Yachats Oregon Writer Rick Schultze

I had been hearing rumors about a project that was being hatched by two Yachats residents that was going to involve people from up and down the central Oregon coast. Now that is nothing out of the ordinary for people who live in Yachats and Waldport and the surrounding areas, there are many projects going on at all times it seems. From youth activity programs to yoga lesions, from community garden tending to Volkswalk events, from exercise classes to parents organizing a Junior League Football team from scratch, from the Cruizin for Crab Annual car and craft show, to a Quantum Weekend, and the list goes on. However, the project I’d been hearing about sounded quite different from any of the others so when I heard there was going to be a meeting I attended.

Tucked away in a room in the Yachats Commons were a group of people, both young and old and an array of odd creatures; a weird bird, a golden metallic starfish, an inflatable crab, and a device that changes how ones voice sounds and a video camera set up on a tripod. It was obvious these folks planned on making movie. The two people behind the project Dave Baldwin and Burgundy Featherkile filled me in, “We’ve founded the Yachats International Film Festival to make a movie and are looking for anyone wishing to participate in the making of “Ghoul from the Tidal Pool”, a tongue-in-cheek version of the 1950s horror movie genre. The film making will be a collaboration of many amateurs and any experts who want to be part of this seminal project.”

After a few opening words by Featherkile the auditions began for those who showed up to be actors. Each took their place in front of the camera and read from a prepared script then had to memorize several lines and do it without the script. It was a touch of Hollywood in Yachats. “Quiet on the set”was followed by “ok rolling” and the potential actors put on their best performance. There were a couple of experienced actors and several first timers but they all fit parts and in this movie there are some quirky and odd parts. What separates this movie from a big or independent studio production is that there is no budget and as Dave Baldwin says “we’re already over budget!” There are a multitude of tasks that go into movie making from the props to the stars and everyone at the meeting had something to offer. It’s like community theater work where everyone pitches in and often wear a variety of hats to put the production together. This team of people will surely work well together and from listening to the auditions and the comments they made to one another; are going to have a blast making the epic irregardless of their lack of budget. “We are relying on the ingenuity of our team to make this movie a success,” says Baldwin. “That’s better than money.”

Keep your eyes peeled for the Ghoul to appear on a screen near you soon!

To reach Rick Schultze email yarick@pioneer.net