A television series created and filmed in South Holland is to get its premiere in Spalding later this month.
15 and Killing It has been a labour of love over the last half a decade for Steph Genovese and his Holbeach Film Company.
Now it’s going to be shown to an audience for the first time and the creators hope it will be picked up by a broadcast network.
A cast of 120 mostly local actors were involved led by established actor Steph.
He even turned down numerous acting roles, including possibly one for Star Wars, to keep his long hair and beard for his role in playing Alex in the series, the man who teaches Casey Adams (Dominique Spinks) how to affect a bloody revenge.
“It’s been a passion project,” said Steph. “It will be fantastic for everybody to be together to see it on the big screen.”
Steph says the community rallied around for the production providing the vast majority of the manpower as well.
He funded much of the project, but said he’s also indebted to numerous members of the community who have helped out in vital ways.
One he highlights is the Holbeach charity shops providing costumes for the actors.
That community spirit and the talent he was working with inspired him to finish the initial filming, despite some setbacks in the last five years.
Steph said he nearly abandoned the project after the previous lead actor decided to stand down due to personal reasons.
But he’s been delighted with how Dominique took it on.
“Everything felt like it was falling apart and it was something we almost knocked on the head, but it’s all worked amazingly well.
“People say that things happen for a reason and I think Dom has done a great job of it.
“She’s done really well.
“We had to put a lot of effort into reshooting 12 scenes which isn’t easy getting all the actors together again.
“The whole thing has been a real community effort.
“Quite often when I tell people that I work in TV and film they respond with ‘oh, I’d love to do that’.
“The only reason they haven’t is because they don’t have the platform.
“There’s two or three actors in this who are honestly better than me, it’s just they’ve not had the chance.
“I’m an OK actor, and I can my hit marks but these have real talent, they’ve just never had the chance.
“It’s the same with those behind the camera, manning the equipment, directing, make up and more.
“One of the things about the premiere I’m most looking forward to is getting them on stage for a question and answer sessions after the premiere because they’re integral to what you see on screen.”
Episodes one and two of 15 and Killing It will be shown at the South Holland Centre on Friday, September 26.
Tickets are on sale from its website.
The head of Netflix, a friend of Steph’s, is among those that have been invited.
“We’re hoping people will be desperate to see what happens next.” he said.
