Amelia 2.0 (2017)
When the husband of a dying woman is approached by a corporation pioneering a new program to extend life through robotics, they get caught in a public debate over human’s relationship with technology.
Amelia 2.0 (or The Summerland Project, it’s original title and what it is in my heart) is easily the largest project I’ve worked on. Or at least the largest project I’ve worked on where I was relatively important.
In January of 2013, my frequent collaborator Adam Orton sent me the script for the stage production of The Summerland Project, a stageplay that had been performed (to quite success and acclaim) at Theatre Cedar Rapids.
My initial thought, when the opening scene featured a husband meeting his semi-amnesiac wife after she awoke from a coma, was “Why is Adam sending me a script of some sappy melodrama?” And then Amelia’s robot body started to glitch. And I was ALL. IN.
I had planned on just reading the opening scene. I read the whole script in one sitting.
In May, with the support of a few investors who believed in the project, we took a three days to shoot a sizzle reel. Sort of an extended trailer, showcasing key moments from the story and capturing the overall feel of the film. We needed to create something we could take to other investors and say “If this is what we can do with some money, imagine what we could do with more money.”
It was around the this time that my role as “producer” was demoted to “co-producer.” Which I was fine with. I hadn’t had any experience with a project of this size and we had brought in some producers from Los Angeles who could give it more attention and expertise. They were full-time movie producers. The Summerland Project was something I was doing on the side, running the social media and handling and Iowa-based concerns.
It wouldn’t be until May of 2014 that we could start casting. We were mostly looking for small supporting roles, the majority of which were filled with members of the Cedar Rapids theatre scene. Almost everyone who had a part in the original stage productions ended up in the film.
This was now a SAG project and the principals were primarily from Los Angeles.
The Principle Cast of Amelia 2.0
It one time we had Eric Roberts. And I think Akon was in the mix. That would have been wild.
Angela Billman reprised her role of Amelia Summerland, originally playing her in the second stage adaptation of the play. Billman has been in a lot of my work since this film, primarily as the face of The CW 7.2. She also appears in my short film The Last Minute Till Midnight.
We finally went into production on September 16, 2014. At this point I had started working as the production coordinator. I had never been a production coordinator before, so I was grateful to be teamed with a great line producer and unit production manager.
Toni Halverson and Erica Lynn Schmeck had both come from Los Angeles and had worked with the producers before.
We had a seventeen day shoot, mostly in Cedar Rapids. My job mainly consisted of things like making sure all the departments had what they needed and knew where they were going. Sometimes I would talk to the city to make sure they knew we were filming downtown and we had places to park. Sometimes I would make sure there was enough cheese and crackers on the craft services table. Production Coordinator is kind of a broad position.
The hours were long, made even longer by the fact that I and small group of the crew were commuting an hour from Waterloo.
Next step was post-production. The editing was done by Isaac Levison-Share, who also edited Call Me Crazy. Adam did the majority of the visual effects.
Once we were in post, we realized there was a few elements of the story that could be bolstered by adding in newscasts. These segments, which I got to write, were filmed with real anchors at Cedar Rapids news stations.
In May of 2016, we had our first officially screening of the film, primarily for investors, donors, and crew. The event was held at the Collins Road Theatres, the same theater that held the annual Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival. The same festival that had been showing my work for nearly ten years.
I was asked to create a short behind-the-scenes video to show at the event before the film played, highlighting our work and the tremendous amount of community support.
The Summerland Project would eventually get distribution and be retitled Amelia 2.0.
Probably the thing I’m most proud about with this film is that we got it made in Iowa. When we met with those initial investors, we stressed about how important it was to support the filmmaking community in our state. We’re not hurting for talent. But we are hurting for opportunity.
There’s no other place like Iowa no other people like Iowans. The support we received from media to businesses to government officials to the people who let us shoot in their homes was astounding, and hopefully Amelia 2.0 helped encourage more people to get involved in the local film industry, be it homegrown projects or work that was brought here. Iowa is a great place to make a movie. Hopefully we can make more.
Growing up a film nerd, most of which was in the ’90s, I can’t express enough how much the video rental store helped shape my personal identity.
Co-producing Amelia 2.0 helped me achieve many career goals, one of which was having a tangible movie that people could rent at a video store.
Am I as socially awkward online as I am in person? Only one way to find out!