By Jay Wolz
Southeast Missourian
A Southeast Missouri native who went on to become a producer and director in the entertainment industry has co-written a feature film he plans to shoot in the Poplar Bluff, Missouri, area early next year.
Details about the production -- including the movie’s plot, names of principal cast members and even the movie’s title -- won’t be released until the shooting schedule is announced, which screenwriter Steven Pierce said should be in the near future.
“We’re super excited to come to the area,” he told the Southeast Missourian in a Zoom interview from his Framework Productions office in New York. “We’re making a feature film, it’s happening very soon and we’re going to bring movie making to small town Missouri.”
Pierce said he originally planned to shoot the movie this fall, but learned Thursday of new COVID-19 restrictions pushing the production into the spring of 2022.
Pierce grew up in the Poplar Bluff area and graduated with a fine arts degree in 2008 from Webster University in St. Louis. His credits in the entertainment industry include several seasons as a video editor, short film producer and visual effects artist for “Saturday Night Live” and NBC’s “Tonight Show.”
He and James Allerdyce formed Framework Productions about a decade ago and have focused on commercial production and the production of live concerts and other events.
Pierce and Allerdyce co-wrote the screenplay for the movie they plan to shoot in Southeast Missouri, and although they’re keeping the plot under wraps for the time being, they said its fair to call it an “action-horror” movie.
Exact locations for various scenes in the movie haven’t been determined, “but as of now we’re planning on filming mostly around Poplar Bluff,” Pierce said. “We will also be shooting around the Current River near Van Buren, I’ve always remembered it being a beautiful area.”
Pierce said a number of local residents will be cast as “extras” in the movie, including some with small speaking roles. More details will be released between now and next spring, he said.
As of now, it was uncertain whether the film would have a theatrical release or would be available through video on demand platforms or streaming services such as Netflix.
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