Telegraph Herald
By Michelle London - April 16, 2021
In the feature film “Saving Paradise”, set to make it’s world premiere at next week’s Julien Dubuque International Film Festival, Dubuquers will identify with the film’s core theme of a community fighting to save something it loves.
In “Saving Paradise”, a big city corporate raider (William Moseley, who portrayed Peter Pevensie in “The Chronicles of Narnia” film series) returns to his small-town roots when he inherits his father’s nearly bankrupt pencil factory, which is the heart and soul of the town. His plans to sell the business put him at odds with the chief financial officer (Johanna Braddy, known for her role as Agent Shelby Wyatt on “Quantico”) and the town, who know that the fate of the business will be the fate of their community.
Screenwriter Van Billet, a former investment banker, was inspired by the true story of a pencil factory his firm was interested in buying.
“The private equity group I was with had the business model of buying small to medium manufacturing companies, most of which were family-owned in small town,” he said. “For example, we aquired a pet food manufactuer in Mishawaka, Ind. Instead of closing the plant down and making the food in China, we not only kept the plant in Mishawaka, we expanded it.”
In the early 2000’s, Billet’s company, whose motto was “Hold, not sell,” started a school supply products platform. It bought companies that made pencil sharpeners, school glue and pens and was on the hunt for a pencil company. It found one in Missouri.
“Those of us working on the acquisition spent a lot of time in the town, getting to know the people who worked in the plant,” he said. “We were so impressed by the quality of the people, we were going to continue to make pencils there, and were going to transfer the manufacturing of the school glue to the plant in Missouri.”
Unfortunately, Billet’s company lost the sale to a conglomerate that outbid them and moved the plant to Mexico City.
“To this day, I often think about the hundreds of people who lost their jobs at that factory,” he said. “(It was) a factory that had been there over a hundred years.”
The screenplay for “Saving Paradise” was Billet’s way of changing the ending, even though it wasn’t something he could do in reality.
The script, which Silverman found on the Black List - an annual survey of studio and production executives of the most liked scripts not yet produced - quickly caught his attention.
"The reason I got this project started, and the whole motivation in my company, is to do purposeful projects” Silverman said. “The film is a wonderful illustration of passion, determination and inspiration. Anybody who watches it can’t help but be inspired. You just don’t see movies like that anymore.”
In addition to Moseley and Braddy, the cast includes a recognizable slate of Hollywood actors, including Mimi Kennedy (“Mom”, “Dharma & Greg”, “Erin Brockovich”), Bill Cobbs (“I’ll Fly Away”, “The Sopranos”, “Night at the Museum”), Mary Pat Gleason (“Guiding Light, for which she was an Emmy-Award winning writer) and Paul Dooley (“16 Candles"“, “Breaking Away”).
Sadly, Mary Pat recently passed away (in June),” Silverman said. “Paul Dooley is 92 years old. He really has not lost anything. He’s funny and charismatic.”
Silverman said there is no big secret to attracting stars to independent films.
“A lot of it has to do with the story and the writing,” he said. “And a lot of it has to do with who’s in it and what they bring the party. We got a lot of very recognizable faces. We were really lucky. These are Hollywood fixtures and brilliant actors.
And as with any large-scale project, coordinating schedules plays a big role in attracting the right people.
“If you hire any star today, your entire production is predicated on their schedule,” he said. “To get Bill Cobbs, for example - he was the perfect individual for the part - he could only work for four hours. That doesn’t sound like something horrible to do, especially if it’s a good project. And he took all of his scenes, and he owned them.”
Silverman is looking forward to the premiere of “Saving Paradise,” which also is scheduled for a theatrical release in the fall.
“It’s been a difficult year for every filmmaker,” he said. “None of us wanted to come out with a movie during the pandemic. But good word spreads fast. And this was a very important movie for my team. It was a labor of love.”
“Saving Paradise” will be screened at the festival at 7 p.m. Friday, April 23rd
Times and dates are subject to change. Visit www.juliendubuquefest.com for more information.