Brandy McDonnellThe Oklahoman
Standing in what looks like the modest kitchen of a typical Oklahoma home, Richard Janes coaches the half-dozen family members and neighbors crowded around the dinner table on the finer points of throwing an impromptu suppertime dance party.
Since the mealtime merriment is intended to be filmed in a 360-degree shot, getting the party started is more complicated than just pushing play.
"If you bump into camera, don't worry about it, as long as you don't throw anybody up against the wall. But try not to bump her, and try not to look at the camera," the director instructs the cast members on his feature film "Cricket."
"We're just going to play with it ... and it's going to look great. So, for the moment, this take is just Take One."
"I've heard of that," quips one of the actors.
"Now you get to experience it," Janes answers cheerfully. "It's going to be fun."
As a makeup artist wielding a brush attends to the actors for "last looks" and a set dresser ensures the characters' cups are filled, the filmmaker ducks out of the kitchen part of the "Cricket" set and into "video village" so he can watch the party unfold on a monitor out of the camera's view.
"Here we go, guys. Celebration time — and action with the music," Janes calls.
As the performers begin dancing to the beat of an old Whitney Houston hit on a March day in 2022 at what was then called Green Pastures Studio, Janes' wife, "Cricket" producer Amy Janes, can't help bouncing along.
"This is the dream," she tells The Oklahoman.
After two years of post-production and almost two decades of trying to usher the emotional musical drama from a story concept to an actual movie, her dream film will finally get an audience during the 2024 deadCenter Film Festival, where "Cricket" will be the Oklahoma Narrative Feature Centerpiece on opening night.
Why is OKC's deadCenter Film Festival the right place to launch 'Cricket?'
The 24th Annual deadCenter Film Festival is set for June 6-9 in downtown Oklahoma City, with screenings at Harkins Bricktown 16, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Rodeo Cinema Film Row, Scissortail Park, First Americans Museum and the new dC Hub at the Fordson Hotel (formerly 21c Museum Hotel).
More than 1,800 films were submitted to this year's Oscar-qualifying festival, which will showcase about 160 short films, narrative features, documentaries, music videos and more. The state's largest film fest also boasts numerous world, U.S. and Oklahoma premieres.
The June 6 gala screening of "Cricket" (formerly titled "Cricket's Requiem") will be the first public showing of the locally made movie. Written by Tameson Duffy ("Grey's Anatomy"), the film follows Skye Dakota Turner, who played the young Aretha Franklin in the 2021 biopic "Respect," as well as the young Queen of Rock in the Broadway run of "Tina — The Tina Turner Musical," as Cricket Sullivan, an introverted teenager drawn to churches, where she steals candles for her sick mother.
Caught in the act by a grieving choir director and assigned to polish one church's pews as penance, she finds an unlikely friendship that helps her unlock her true gift.
"'Cricket' is a film that I found in 2004, and I had been trying to get this film made for so long. It was one of my favorite films when I was an executive at Paramount (Pictures)," Amy Janes told The Oklahoman.
"I don't think there was a better place in the world we could have made it. And I'm very grateful for that."
How did an L.A. couple end up making a movie and building a film studio in OKC?
Standing behind her spouse and watching the actors dance on the monitor on that celebratory day in 2022, Amy Janes embraced the movie's screenwriter as her emotions overflowed.
"Oh my God, it took us 18 years to see that ... and I've been fighting to get this film done forever. It's just one of the most touching films. I can't wait for people to see it," Amy Janes said, wiping tears away.
"That's why we're in Oklahoma doing our own thing ... and there's no place I'd rather be."
Two years later, she said, it's still true.
The Janeses, who moved to Oklahoma City from Los Angeles in 2018, filmed their lyrical movie about love, loss and the resilience of the human spirit in OKC and Guthrie. Filmed over 25 days in early 2022 with strict COVID-19 precautions, "Cricket" was mostly made at what they now call Filmmakers Ranch in far eastern Oklahoma City.
In 2020, the couple teamed with Melodie Garneau to convert the shuttered Green Pastures Elementary School — a 35,435-square-foot building situated on 12 acres adjacent to the city of Spencer — into Green Pastures Studio. Rebranded last year as Filmmakers Ranch, it's since expanded to a 52,000-square-foot facility with the state’s first certified Dolby Atmos sound mixing stage and is now billed as Oklahoma’s first film and television studio campus.
The ranch has wrangled several diverse projects that have used its support services, facilities or both, from homegrown independent movies like “What Rhymes with Reason” and “Finding Carlos” to Lifetime and Hallmark titles to major studio projects like “Oppenheimer” and “Tulsa King.”
But "Cricket" is the first in-house feature the Janeses have made at the studio they've been building.
"This was always the goal, was for us to work out and create an environment where other people could come and make their movies in a supportive environment — and at the same time where we could make our own," said Richard Janes.
"We're now known within Oklahoma, and we're known in the independent (film) community across America as a great place for people to come to. So, every month, we have three or four different filmmakers flying into Oklahoma now to come and look at the facility and look at how they can shoot with us."
What will happen to the Oklahoma movie 'Cricket' after its deadCenter debut?
Just as Oklahoma embraced them, the Janeses embraced Oklahoma when it came time to make "Cricket." They auditioned Oklahoma choirs for the movie, eventually tapping the OU Chorale and the Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra to record on the soundtrack. The session at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center was produced by Christina Giacona and Patrick Conlon of OKC's Onyx Lane.
Local singer Deonna Marie worked on the film as a vocal coach in addition to performing the theme song, "Take My Heart With You."
"I got to work with Skye Dakota Turner. Since she was coming from Broadway, really, my focus was to help her to sing classically, in weeks. It takes years to do it. We did not have years, but we had weeks. And we did it," she said. "It was just such an honor to be a part of the magic of that film."
Ahead of the June 6 deadCenter debut of "Cricket," the Janeses will host a panel about the making of the movie's soundtrack at Filmmakers Ranch. The panel at 7:30 p.m. June 5 is open to the public with RSVP.
"It's a great opportunity to come check out the stages ... and get a sneak peek of the movie," Amy Janes said.
The journey of "Cricket" won't end after the movie's second deadCenter Film Fest screening on June 9. The Janeses are seeking distrubution for the film, with a making-of documentary about the musical drama as a companion piece.
"So many people had the opportunity to live their dreams on this movie. April Chompunuchtanin, this was the very first time she got to run camera for a feature. We had five emerging directors who were all underneath Richard, who have all gone on to do amazing things. ... I got to edit — and I wasn't supposed to edit — and that's my passion," Amy Janes said.
"With this film, I've gone to a level I've never gone before — and not just artistically. ... It's taught me to process grief in a way that I've never been able to process grief before."
2024 deadCenter Film Festival
- When: June 6-9.
- Where: Multiple venues in downtown Oklahoma City.
- Schedule: https://dcff.eventive.org/schedule.
- Tickets and information: https://deadcenterfilm.org.
