Richie T has asked me to write-up a blog entry about our pre-production and production trip for FREETOWN. Here is some quick background on how myself and Garrett Batty got together to make FREETOWN. Garrett Batty, just off the success of THE SARATOV APPROACH, asked to meet with me about a story he had found and a possible partnership to make a film. Once I read the script for FREETOWN by Melissa Larsen and Garrett I was excited to move forward.

 

Garrett and I left for Accra, Ghana on July 7, 2014 to handle some in-country pre-production work (location scouting, auditions and hiring a Ghana based production company). While making a film in a foreign country was not a new experience, making a film in West Africa was. The uncertainty of producing a film entirely in Africa weighed on our minds during the 18 hours of flight time.

Our in-country pre-production trip was a little more than one week long. There was lots of things to figure out and get set in place for us to comfortably commit to coming back for 6 weeks of production one month later. We had to get certain things in place before we left West Africa in order to successfully prepare pre-production from Utah. Miraculously, we found EVERYTHING we were looking for and MORE. We fell in love with the people, the color, the texture and the culture of WEST AFRICA. The images in our minds started to materialize in “reel” life.

After returning home in mid-July we began the process of sifting thru auditions and crewing up. We only had one month before we returned to West Africa to begin our six weeks of production.

August 15, 2014 brought the theatrical release of SAINTS AND SOLDIERS: THE VOID. On the following Monday, August 18, 2014, Garrett Batty, Bob Conder and myself boarded the plane for Accra, Ghana again. This time we weren’t returning to Utah until we had FREETOWN entirely shot and ready for post-production.

We had one week before other members of the US crew arrived (Jeremy Prusso (DP) and Travis Hamilton (2ndAD)). During this week we needed to solidify our cast, lock down locations and get our Ghanaian crew up to speed on what needed to happen. Each item on our checklist brought challenges. Each challenge brought an equal amount of miracles as resolutions to said challenges. It became very clear, FREETOWN was not OUR movie but HIS. Each day we witnessed HIS hand in the process. It was humbling.

After whittling down the 125+ actors who auditioned we finally had our cast locked. We held a table read of the script with the cast on a Friday afternoon. It was a memorable experience. We learned a lot about our cast members. A couple of them lived the events we were depicting in the movie.Their experience brought a reality felt by everyone involved. A few of them happened to be members of the Church. In fact, two of them were returned missionaries. It was surprising to us that the three companionships in the script had a cast member in each of them who was an actual Latter-Day Saint in real life. Interesting coincidence considering we cast the film ENTIRELY in West Africa and not Utah. 🙂

 

 

With WEEK ONE of production complete it is a good place to say STAY TUNED for more behind the scene pictures. Keep an eye open for more blog posts related to FREETOWN.

 Adam Abel started his career at Paramount Pictures in the creative affairs office in 1994. Through this experience he decided to make a career of entertaining people. While working full time in the industry he studied Business Management at UVU and BYU. Upon graduation he started Go Films with Ryan Little. Go Films’ first feature, Saints and Soldiers, drew attention and praise of critics and audiences alike; winning best picture in over fourteen film festivals around the world and nominated, twice, for the coveted Independent Spirit Awards.