjoys teamwork because she gets to tell other students what to do.
“I’m really good at that,” she said. “I don’t like feeling I’m too bossy.” Rebecca really wants to get into photography after high school.
“I like learning a lot about new art process,” Hal Sprague said, who called himself more a visual artist. “That’s made me want to join this, ‘cause it’s something new.”
He has done Metro Arts with Quad City Arts, working on the Sgt. Pepper’s mural in downtown Davenport.
New accelerated program
Not only does Fresh Films work with high schoolers (75 in the QC, plus 500-600 more including Twin Cities, Chicago, Boston, L.A., Seattle, Atlanta, New York, Pittsburgh, Memphis, and virtually), they have a new accelerated training program to kick-start careers for those new to the field in film, TV and other media.
The Accelerated Film Training Program is a competitive paid program that will advance your skills and connections to access jobs in the rapidly growing film and TV industry. It’s open to young adults ages 18-29, with no previous experience needed.
Trainees will create film projects alongside entertainment professionals at Roku, Sony Pictures & Fremantle Media (the production company behind “American Idol” and “America’s Got Talent”). They also will:
Receive additional training to support their resume, interview skills, etc.
Train with film union professionals
Work on a film set getting their IMDb credential
Get paid a $1,100 stipend
The application deadline is Feb. 5th and the program kicks off Feb. 17-18 with Advanced Production Skill Workshops, then meets weekly – Tues./Thurs. through June 6 from 7-9 p.m. at the Fresh Films Office (428 19th St., Rock Island).
Accelerated participants need to be Illinois residents to participate. You can apply for that HERE.
Fresh Films received a $50,000 Back 2 Business state of Illinois grant for its work in engaging youth in arts learning and workforce development. The grant was distributed to multiple organizations who were impacted by but continued offering arts programming through the COVID pandemic.
New roots in Rock Island
The company was co-founded by Kelli’s husband, Estlin Feigley, a 1993 Augustana alum. In 2002, he formed production company Fresh Films/Dreaming Tree Films, which began work in Chicago, directing commercial and short film productions for the Art Institute of Chicago and the City of Chicago, winning awards with the Chicago International Film Festival.
To date, Estlin’s production resume includes directing over 200 films, TV episodes, commercials and documentaries, and he continues to engage future filmmakers via Fresh Films, which moved onto the Augie campus in 2016.
Estlin’s TV and feature film directing credits include “The Stream” starring Rainn Wilson, Mario Lopez, Christopher Gorham and Kelly Rutherford. The film was called “A Family Friendly Stand By Me” by the Washington Post and released theatrically at Regal Cinemas, the film is currently on Roku, Amazon Prime, iTunes and continues to play internationally on Fox Family Asia and AMC EU channels in various countries.
Estlin also co-wrote and directed “Alternate Universe: A Rescue Mission”, starring Steve Guttenberg and Harry Lennix, which premiered at the White House STEM Festival and is currently playing on Paramount +, Redbox and other platforms. Both films had over 150 youth working on-set, including Augustana students.
Documentaries directed by Estlin Feigley include two seasons of the “Filmmaker Lab” with Reese Witherspoon, that trained 41 young women in documentary filmmaking; two seasons of ‘behind the lens’ at Tribeca Film Festival, TV documentary “Believe Chicago” featuring nine difference makers and airing on the Audience Network, and I AM not disABLEd, a feature length documentary following the journey of youth with disabilities and highlighting the Penguin Project of the Quad Cities.
“I Am Able” premiered at the Putnam Giant Screen Theater, Davenport, in November 2022, and had 14 Augustana students work on the project.
“Augustana is grateful to have partnered with Fresh Films from 2016 to 2023 as leaders in the Entertainment and Media certificate program and minor,” Jennifer Popple, Augustana associate professor and chair of the Department of Theatre Arts, said this week.
“Last year, the Entertainment and Media program was closed when Augustana launched a Film major and minor,” she said. “Augustana appreciates all of the contributions Fresh Films made to the Entertainment and Media program and we remain supportive of them and their work. Our students continue to work with them via internships and other opportunities.”
The Feigleys chose to renovate the historic two-story house in downtown Rock Island to give it more space and be centrally located in the area.
UnityPoint Health-Trinity’s Robert Young Center leased space at this location until May 2018 to support group home for adults living with serious mental illnesses who had barriers to independent living.
It housed eight people at a time, and over 15 years it served about 150 people. The center still operates two similar locations in Rock Island County today.
The deadline for area high school students to sign up for Fresh Films programs is Feb. 5th, and activities will start Feb. 8th. If interested, you can apply HERE. Visit Fresh Films on Facebook HERE.
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