August 2022 Author’s Addendum: “Safe Haven” premiered at Micropolitan Film Festival on August 6th, 2022 where co-star Ashleigh Ecclestone won the Artisan’s Award for Best Actor.
Lauryn Green of Outlandish Productions
The last time that Idol Features caught up with director Lauryn Green, production had just wrapped on her debut feature film, JED (now available on Amazon Prime). These days, the North Carolina-based artist and head of Outlandish Productions is gearing up for her next project, a dramatic short film set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Green has certainly kept busy since she last spoke with Chris Charles just under two years ago, having released three short films in just two years. She took a brief break from the horror genre to write and shoot an LGBTQA+ drama roughly six months after wrapping principal photography on JED. However, Green’s next two productions saw her return to the genre with a vengeance. The first, No Fishing, was released in December of 2021. The short saw Green return behind the camera once again as director of photography. No Fishing was produced in collaboration with Hidden Walls Productions, a film production company based in Western North Carolina by Corey Wall.
In addition to camerawork, Green would add the roles of “writer,” “director,” and “editor” to her next release. Just one week after No Fishing premiered for public view on Youtube, Green released a sharp four-minute short entitled Bloody Mary that brought a modern element to a centuries-old folktale. With these three releases behind her, Green is now gearing up to shoot an ambitious new project in the coming weeks.
Green’s latest project, a drama set in the midst of a worldwide apocalypse entitled Safe Haven, is set to begin principal photography at the end of this month. Green described the project as follows:
“Safe Haven is a Post-apocalyptic drama that follows (main characters) Madi and Edith as they survive the wasteland. After an encounter with a stranger, Edith becomes restless and starts questioning the world outside. It is a story about trust, love, protection, and isolation, (as well as) the dangers of each.”
With the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic raging on and the ever-growing number of fatalities, many filmmakers are drawing inspiration from the grief, panic, and horror experienced worldwide. Green describes her real-life inspiration as it grew from the increased social isolation felt by many.
“Viruses are on everyone’s mind at this time, and we wanted to explore what this isolation situation could be when taken to an extreme level.”
Green described her approach to creating an immersive, authentic cinematic world first by focusing first on the characters therein.
“Although there is a virus in the story, the film is centered on how the characters respond and not the virus itself. The sole focus of this film ends up being the relationship between Madi and Edith. We want our viewers to feel like they’re on this journey with Edith and Madi, and we think there are qualities in both characters that viewers will respond positively to.”
As director, Green tasked her crew with crafting imagery through cinematography and production design that reflected the main themes of the story such as isolation and waning faith.
“We’re going to try to focus on [the visual impact of] space; the emptiness of the woods outside and the tighter, more suffocated feeling indoors. Our characters won’t have electricity, so we’re bringing in some beautiful vintage lanterns Corey Wall found for the film.
North Carolina offers such a wide range of locations and possibilities. For a small production team, we could shoot a film that takes place on a beach, in the mountains, or the foothills all in one state. We’ve found there’s an incredible network of local filmmakers throughout the state as well, and so many local businesses are open to support local filmmaking.”
In addition to finding resources through locally owned businesses, the Outlandish Productions team provided their audience members and interloping communities an opportunity to support the film directly. They launched an online crowdsourcing campaign on indiegogo.com while pre-production was already underway during the final days of 2021.
“We always want to estimate our initial budget at what would be ideal for the production. To calculate that, we took into consideration [the price of] production insurance, an average two-day location usage fee, lodging and dining near the location, props, any equipment or accessories that the crew doesn’t have that are specific to this shoot, and of course we want to set aside money to use to enter “Safe Haven” in festivals. Our film will be brought to life and to audiences regardless [of budgetary limits]. Bringing stories to life and sharing them is our passion. Expect to see a dedicated and talented cast and crew and the passion of Outlandish Productions!”
Speaking of the crew, Green excitedly describes some of the new faces that will be joining the Outlandish Productions team both in front of and behind the camera, including a primary cast of newcomers.
“We’ll be bringing in the amazing and talented actors Emily Schnars (playing Madi) and Ashleigh Ecclestone (playing Edith) of Asheville, NC! We recently had our table read with everyone and we were all blown away by the representation of our characters. I’m thrilled to have them on board. We’ll be running with a small cast and a small crew including the usual Outlandish suspects: Bobby Pimentel, Corey Wall, Jeannine Woeller, and Kellie Phillips. Some of our crew joining Outlandish for this production are Lindsey Adorjan and Julie Church.”
While it’s not yet known whether or not Outlandish’s next production will be another endeavor in the horror genre, one thing is known – Lauryn Green and Outlandish Productions will undoubtedly continue to produce engaging, dynamic content despite creative restrictions brought on by the pandemic.
“We’ve always got scripts in the works! We definitely have a few other short films and a couple features in the script phase. Right now, we’re also working on a short horror YouTube series and our first short, “Bloody Mary” is up now. To catch them all, subscribe to our YouTube channel! We love all of the support. Thank you everyone for making our first feature, JED, an awesome experience and for continuing to share our updates and supporting us. We’re always up to chat, whether it’s to talk about your favorite Outlandish film or ask for advice on a script. We love bringing stories to life, so maybe we can help you!”
Lauryn’s work can be seen on the Outlandish Productions website as well as their Youtube channel.
About the author
Ashton Helton is an independent filmmaker, content producer, and performance artist from Western North Carolina. Balancing somewhere between psychotic and iconic, she most enjoys collaborating on horror features and projects with surreal or psychedelic themes. She is dedicated to "dangerous entertainment” and stresses the importance of creating content that is subversive, challenging, and unique.
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