Hope Bridge, the Journey Begins

By Harold Hay

Welcome to my first blog entry about a new feature film I am producing called Hope Bridge. For some time, I have been looking for a film project to get involved with. That opportunity presented itself back in November 2011 when filmmakers, Christi and Dave Eaton, approached me with a screenplay that they had been working on for some time. I was impressed with their vision and determination to get this film made.

For them, this wasn’t just about making a movie. They had personally lived the story. Hope Bridge is about many things. It deals with the disfunctionality of the American family. But primarily it’s a story about hope, reconciliation and healing. The film deals with some rather dark material such as suicide, depression and mental health issues. We knew we had a challenge on our hands to make a movie that would be hopeful, relevant, and that would address these issues in a way that was completely authentic and believable. With that in mind, we’ve spent the last eight months rewriting the script multiple times.

Christi and David were determined to get the story right and to find each character’s unique voice. Filmmaking can be a difficult process, and nowhere is that more true than in the script writing phase. I believe we finally have the story we’ve been looking for. Hope Bridge is a story we all can relate to. Each of our characters is somebody we all know. We can easily see a brother, a sister, a mother, or a father. It’s a portrait of contemporary life in America with all of its complexities. It’s also a story about faith because without faith there is no hope.

It’s not enough just to have a good screen play. It must be outstanding. Now I think we can move on to the next phase. We’ve produced a promo video about Hope Bridge to build awareness about our project. The film will be shot in the Cincinnati area in June 2013. We expect preproduction to start in earnest at the beginning of 2013. If you are interested in getting involved in our movie, we want to hear from you.

Already, several organizations in the mental health field have expressed an interest in getting involved with Hope Bridge. We’re taking no chances. We’re building a support team of people who will get behind this project and promote this new, exciting feature film. We think we are in a great position to get a distribution deal that will put us in movie theaters sometime in the spring of 2014.

There’s a lot of work ahead, and we plan to keep you posted as things unfold. For more information, e-mail me at harold_media@insightbb.com.

Hope Bridge the Movie from The Bridge Church on Vimeo.