Movies You Made: “Born & Raised”
March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of some independent filmmakers.
Today: Born & Raised.
Production notes from writer-actor-producer Nick Loritsch:
I wrote, starred-in and produced the feature film, BORN & RAISED, with my fellow film-making co-hort/Film School buddy/dear friend, Joshua Dragge (he directed, edited and produced). My original screenplay made the semi and quarter finals in numerous screenplay competitions, as well as being selected as one, of only five scripts, accepted into the Miami Filmmaker Project Screenwriter Lab. We went on to independently produce the feature later that year. BORN & RAISED World Premiered at the Miami International Film Festival, played 22 additional Fests, picked up 7 Awards, secured Distribution with R Squared Films and is now available on iTunes, Amazon, VOD and Canada’s Super Channel with many more platforms to come.
Logline: A young man, in a small seaside town, learns a thing or two about love, luck and life from his well-traveled, outlaw grandfather. Born & Raised is a gritty, coming-of-age drama with a lot of heart and a ton of laughs.
Born & Raised was shot in 19 days, entirely on location, in Panama City, Florida. Film Commissioner, Julie Ann Gordon, went above and beyond for our production, due to the fact that we hired and cast a number of locals, weren’t affiliated with Spring Break in any way, shot during the off-season, had more than a dash of artistic integrity and loved to down a brew or — twelve. During our December shoot, we battled through daily downpours that were tough on production, but ultimately wonderful on the film’s final look (B&R was shot on the Red-One). Born & Raised completed post-production in Los Angeles, fittingly had its World Premiere at the Miami International Film Festival, played 22 additional Fests, picked-up 7 Awards, secured Distribution with R Squared Films and is now available on iTunes, Amazon, domestic VOD and Canada’s Super Channel, with many more platforms to come!
Director: Joshua Dragge
Writer: Nick Loritsch
Producers: Nick Loritsch, Joshua Dragge, Justin Hamann, Austin Eckstein, Julie Ann Gordon, Adam Loritsch
Cast: Nick Loritsch, Jackson Pyle, Dawntavia Bullard, Keith Hudson, Sandra Staggs, Alex Morris, James C. Burns, Douglas Bennett, Arlan Godthaab, Heather McCallum, Catherine Trail, Aaron Stephens, Chris Richardson, Michael Ray Davis, Seana McFadden
Editor: Joshua Dragge
Director of Photography: Rob Kraetsch
Music: Virgil Dickerson, Jay Vincent, Skeleton Suit
Art Department: Trent Dion Soto, Jon Enia
Sound: Marcus Ricaud, Chris Salmassy, Erik Karsen Puhm, Brock Schwien, Michael Taylor, Christopher Alford
Camera & Electrical: Ryan Dee, Jared W. Petticrew, Toy Spears, Craig Griffin, Jordan Marking, Wes Rolan, Ford Seeuws
Quotes:
“Two thumbs up for this one!” — Examiner
“Authentic, deeply Floridian” — Indiewire
“Stalwart acting…cleverly written” — The Herald Journal
“Exceptionally entertaining” — Roger Walker-Dack’s 5 Minute Movie Guide
“True heart” — VIP Movie Snob
“Personal as it possibly could be” — Reel GA
Awards:
Best Feature Film — Litchfield Hills
Best Feature: Audience Award — United Film Festival: Los Angeles
Best Feature Film — Sunscreen Film Festival: West
Best of Festival — Logan Film Festival
Best Actor: Nick Loritsch — Bare Bones Film Festival
Best Ensemble Cast — Breckenridge Film Festival
Best First Feature — Marina Del Rey Film Festival
Here is the trailer for Born & Raised:
I asked each of the filmmakers in this month’s series to answer this question: What inspired you about this particular story to make it a movie? Here is Nick’s response:
Researching our No Budget heroes (Nolan, the Coens, Lee, Linklater, Burns, Smith, Rodriguez, etc.), we realized the only constant was that these filmmakers wrote and independently produced their first feature. With that in mind, Born & Raised was written from page one to be made by us.
The roots of Born & Raised, and the inspiration behind the “outlaw, grandfather,” came from my childhood friend’s father. Whenever we got in trouble, which was quite frequently, he would sit us down and explain why we shouldn’t do what we just did. His “sit downs” were full of danger, illegal substances, women, colorful characters, violence and, most importantly, humor. I found myself so enthralled with these “scared straight” stories, that I’d contemplate getting in trouble again, just to hear another tale. Thus, the spine of Born & Raised was, well, born — “A young man tied to his hometown…a grandfather tied to nothing…bound together by friendship.” Within this framework, I fashioned a coming-of-age story in the spirit of Scent Of A Woman, Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester.
Born & Raised was my first attempt at writing a feature screenplay, so it took quite awhile to complete. All in, I wrote nearly thirty drafts, but the hard work paid off — Born & Raised placed in the Semi and Quarter Finals in numerous screenplay competitions (Scriptapalooza, Page, StoryPros & Screenwriting Expo) and was selected as one, of only five scripts, accepted into the Miami Filmmaker Project Screenwriter Lab.
Our team, at Jerry-Rigged Films, is very excited and proud of what we’ve accomplished with our first feature, Born & Raised. We hope you buy it, rent it, write reviews and share it with friends and family. We’re hard at work on our follow-up projects and can’t wait to share those with you all, as well. Thank you for your time and for supporting independent film!
Here are Nick and Joshua Dragge discussing the movie at the Sonoma International Film Festival:
The movie’s website here.
The movie’s IMDB page here.
iTunes here.
Amazon here.
Twitter: @nickloritsch.
Drop by comments to give some feedback on Born & Raised.
Tomorrow: Another Movie You Made.
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