ATHENS, WV (WOAY)- When people think of feature-length films, southern West Virginia doesn’t come to mind as to where they were filmed at, but one West Virginia filmmaker is making a film here in southern West Virginia for West Virginians.
The film is called “The Big Game,” and it’s about one man’s idea to bring his small town back to life by having a basketball game. This small town has been dead since the school consolidations over 20 years ago. While part of the story is about school consolidation, the writer says there’s more to it.
“It’s much more than that because the film is about small towns and what happens when the school closes. And it’s like, I think that’s something that a lot of people don’t understand,” said Scott Martin, the director, writer, and actor in “The Big Game.” “Athens is doing pretty well, but places like Oakvale and Matoaka, I mean, they’re practically nonexistent now, and that’s because the school closed. When the school closed, the people left. It’s like it’s the hub. It’s the center of everything.”
Right now they are in the process of funding this film and hope to begin filming this fall.
They have a Kickstarter campaign that right now has raised almost $4,000 toward their goal. They are asking for the public’s help in their efforts to get this film off the ground.
Like the character in the film, they are trying to touch the community and bring more to southern West Virginia.
“The character Bobby Marshall, in the film, sort of mirrors us as filmmakers because we’re trying to do something that’s never been done before and it’s never been done around here. There’s lots of film companies that’ll come and shoot a scene or something like that, and I hear people all the time. They’re like, well, this person is from West Virginia, this person’s from West Virginia. We’re actually trying to make a whole movie here that will touch people and involve people and everything else in basically,” said Martin. “What we’re asking for is if people like the little ten-minute clip that we’ve sent you and everybody else, if they like that clip, share it around and donate a dollar. We need 100,000 people to give a dollar. It’s [the cost of] a can of soda, you know. But then the movie becomes something more. If we filmed it in Atlanta, it’s a who cares to me. But if it’s filmed here, that’s the beauty of it. To do something that’s not been done.”
Link to Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/93858557/the-big-game-0
