The story below is from our March/April 2022 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Women are at the core of a growing industry in this region and their contributions are gaining a lot of notice – including Emmy nominations.
The Roanoke Valley film community is not in a lot of danger of challenging Carilion for economic dominance, but its influence is growing. Increasingly, the significance of that growth has to do with the women who are involved at every level, whether making commercials, corporate training films, movies or any of the myriad expressions of film.
Like the vibrant theater community in the Valley, film is building a deep and expansive bench of players at every level of the craft, some spilling over into major Hollywood-style productions seen by millions of people.
Herewith are some of the women – young and older, experienced and newbie – who are shaping the industry in these mountains.
Amy Gerber-Stroh
Gerber-Stroh, head of the Hollins University film program, makes a lie out of the old bromide, “Them what can’t do, teaches.” She has taught an impressive number of students who have gone on to film careers (in various disciplines) and creates projects like her new “Hope of Escape,” which is in final pre-release.
It is a movie born in her ancestry — great-grandmother times three who was enslaved, and the movie looks at a point in her life where she plans an escape. It is “a different type of story depicting slavery,” Gerber-Stroh says and though fictionalized, it is extremely personal. She did another film earlier, she says, on the paternal side of her family about her grandfather, a Nazi scientist.
Gerber-Stroh has mined both what she knows and who she knows. One of the actors in the film is Roanoke native and her former student April Marcell, a filmmaker herself. What began as a documentary several years ago, segued into a fictional account “because I wanted to hear their voices,” and to make the point that “slavery was not monolithic.”
At Hollins, Gerber-Stroh customizes her courses depending on what the students want from the course. Some are simply taking film because it looks like fun; others are serious film students. She discovered the breadth and depth of across-the-board talent for filmmaking in the Valley after beginning “Hope.” “I was surprised. I had no idea there was so much talent here. Without the film, I would never have met these people.”
She has discovered that “it is a great experience to make a film here. I go around the community asking for help” and the response is encouraging. “Hollins has been amazing, giving me time and financial support.” She even had Hollins alumnae on her crew when she shot in Wilmington, N.C.
“Women are finding a voice and a different approach,” she says. “We ask students, ‘What’s your story? This is a chance to explore it.’”
Jenna Giannini & Robyn Vaughn
These two are veterans with years of accomplishment and a wide base of skill and talent. Vaughn has pretty much settled in as the go-to person for casting in this region and beyond, even though she has done just about everything a film needs to be completed. Giannini, a Roanoke native, started in an ad agency doing branding and has slowly grown into a respected filmmaker with about a dozen films to her credit.
Giannini’s first project, completed in 2013, was a short film that “lit my fire,” she says. She discovered that “it was a pleasure and an honor to work with talented people. It made me want to work harder.” Even “when budgets shrunk a lot, I had to become more creative” to do the films she wanted. “I had to learn how to do stuff I couldn’t just pay for. That is a unique quality people in this career have.”
She sees an advantage to having local film talent that is ready to perform, especially “when a film rolls into town” needing qualified people. “Roanoke is a good place to make a film because it is beautiful and the creative community works well together.”
Vaughn has run the gamut of film disciplines and still uses just about all her skills, even though casting is her bread and butter. She styles sets, prompts, directs, edits, comes up with concepts, understands lighting, sound and makeup. All along, though, people kept asking for talent” and she settled into casting. “The work grew and I started Casting Call” her agency. Her 30 years of work has included a lot of company videos, some movies and “a little of all of that” which goes into film.
She has become quite the role model for younger women in film and she sees that “the pool grows; the last three years it’s really been growing, especially within a couple hours’ drive.”
She has found women in film to be “mostly strong leaders and they feed off each other. But she doesn’t see “a man/woman world in film. It’s just film people.”
And they keep growing in the Valley.
Chloe Shelton & Kayla Saunders
These two are what basketball guru Dick Vitale would call Roanoke’s “Diaper Dandies,” kids who are the future of filmmaking in the Star City. Shelton, 22, and Saunders, 24, already have impressive resumes and a very real understanding of the basics. Shelton began making movies at the Grandin Film Lab in her teens (winning awards along the way) and Saunders got her start in high school before learning more at James Madison University. She also has credits as a writer and performer at Mill Mountain Theatre.
Perhaps as important as any schooling is that the young women are best friends.
Says Saunders, “I always had a camera. I got my first camcorder in elementary school and I shot an SOL promotional film with my brother in middle school. I didn’t know this could be a career until high school.”
Both have found that work is out there. Shelton says, “Kayla and I make our own opportunities. There is a good film community here.”
Both write, direct and find money for their films. “One thing led to another,” says Saunders. Shelton talks of a music video for a local band that was “a fairly large production” and Saunders adds that “there’s always something to learn” while “working with our role models.”
Making their movies, emphasizes Shelton “is a career of passion.” Though Saunders sees herself moving to a larger market at some point, Shelton says, “I have no strong desire to leave. I like doing film here in this tight-knit film family.”
April Marcell & Sara Elizabeth Timmins
These are Roanoke’s unquestionable stars of the film world. Both can do it all—and have. They’ve shot movies here, there and not quite everywhere. Each has a significant movie in the making at the moment and their personal stories—widely covered in the local media — are compelling.
Marcell went to Hollins on a full scholarship — the 43-year-old single mother of seven at the time — and was a star student in the theatre department. After graduation, she went to work for Tim Reid at the largest African-American owned film studio in the country and immediately made “No Weapon Shall Prosper” in 2012. She has produced (and worked most disciplines) in films and plays since and employed up to 50 people at a time with her work.
Her film introduction “happened because I needed a few more credits for a semester. I wanted a photoshop class but it was full so I reluctantly took a film class. It changed my life.” She was a non-traditional student at Hollins and faced “every kind of barrier you could think of … I think all of us gained super powers when we connected with the Horizon program and I think those super powers are still working for all of us.”
Among the barriers has been her race. “There are those with power who believe they can control you and make you do whatever they want if they can get you to believe you will gain riches and fame. I grew up differently and knew better. I had different beliefs. I believed God owned everything and if He saw fit, He would give it to me.”
Timmins, meanwhile, has gained a reputation as a savvy business professional and producer whose gift for relationship and community-building sets her movies apart. Thirteen years ago, after having worked in film for some time and learning the basics, she founded Life Out Loud Films to “balance business and art, creating inspiring films that make a positive impact behind the scenes and champion women in film.”
Her immediate success with Smith Mountain Lake-based “Lake Effects” is still being shown on the Hallmark Channel and she went on to “Coming Through the Rye” and “Wish You Well,” written by famous author and part-time SML resident David Baldacci. At the moment, she is developing “Shoeless Wonders,” a movie based in Lynchburg. “McMillions,” an HBO series (for Mark Wahlberg’s company) was nominated for several Emmys. She founded an online film school using her values as a guide (community, education, inspiration.)
Timmins says, “The pandemic has fueled a ton more development but obviously less shooting for our company. We have a dozen projects in active development.” Working in the Virginia mountains has been important, she says. “Getting out of the hustle and unnecessary noise I encountered in a big city like L.A. allowed me to finally really focus, think and make things happen. A big part of that was the environment and support I had from this community. I went from being a one-woman company to a team of hundreds simply from the overwhelming local support and it allowed me professionally to focus on what I needed to, delegate the things I could and work on not just a wonderful film but on a sustainable company. Also, it was because of the successful business men and women that became investors that allowed us to get past by far the largest obstacle of indie filmmaking: financing.”
The Economics of Film in Virginia
Margaret Finucane of the Virginia Film Office tells a surprising story: “The total economic impact of the film industry in 2019 was $862 million.” Sitting out there by itself, the number doesn’t mean a lot.
However, when you consider that the tobacco industry is worth $97 million a year, it takes on a new shine. Chicken farming is only slightly larger (and is the No. 1 farm commodity in the state) at $935 million.
Says Finucane, “There is a wide variety of projects that film in Virginia that are all vital to the industry and community, from student films, local indies, and commercials to studio features, and everything between. The three studio series most recently shot in Virginia, including Golden Globe nominated Hulu limited series “Dopesick” [from the book written by Roanoker Beth Macy], Apple TV+ series “Swagger,” and the latest season of AMC’s “The Walking Dead: World Beyond,” had a total estimated direct spend of over $120 million in less than a year. Final numbers are still being calculated and are expected to exceed that estimate.
Finucane says the job creation is just as impressive: “Film, television and new media industry supported over 5,629 full-time equivalent jobs in 2019.”
As jaw-dropping as those numbers are, most of those interviewed for this story agree that not many of those dollars are making it to the Roanoke area, though the ones that trickle in are important in film development here.
Bootie Bell Chewning, who has worked this area for the Virginia Film Office for years, says, “When the scouts come in to check [the area] out you try to give them a good deal on why they should come here to film. In ‘Badge of Faith’ most all the talent was local. I did the casting for that and helped with the leads. We have lots of talent around here and directors and producers like local because it doesn’t cost them as much.” And, adds Roanoke filmmaker Jenna Giannini, there isn’t much of a drop-off in skill, if there is any at all.
Truly a Family Business
April Marcell has involved her seven children in her film career almost from the beginning, finding places for them in all her movies and plays.
Here’s her explanation:
“La’Fawn is like my personal secretary. I hate making calls. She does that for me so eloquently. Farrah and Autumn are my actors and singers. When I need to record soundtracks or get advice from them musically they are extremely talented in that area and they are the ones I meet with. Farrah is independently writing screenplays.
“Winter handles the money. And you better believe she’s not letting anyone take advantage of her mama. She also gives me a hard time about doing things for free. She’s not having it. Kevine is my connection to people who are hard to reach. He can pull talent out of the crevices and the majority of the time, they are the ones who qualify as the best. He is also joining me in producing.
“Summer and Spring are the ones who check my well-being. Especially Spring. They are the best assistants, MUAs and Hair Stylists. Oh, and they make sure I don’t forget to eat.”
The story above is from our March/April 2022. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!