A group of folks hoping to shoot a movie called Valley Inn in Northwest Arkansas this summer will hold a crowdfunding kickoff event on Thursday, Feb. 28 at UARK Bowl.
The event features a meet-and-greet with the filmmakers from 6 to 8 p.m., followed by live comedy from local stand-up comic Jocelyn Morelli and Valley Inn cast member Kevin Flynn (Me Myself and Irene, Osmosis Jones, Sex in the City). Later in the evening, local band Randall Shreve and the Sideshow will perform.
The film is written by Arkansas expat and current New York resident Kim Swink, who plans to co-direct Valley Inn with her husband and Executive Vice President of Creative Services at HBO, Chris Spencer.
Here’s the full plot outline of the movie, from Facebook:
“Valley Inn” is the fish-out-of-water story of a Yankee college student who finds herself in a hot, dusty, dying small Southern town selling Christian books door to door for the summer. Emily’s travels take us from the book company’s New Jersey headquarters on the last frenzied day of “Sales Camp” (where the company’s questionable sales tactics and rhetoric are drilled into the heads of over-pumped college recruits eager for the huge summer commissions promised by the company) to the tiny rural towns of Northwest Arkansas and the highly entertaining local country music jamboree, the cattle auction yards of the “Sale Barn” and the biggest event of the year, “Rodeo of the Ozarks” where local hero, Gary Noble, a.k.a. “The Don Juan of Hindsville” will attempt to break his own bull riding record despite his advanced age, previous injury, and the probability of losing, forever, a chance to win the heart of his one true love.
Through a series of misadventures in “The bookfield” that leave her stranded in a flooded, fish-filled car on a low-water bridge, chased by dogs, confronted by a shotgun wielding meth-head and finding unlikely romance with the local preacher’s son (who has a few secrets of his own), Emily’s growing friendships with the uniquely comical and completely endearing residents of Hindsville teaches her what it really means to follow your heart.
Tickets to the Thursday fundraiser are $20 in advance, and $25 the day of the show. Proceeds raised will help fund the production costs of the film.
