For the past couple of weeks, the farming communities of Nezperce and Cottonwood have played the role of Hollywood while California film crews worked on a production called, “Mischief Upon Mischief.”
The film is produced by Jeff Decker, a Lewiston native and 2005 graduate of Lewiston High School, who also has a starring role in the the sci-fi action adventure film. The project evolved out of Decker’s work in film and TV in Los Angeles over the past seven years.
“We got tired of asking permission from Hollywood,” Decker said in a phone interview this week while filming on location. “We wanted to do what we wanted to do, so we just did it ourselves.”
The film is two years in the making. Decker and Ken Gamble, director, writer and co-producer, got together and created an asset list -- props, locations and people they’d have access to for production. Asko Akopyan joined the production team. Combining their understanding of what people want to watch, they tailored a script to fit what they had.
“We made something to fit what we have, as well as fit the marketplace,” Decker said.
Decker expects it to be a while before audiences see the end result. After the film is completed, the next task is to find a distributor. Gamble will be on the red carpet in January at Sundance -- he is in Forest Whitaker’s “Sorry to Bother You” -- and hopes to use that opportunity to share a trailer of “Mischief Upon Mischief” with others in the industry who might be interested in buying the film.
Even though it will be ready to be released as a feature at that point, Decker expects changes to be made by whoever picks it up, including a possible change in format.
“Best case scenario, we get a series order for it,” Decker said.
That means an entity like Netflix or another TV network would back a 13-episode production, and Decker would be back to do more filming. With this as a possibility, the film has flexibility built into it, Decker said. It can be a stand alone feature film, but could also be developed into a series or have film sequels.
“We’re covering all our bases.”
The film features some credentialed actors and actresses, including Doris Morgado (guest star on numerous TV shows including “Criminal Minds,” as well as “Logan,” “2 Guns” and “I Am Wrath”), Jamie Grey Hyder (“Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare,” “Graceland” and “True Blood”) and Geno Segers (“Banshee”).
