To have artistic integrity, first you have to be an artist. And in the film business, being an artist usually means having some funds.
Filmmaker and writer Brad Jayne almost didn’t submit to the South Carolina Film Commissions’ recent round of grants. The money has to help produce a film for a general audience, and his pet project, Warrior, includes both language and drugs.
But he sucked it up, wrote a script for a short, and won the $100,000 award.
Shooting will take place this fall for The Song of Pumpkin Brown, a piece of historical fiction involving the legendary Jenkins Orphanage Band.
Drummer Quentin Baxter is music supervisor and coproducer, and Jack McCray, a Post and Courier copy editor and expert on Charleston jazz history, is a script consultant.
Set in 1958, Pumpkin is about an orphaned boy who learns to purge his grief through his trumpet playing. Jayne has cast off any initial reluctance, excited to shoot a film that celebrates both creative expression and Charleston’s African-American culture, a passion of his.
But his deepest passion is making Warrior. Jayne also wrote the screenplay for this moody feature about a teenage boy who experiences a profound spiritual maturation amid the chaos of a robbery and a, shall we say, ‘festive,’ trip to Myrtle Beach. Rob Gorman, a former child actor (Rookie of the Year, Full House) who is now a financial analyst, has developed a business plan with Jayne, and they plan to shop for funding locally.
“It is such a Charleston film, such a South Carolina film, we really want the money to come from here,” Jayne says. “We want to say it was conceived, funded, shot, everything, here.” –Jonathan Sanchez Keep the City Paper free We don't have a paywall. Each week's printed issue is free. We're local, independent and free. Let's keep it this way. Please consider a donation of $100 to keep the City Paper free. Donate: chscp.us