Local graduate makes feature length film

Local Lake Park High School Graduate Makes Feature Length Film (Roselle)

Have you noticed any strange bright lights late at night around Roselle? No, it is not the film set of the latest Hollywood blockbuster movie, but it is the film set of a local director. Kyle Probst, a senior film student at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and Lake Park High School graduate and his partner Travis Torok has embarked on an ambitious project to make a feature length film to enter into the film festival circuit. This is not the first collaboration for these young directors who had a short film “Rigor Mortis” accepted into the Wisconsin Film festival last year. After a year of writing and re-writing their script, scouting film locations, securing and even making their own equipment and lining up fellow UW theater students as actors, the two budding directors began shooting last month. “We probably have six more weeks of shooting” said Probst; “and then we will begin the long process of editing”. Along the way, Probst and Torok sent the script to local Milwaukee actor, Mark Metcalf, who is best known for his role as Niedermeyer in Animal House and as “The Maestro” in several Seinfeld episodes along with many appearances in hit TV shows such as CSI and Mad Men. Mark liked the script and agreed to play a small role as a professor in their film, bringing some instant credibility to the project. The film is titled “The Smart Ones” and is about graduate students who turn to home burglary to fund their tuition.

Kyle's interest in movie making began early in high school when he and his friends made numerous films using their parent's video camera. They were often chased out of the local mall and other stores as they staged their comedic films. Kyle's first commercial success was when a predecessor to You Tube actually paid him for one of his short films “The Taco Bell Incident” showing a young Kyle deftly running to intercept a drive-through order at a local Taco Bell. “Back then, to get going, the video web sites like You Tube actually paid for content” said Probst. As Kyle's interests grew, he became more serious about his work and lead the organization and execution of the first-ever film festival at Lake Park High School.

As Kyle enters his senior year at UW Milwaukee he is looking ahead to a future in film which usually requires a portfolio of work and “getting noticed” by others which generally happens through film festivals. However, making a feature length film is an ambitious and unique effort for young college students, especially while they still have a significant time commitment to completing their studies. As the script, storyboards, incredibly detailed shooting schedules and countless hours of scouting and negotiating film locations show, making a feature length film without the usual Hollywood support structure of lighting experts, sound technicians, location scouts, talent scouts, editors, sound effects technicians, costume designers, makeup artists and caterers is an incredibly time consuming and difficult undertaking. “We couldn't do this project without the great cast of volunteers from our actors to our lighting and sound technicians and even my Mom who has served as the caterer while the entire cast and crew has camped out at our house in Roselle for two separate weeks” said Kyle. The missing component, however, is a producer who typically provides the all important role of arranging financing for major films. “Although we have a lot of volunteers, said Probst, we also have a lot of expenses including equipment rental, travel costs to and from Milwaukee and software for editing”. “We really do need a minimum amount of funding to complete our project and have turned to a popular web-based program designed to match donors who want to support The Arts with projects that need funding. If anyone out there wants to see a preview of our film and support our project they can go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2037124034/the-smart-ones-a-festival-bound-independent-film and make a donation”, said Probst. Who knows, as a supporter of these young artists, you may one day be watching a Hollywood blockbuster and be able to comment that you helped these famous directors get their start.