TRUST FALL

Cameron Smith is a senior at tiny fictional Francis Patrick College in the even smaller and also fictitious town of Nevelton, New Hampshire. He aspires to be a filmmaker but is studying pre-med at the behest of his family. To prove his worthiness as a filmmaker, Smith decides to shoot a film on campus during his last year in school. It begins as a tiny expose on college life, but grows when he recruits an outgoing freshman, Terri Jefferson as the star of his film. He tells her to ‘call me if you have anything worth documenting.’

Smith is interviewing Terri’s shy roommate Samantha “Sam” Goodwin when Terri reveals she is dating “the most charming guy on campus,” one Brett Jilette which elicits howls of laughter from Cameron. When pressed, he reveals the Jilette is known around the college as “The Chick Magnet” for his player reputation. Terri says that he’s changed, and offers to prove it, challenging Cameron to show up at a back-to-school party being thrown by Brett. “We’ll see what kind of man he is now,” she says, to which Cameron replies, “if there’s one thing I’ve learned at college, it’s that once a player, always a player.”

The party is uneventful, as lamented by Cameron’s videographer Orson Hughes. That is, until late in the evening, as the party winds down, Terri bolts from the party screaming. Showing up at Sam’s door at four in the morning, Cameron learns that Terri has been assaulted and fled campus.

Searching for justice, Cameron takes his camera and begins to investigate the crime.

Shot on location at Franklin Pierce College (now University) in Rindge, New Hampshire on S-VHS video tape. Writing a film that was viable to both the budget (approximately: nothing) and the medium (video) was a challenge. But Scott was fueled by passion to finally see hard work materialize in a finished film, a dream he held since the age of five.

The path on this project began about twenty-five years ago, when Scott told his friend and frequent classmate collaborator Randy Marquis that he wanted to produce a short film on campus dealing with the hurtful nature of rumor mills. They set to work on the script (along with the help of fellow students, who would spitball ideas with them). The short film soon grew to feature-length and Operator (so titled after the childhood pass-it-on game) was born.

Or so they thought. Working with a skeletal script (or, in some cases, no script at all), they completed just under half the shooting before having to abandon the project. Cast changes, equipment problems, and sheer greenness to the world filmmaking led to their disappointing downfall.

But the fires still burned inside to produce their film. Scott began having new ideas for where the script could go, pulling a minor character out the Operator script and building a whole new concept around her. Driven by dreams, desire, and the support of a few good friends, Scott put together about ninety-five percent of the script for a new film, titled Trust Fall. Randy would add a few touches, mainly to the opening and closing, to give them their first completed screenplay.

Sticking to the small college setting and shooting it for class credit on campus helped solve many of the budgetary problems. Crafting the script as sort of a fictional documentary solved their medium problems, though the filmmaking style struck the neophyte directors so interesting, it wound up generating even more directions to take the film that never would’ve emerged had they shot in the tradition narrative style.

That left casting, which wound up being easier than either of the men ever imagined. They were besieged with talented performers wanting roles in the film. So many, in fact, that some were unfortunately relegated to cameo roles, or even left out of the film entirely.

They shot the film basically at every free opportunity we had. The cooperation of the cast members, many of which were still students at Franklin Pierce. And thus, had other commitments, was commendable. Learning from their mistakes on Operator, they accomplished the first of many goals: to shoot an entire film.

Two high school friends of Randy’s were recruited to help with the musical side of things. First, Jeff McClelland would compose and perform original pieces on guitar for key moments in the film. Second, Tim Doherty would make deals with various music contacts he had on the music scene. Bands like Jim’s Big Ego, The Nields, and solo performers such as Ellis Paul and Jenny Reynolds gave the filmmakers’ permission through their management to Doherty to use some of their songs in the completed film. The result was a soundtrack comprised of a folk and progress rock mix throughout the 115-minute runtime.

Now, looking back at Scott’s first, completed film, it’s easy to look back on those years and smile. Sure, he and Randy certainly had their share of bumps in the road, but they learned from their mistakes and turned out to be a truly interesting and thought provoking film. Scott’s character Cameron said it best at the beginning when he stated: “I really do hope you’ll like this. It’s a labor of love for me, and while I can’t expect you to feel the same passion I do, I hope you can at least watch this an open mind and heart. This is story that needs to be told…and I believe very strongly that it needs to be told be me.”

Trust Fall made its world premiere at Franklin Pierce in Rindge, New Hampshire on December 8, 1998, at 9:00 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Emily Flint Campus Center. Around 75 people were in attendance, including several members of the cast and crew, as well as family members, friends, and fans.

It was a very exciting night for all of them as they were finally going to see the fruits of their labors right up there on the big screen. Which, of course, was also extremely nerve-racking for many involved as it was the first time many of them were on the big screen. The night went off without a hitch thanks in large part to the emcee, cast member, Shannon Hogan.

The premiere was complemented by a second showing, four nights later at the Ravencroft Theater also at Franklin Pierce. Following those showings, Equilibrium Pictures continued to exhibit the film for as many eyes as possible.

The Cast

Judy Jerome as Theresa Jefferson
Jonathan Cipollina as Brett Jilette
Stephanie-Kaye Powers as Samantha Goodwin
Chrissy Heskett as Gina Thomas
Katie Steliga as Tiffani Winchester
Liz Maxwell as Claudia Peterson
Randy Marquis as Kyle Adams
Jessica Frechette as Meghan Lavoie
Ron G.R. Pressoir as Triple R
Gordon Berridge, IV as Orson Hughes
Kreighten K.B. Moore as Bruno Lake
John Verner as Leo Milano
Steven A. Wright as Dr. Michael Foster
Shannon Hogan as Annoying Female
Aaron S. Parham as Alexander Jefferson
Sheila Heskett as Patricia Jefferson
Mindy Lariviere as Tommy Jefferson
Mark Berrian as Scrawny Kid
Melissa Palino as Dumb ass/Partygoer #1
Michael Marthers as Cardplayer #1
Amie Smith as Cardplayer #2
Maryssa Smith as Cardplayer #3
Amanda Mehr as Tiffani’s friend
Monica Carreau as Eavesdropper #1
Kimberly Warren as Eavesdropper #2
Jeremy Sexton as Adventure Course Facilitator
Renee Walker as Elizabeth
Yau Lam as Annoying Male
Brian Edsforth as Terri Catcher #1
Sean Ramsey as Terri Catcher #2
and
Scott R. Caseley as Cameron Smith

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The Crew

1st Assistant Director: Steven A. Wright

Director of Videography: Scott R. C Caseley

Executive Producers: Clifford Caseley and Ray Oakes

Line Producer: Steven A. Wright

Production Design: Amanda Mehr, Mindy Lariviere, and Stephanie-Kaye Powers

Costume Design: Amanda Mehr and Meredith Eve Toth

Story Editors: Monicca Ouellette, Meredith Eve Toth, and Liz Aspiazu

Associate Producer: Amanda Mehr

Researcher: Scott R. Caseley

Transportation Provided By: Randy Marquis and Clifford Caseley

Location Scout: Scott R. Caseley

Lighting: Whoever Flipped the Switch

Camera Operators: Jacquelyn G Wendling, Brian Kuscher, Mark Berrian,
Corey Moore, Gordon Berridge, IV, Randy Marquis, and Scott R. Caseley

Make-Up Design: Lisa Miskiewicz, Jamie Hurlbutt, and Judy Jerome

Bad Hair Design: Scott R. Caseley

Post-Production Supervisors: Randy Marquis and Scott R. Caseley

Lead Editor: Randy Marquis

Assistant Editor: Scott R. Caseley

Editing Apprentice: Jeremy Banks

Treasurer: Jonathan Cipollina

Security: Frank Berrian III, Mark Berrian, David Noseworthy, and Brian Kuscher

Traveling Secretary: Chrissy Heskett

Production Assistants: Mindy Lariviere, Christine Seamour, and Monica Carreau

Loader: Mark Berrian

Opening Stills: Scott R. Caseley and Jeremy Banks

Titles: Randy Marquis

Music Supervisors: Randy Marquis and Scott R. Caseley

Music Consultants: Tim Doherty and Jeff McClelland

Catering: Dunkin’ Donuts, The 99 Restaurant, Friend’s Garden, Rutland Pizza, Clifford Caseley, and The Raven’s Nest Pub

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Special Thanks To:

Franklin Pierce College
Ellis Paul
Jenny Reynolds
Jim’s Big Ego
The Nields
Patty Romanoff, Bulletproof Management
Pamela James, Bug Music, Inc

We’d Also Like to Thank:

Our Mentors:

Aashish Kumar, Ray Oakes, and Blake Wood

Richard Killion, Kaine Thompson, Scott Ansvelin-Allen, NCTV-11, WFPR,
WBBG-TV-3, Bill Hyman, The Graphic Design Club, Kimberly Warren,
and The Audio-Visual team that helped set up our premiere

Plus:

Scott Would Like to Thank (by name):

Mom and Dad
Meghan Lavoie
Renae Coculo
The cast and crew of “Trust Fall”
The cast and crew of “Operator”
Judy Jerome, Steve Wright, and Jonathan Cipollina

 

Randy Would Like to Thank (by name):

Mom
Stacy Ross
Jesica Beyerle
Jeff McClelland
Tim Doherty
Monica Carreau
The cast and crew of “Trust Fall”
The cast and crew of “Operator”
Judy Jerome, Steve Wright, and Jonathan Cipollina

 

And we’d both like to thank all the souls, who may go nameless here, but will not be forgotten for giving us all the blood, sweat, tears, and inspiration through the 23+ years that went into making this film.

Filmed on location at Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire, and at certain key locations in Hudson, New Hampshire We wish to thank the gracious generosity of Meghan White, Monica Carreau, Steven Anthony, Aaron Smith, Robert Schuellein, Gordon Berridge, IV, and Ron G.R. Pressoir for the collective use of their residences.