Ball State Makes a Movie

Posted on August 5, 2008
Filed Under News, The Daily Prereq | By Mike Dang

Most producers turn to wealthy investors or multi-million dollar companies to fund their next Hollywood blockbuster — and then there’s the producer who turns to his university. According to Inside Higher Ed, Rodger Smith, a faculty member at Ball State University, asked the university’s provost and president if the school would bankroll an indie film he was working on. Against all odds, the two agreed. The film, “My Name is Jerry,” is written by two Ball State alumni and will star Doug Jones, a Ball State alumnus best known for his role as that creepy monster with eyes on his hands in “Pan’s Labyrinth.” According to those in production, Ball State is on it’s way to being the first-ever university to put money behind a privately-developed commercial motion picture.

Forty-five of the 70-person crew are Ball State students, and most of the filming is being done on campus. To make sure that the students were getting an educational experience without slowing down film production due to their inexperience, Smith put them through a production boot camp weeks before filming. Students learned how to quickly identify lighting equipment and hauled sandbags from trucks during basic drills. The students also designed a Web site and gave the film a presence on social-networking sites. Shooting for “Jerry” is scheduled to end this week. With more than $40 million in grants for media-related programs from the Lilly Foundation, Ball State boasts state-of-the-art film equipment and hopes to build a recognized hub for film making — the next NYU or USC film school, perhap? Who knows, they may even be the next Universal Studios.

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2 Responses to “Ball State Makes a Movie”

  1. roy on August 7th, 2008 3:00 pm

    “Ball State University” hahahahahaha

  2. Hollywood: The New Study Abroad Destination : theprereq.com on October 9th, 2008 2:54 pm

    […] every college can bring Hollywood to campus, but that doesn’t mean they can’t bring their campus to Hollywood. The Los Angeles […]

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