Home town screening for short film called Last Call
Last Call is part of a proposed series called Home Bodies
WATERLOO — For a short while Sunday the long road of creating a series for an internet streaming service ran through the Princess Twin Cinemas.
That’s where Warren Sefton screened Last Call, a 15-minute long “proof of concept film” he directed. It was shot in Waterloo at the Pub on King, RIM Park and Maxwell’s Concerts and Events. Last Call is actually part of Episode 5 in a proposed series called Home Bodies.
“It is a cross over among X Files meets No Country for Old Men meets Black Mirror,” said Sefton. “It is an anthology where each episode is a stand alone, but each episode takes place in the same three days in this town.”
Sefton grew up in Waterloo, and studied film at Sheridan College. He started working in commercials in Toronto, and then became the on-set digital imaging technician for the series Suits. He returned to his hometown Sunday to screen the short that will be used to entice a major streaming service into signing the series.
“We now have six episodes of the series written, and a proof of concept movie, so we are ready to go,” said Sefton.
In Last Call a sheriff’s deputy hears a strange voice message from her sister, a bartender. After arriving at the bar the deputy searches the building with her gun drawn.
The deputy finds blood, body parts and the monster that killed her sister. Last Call opens and closes with shots of posters for missing persons.
In addition to directing Last Call, Sefton co-wrote the script with Chris Carter. Growing up in Waterloo in the 1980s, Sefton was obsessed with the movies of Stephen Spielberg and James Cameron who made feature films around strong characters. So the series Home Bodies is character driven as well.
“So we have stuff going on in a farm house, a high school, all these things, but it is neat because you can see insignificant characters in one episode, you think they are background, they are actually a main character in their own story,” said Sefton.
The next step is to partner with a large distributor who can get the project before decision makers at a big streaming service such as Netflix or Amazon Prime. Internet streaming has created a huge demand for content.
“It is the right place, the right time, to be this ready at this time is very lucky,” said Sefton.
The City of Waterloo, former city councillor Mark Whaley, and Ryan Mounsey, the city’s senior adviser for economic development all get credit for helping with Last Call.
Ideally, more than one distributor will want the project, and there will be a bidding war.
“I want to maintain creative control,” said Sefton. “The story is based out in Oregon, but we would look at filming it probably in Ontario, like Suits or anything it is cheaper to film here.”
Ontario provides generous tax breaks to movie production companies.
“They get so much money back in tax breaks for filming here, which is why it brings $4 billion to $5 billion a year in revenue to Ontario,” said Sefton.