In May of this year, in an article entitled The Prize Guys – An Interview, we told you about a new coming of age film centered around the topic of bullying, which would be shot in Philadelphia in the Summer of 2012. The article was in the form of an interview with its screen writer/director, Anthony Giunta, and its lead actor, Tommy Bachelor.

At that time, we also indicated plans for theskykid.com to follow the progress of the making of The Prize Guys (TPG) — from these pre-shooting days to the film’s release, including reaction to the film from critics and the general public.

So in that spirit, today we offer an update.

Note: To see captions for the pictures in this article, just run your cursor over the picture.

A New Production Company

Executive producers Anthony Giunta and Thommie Retter have recently invited a third executive producer – Howard Alter – to join the project. Howard comes from the world of finance, and together, he, Anthony, and Thommie have formed their own new production company: Percolate Productions LLC.

The Prize Guys feature film will be the first of many projects that the new production company will be undertaking.

A Second Reading

Last Monday (July 25), the producers held a second reading at Le Skyroom in New York City for a large invited group of observers.  The reading was from a script which had been re-worked based on the first reading held in late April of this year. Thirty-one actors read all the screenplay’s roles for an enthusiastic, very receptive audience.

When asked to describe the experience of the reading of The Prize Guys on Monday night, July 25^th, here’s what some of the people involved had to say:

 “The reading was really fun. I enjoyed hearing all of the new people in their roles. This is going to be an amazing movie. I can’t wait to start filming.”

 Tommy Batchelor  (actor)

 “It’s always an amazing experience to have a quality script in your hand and have a talented cast around you. As performers, there are always special moments that stand out during your vast career; reading Anthony’s work has created one of those moments for me. ‘The Prize Guys’ is well written, well performed, and an all around great piece that I know will make an impact!’

Sarah Seeds  (actor)

“The character of “David” has such depth of emotion.  I enjoyed the challenge of expressing his private struggle while hiding his hurt feelings from his friends.  This is definitely a story to which all teenagers can relate.”

Landon Harris (actor)

“Every actor was incredibly solid and able to truly bring all the different facets of the ever-important and relevant plot of The Prize Guys to life.” 

Missy Dreier  (actor)

“It was a joy to watch the room full of talented young actors in the reading of The Prize Guys film. Mr. Giunta’s writing brings to life a heartfelt lesson about the subject of bullying.”

 Tina Milford (parent of actor)

“The reading included so many extraordinarily skilled actors.  It was a pleasure meeting and working with such great talent.”

Ash Harris (actor)

 “I felt like the reading was very successful and the cast worked really well together!”

 Holly Taylor (actor)

Casting

Casting actual teenagers to play teenage roles (as opposed to going with actors already in their 20s portraying teens, like many TV shows and movies do), carries with it the risk that different cast members may grow at different rates over the next several months.  So the producers have made the decision to hold off offering specific film roles to the teens they’re considering for TPG, until just shortly before the cameras roll next summer.

As Anthony Giunta explained: “We made two offers very early on – to Tommy (Batchelor) and Keean (Johnson). With Keean’s role, his height as it relates to Tommy’s character, is really a non-issue. With most of the other principal roles, however, the height/build of the actor as s/he relates to Tommy (who’s playing the protagonist in the story) is pretty crucial. Once we started seeing other actors we knew we wanted in the film equally as much as Tommy and Keean, we had to restrain ourselves from making additional offers too quickly. We can’t end up next June with an actor who plays a bullied kid towering over an actor who plays a bully. There are several ways we can go with the casting of all the other principal teen roles in the film. We believe we’ll be able to work with almost every young actor we’ve been talking with in some capacity in the movie. The beauty of it is that since all these actors are so hugely talented, we know we’ll hit home runs with every person we eventually cast.”

One casting job, however, that was “a piece of cake” according to Anthony, was the production team’s recent offering of one of the principal adult roles to Mike Gallagher, a veteran actor who also has his own nationally syndicated radio talk show. “Mike read a different role in our first reading, and was brilliant – so much so, that we offered him the role of bully’s father, Vince, in the second reading that took place last Monday night. He completely embodied this role as well, and worked so beautifully with Spencer (Milford) and Keean, who played his sons that even I started to believe these guys were all related in real life. After the reading that night, when Thommie, Howard and I regrouped, we all just looked at each other and grinned very broad smiles in unison. We knew we had our film’s “Vince”; the idea of even considering of anyone else to play the role was unthinkable. That’s the dream. That’s what you want an actor to do – come into the room and be so right for a role, that they make the decision for you. We’re thrilled to have Mike on board.”

Next Steps

So what happens next with the film?

Anthony explained that he and his producing partners are running on a few parallel tracks: the casting of the adult actors, the financial piece,  the on-going refinement of the film’s script and the continuation of casting teen principals.

Choosing the principals for  the adult cast has begun.  The producers have talked with several actors and this process will intensify over the next couple of months.  The plan is to have the adult cast members in place by the end of the year, several of whom will be recognizable by film, TV and theater audiences.

Regarding the financing of The Prize Guys feature film, the production company is pursuing several different funding avenues they are excited about that will keep the project on its current schedule to begin filming in June 2012.

Rewrites of the script will come as a result of the second reading. Anthony said: “I did some work after the first reading, and now with the second one barely a week behind me, I’m discovering new ways to make the script better, tighter and more cohesive. It’s absolutely awe-inspiring to hear the words you’ve written performed by such a group of talented people. And it makes it so clear in the writing what belongs there, what needs to be enhanced or changed, and what needs to go altogether.” Anthony expects to have the new draft of the screenplay completed by Labor Day.

As relates to the continued casting of the teen principals, while the producers are very happy with the group of actors they have already, Anthony noted: “We just received some auditions via videotape from young actors in other countries that were absolutely incredible – it will make the casting job next spring very tough, but what a great dilemma for a director to have!”

The Skykid.com has also learned that, as a way of introducing some of the cast members to a wide audience prior to the release of TPG, Anthony Guinta will be writing and directing a trilogy of short films that will feature a handful of the potential TPG cast members in them. The stories in the trilogy will be unrelated to the plot of The Prize Guys. It’s expected that production will begin on the first short film within the next month.

The amount of work that needs to be done before actual filming begins is mind boggling.  But all appears well in hand with good progress being made on every front to keep the film on schedule to begin shooting next June.  The Skykid.com will continue to follow all developments on the making of the film and will provide updates here on this site as significant events warrant and pertinent information becomes available.

*Photos in this article are by David Thompson, TPG Production Assistant.