Local film club brings Hollywood to Tuscarawas County
The No Limits Film Club gets ready to film a scene at Buehler's in New Philadelphia.
If you dream of Hollywood but want to stay in Tuscarawas County, there is a place for you. The No Limits Film Club began meeting in early 2024 and is well into its first film project.
“The project we’re working on right now is a 45-minute psychological horror film called “Gretchen,” and we’ve been shooting since September,” said Mikey Rogers, a founding member of the group. “We hope to wrap the project by June, and then we want to start doing some workshops and some recruitment to try to get a few more members on our team.”
“Gretchen” is being filmed at a variety of locations around Tuscarawas County.
The group is backed by the Local Broadcast Network.
“They provide all of our gear and all of the equipment. It’s all industry-standard stuff that we get to take out to our shoots and our locations to make our films,” Rogers said. “We have the full capability to produce high-quality video and film.”
The No Limits Film Club is committed to giving local people the opportunity to make their Hollywood dreams a reality. There are a variety of jobs available when making a film including actors, camera operators, sound and special effects, film editors, writers, and those who can do makeup and costumes.
The No Limits Film Club meets weekly at MAD Brothers Games and Hobbies in New Philadelphia.
“Each week we try to focus on a different aspect of filmmaking. Some weeks we focus on acting, and then some Thursdays we focus on just camera. So even the actors get an opportunity to learn camera, and the camera people get an opportunity to learn acting and an opportunity to learn prop making and that kind of stuff,” Rogers said.
Because the group is in the middle of the production of “Gretchen,” it’s important for them to meet regularly.
“We need to be meeting weekly, discussing goals and objectives for the movie,” Rogers said. “Then we film on weekends because it coordinates the best with everybody’s schedule.”
Procedures are an important topic because the group has a limited amount of time to shoot numerous scenes. They hope to finish shooting in June, and the film will be screened at the annual Tuscarawas Valley Film Festival at the Quaker Cinema in September.
Being a member of the No Limits Film Club has helped one of the younger members, Deacon Polen, who is 14 and makes his own films in addition to participating with the club. At a young age, Polen was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.
“It makes it difficult for me to understand otherwise normal behaviors and communicating with those properly,” Polen said.
Some of his favorite films including “King Kong,” “Godzilla,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Taxi Driver” inspired him to get into filmmaking.
“When we would go watch movies in the theaters, my parents would never, never skip the credit score at the end. In movie theaters, when people walked out, I would always watch the credits,” Polen said. “One day my name will be in the credits.”
Polen said his favorite directors and actors include Quentin Tarantino, and his absolute favorite actor is Harrison Ford.
“The No Limits Film Club has benefited me in many different ways because it allows me to express part of myself I thought I would never get to show to anyone, and film club has made me the kind of person that I am today,” Polen said.
Polen gave a shoutout to his favorite person, Seth Reber, his big brother through Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“He does video as well. It’s really fun every time I get to hang out with him, and it’s because we share a common interest in film. We just bounce ideas off each other and talk about what’s going on,” Polen said.
Aside from his work with the film club, Polen will start a new film of his own soon.
“I’ve been saving up money for stuff like props and equipment. Mostly, the actors are just my friends from school, but they’re really great actors,” Polen said. “My next project that I’m working on individually is inspired by the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in the 1800s.”
His films are available on YouTube under Polen Pictures.
The No Limits Film Club is planning to use “Gretchen” as a networking tool to connect with filmmakers at film festivals to show what they can do and potentially attract future investors.
Visit No Limits Film Club on Facebook and Instagram.