Filming for “Indelible” is scheduled to wrap up where the independent movie’s writer grew up.
Production crews for the film are expecting to shoot in several locations throughout Schenectady sometime in mid-October. Director Randall Dottin anticipates spending about a week to complete the screenplay written by Schenectady native Mikki del Monico roughly four years after the movie started shooting in New York City.
“It’s been a dream and a saga,” Dottin said Wednesday during a phone interview.
The plot centers around a black scientist trying to find a cure for a genetic disease that killed her husband and threatens the life of her son. It stars Rosalyn Coleman-Williams, Tristan Wilds, and Ann Dowd.
Filming was made possible after del Monico received the first Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Award in 2004. Shooting started in Harlem in 2007 and was nearly three quarters completed when the production ran short of money.
“We’re hopeful to finish it up now, which is wonder news,” said del Monico, a 1985 graduate of Linton High School.
The film is expected to shoot scenes at Ellis Hospital and an area private school, Dottin said. The producers may also utilize a science classroom at Schenectady County Community College and a yet-to-be determined apartment building.
Schenectady provides an affordable backdrop for the film, as compared to New York City. Producer Melanie Oram first discussed finishing the film in the Electric City in April 2010, citing the ease of working in Schenectady coupled with its cheaper cost of doing business.
Filming for the production will follow that of director Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines,” a major motion picture that is expected to wrap up in the fall. Don Rittner of the Schenectady Film Commission said the city and the Capital Region as a whole are becoming attractive for movie productions because the area is very budget friendly.
Crews do not have to obtain permits or pay fees. And the film commission’s ties throughout the city give producers an ample pool of local talent to fill any openings they may have, whether for actors or technical staff .
“We just make it really easy to shoot a movie here and that’s why they love it,” he said.
Dottin acknowledge the ease of doing business in Schenectady made the city really attractive for the shoot. He said Rittner really turned his production crew on to the advantages of filming in the city.
“He really kind of opened us up to how easy it is to shoot up there and obviously the beauty of the area,” he said, “It’s a really nice spot.”
“Indelible” will bring a crew of about two dozen to the city. Dottin anticipates hiring additional people from the area to help during the production.
The film is expected to make rounds during film festivals in 2012. Dottin also hopes to find a distributor for the film to get it into area theaters.
“I think it’ll really inspire people,” he said of the film.
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