“By public screening and movie standards, these are very good scores to pass on to the distributors,” said Linda Holmes, co-writer and producer of “Lights Out.”

WHP is seeking a distribution deal for the movie with hopes for a national theatrical release. Holmes believes this is realistic because the “big distribution companies are looking for faith-based family features.”

The Minnesota-based feature film tells the story of two teenagers from “different worlds” who find themselves at a camp during a winter blizzard. “Lights Out” is a story about racial tensions, “reconciliation and believing in each other, recovery from life’s tragic events, and the true value of every individual.”


Who knows?
The “Lights Out” story idea began several years ago while Holmes was teaching film class to a group of home school students.

“I told the kids that we should create a script idea and ‘who knows what might happen?’” she remembers.

The kids in the class began sharing stories about summer camp experiences. The group decided to model the story after a 3-day 4-H winter camp. Holmes brought the idea to a Christian film group she participated in and a volunteer agreed to do a few scenes in storyboards.

“After the student filming I began thinking. I wondered if this project could be real,” Holmes said.

Holmes brought the storyboards back to the film group and asked if anyone would be interested in shooting a few scenes. By the end of the night she had a camera and operator, a sound tech and a handful of other volunteers willing to give it a try.

When the initial scenes were completed, Holmes began to believe the entire film could be done in Minnesota on a limited budget.

She set out to finish a script for “Lights Out” that was simple enough to shoot without a high budget, but significant enough to be a feature film.

Becoming frustrated, Holmes brought the script to her 14-year-old daughter Ally, threw it on the bed, and said, “You write it! You’re a teenager!”

Ally Holmes took her mom seriously and soon the two were spending time at a camp working out the storyline, which included a new layer of conflict between groups of inner city and suburban kids.


Filming
The next summer, White Horse arranged a Christian youth acting camp in the Twin Cities, flying in acting coaches and a director from Hollywood. From the camp, some of the roles began to be filled.

“Many of them came in with great experience, and some had no experience. One of the main characters, Anthony Brown who plays T.J., never acted before, but he did such a fabulous audition that we cast him into the part,” Holmes said. “About seven of the kids came out of Homeward Bound Theatre from Chanhassen.”

Filming at Lakeside Christian Church in Cambridge, “Lights Out” took 37 days over 5 months to shoot. Because of a lack of snow, the crew had to do “pickup shots” in blizzard conditions the following winter.

The final budget tally for the film, including animated snow and other special effects, was $3 million. White Horse Productions only spent $40,000 in “blood and guts money,” but the group has official contracts with those involved in the project totaling $3 million to be paid if the project makes money.

“When we needed more resources or money, it showed up just in the nick of time,” Holmes said. “That is not a comfortable way to shoot a movie, but I think God loves it when we have risked far enough to be totally dependent on Him.”

Holmes hopes WHP’s first project, although not explicitly Christian, will impact culture for Christ without sounding “churchy.”

“There is so much media trash bombarding our youth today. … We firmly believe that the film arts belong to the Lord,” Holmes said. “We are pushing for a greater and greater excellence in Christian filmmaking, and White Horse Productions wants to make movies that speak beyond the Christian audience. We want to go out into all the world in a way that is heard and understood.”

WHP is currently pursuing rights to make two more feature films, believing that Hollywood will follow the money.

“Hollywood does listen to money, and they are paying attention to what the faith-based community is up to. Frankly, it is very important for Christians to attend the releases of family/faith films in the theaters,” Holmes said. “The film world is a very different place to find ourselves, with different rules than we are used to. We want to be bold and shrewd. In the end we want to honor God with all we do.”


ACTION POINT:
To view a synopsis or to read more about “Lights Out,” visit www.lightsoutthemovie.com.