A spotlight shone on Columbus during the renowned Sundance Film Festival at the end of January.
Brothers Julian and Justin Turner of Columbus premiered a pilot episode of their comedy, "FreeLance." The episode, which opens with sweeping shots of Columbus' skyline, follows Lance, a young filmmaker in central Ohio, and his rag-tag band of creator friends who hope to make it big in their respective industries.
It's a pretty familiar situation for real-life filmmakers Julian and Justin Turner. The brothers started making movies in their mom's computer room around 15 years ago. Eventually, they went into gig work, also known as freelancing.
To produce "FreeLance," they enlisted friends and Ohio State University grads.
Then, the Turner Brothers took "FreeLance" to one of the most prestigious film festivals in the U.S. The 41-minute comedy episode was shown in the episodic pilot showcase at Sundance this year.
WOSU's Allie Vugrincic talked to the brothers about the experience, and the story they hoped to tell.
ALLIE: All right, so, the big question, what was it like taking a TV pilot to Sundance?
JULIEN: It was a little bit of uncharted territory because pilots are hit or miss. Pilots are lost art a little. So everything about the process has been kind of a pinch me moment, because we really weren't expecting much. And in the same ethos of what "FreeLance" is about, we're just doing this because we love it. We're doing this because we built a community around it, and we wanna provide opportunities for our community.
ALLIE: Why film and set this story in central Ohio instead of, say, Los Angeles?
JUSTEN: Well, I'd say that kind of tracks back to something that our mentors in the industry have told us for a long time, which is, write what you know. And I think that also helped us on the budget side.
JULIEN: Lots of, like, young adult, you know, ensemble projects and televisions and film. They're all coastal. The idea is that hopefully we can, you know, bring a different cultural perspective to the creator economy now. Everybody has cameras. Everybody's trying to make it in their perspective industries. So, yeah, what does that look like for somebody that doesn't have, you know, the ability to just up and move to a coast?
ALLIE: "FreeLance" isn't autobiographical, but how much of the story is based on your actual experience doing gig work?
JUSTEN: Each episode is a new gig. This first episode is wedding gig and it's very loosely based on our only wedding gig that we've ever done. So we're pulling all the plot points from real life and then, you know, letting our comedians kind of take it to the next level.
ALLIE: "FreeLance" is a comedy, so I have to ask, what's the weirdest or funniest thing that's happened to you guys on a gig?
JUSTEN: The pilot is about the wedding, but it was one of the crazier things that we've agreed to do. We agreed to turn the wedding recap around by the reception. At the time, we had no idea what we were signing up for, but turns out the reception is right after the ceremony...and then also, just being on set and learning about permits for the first time — even having a bunch of police pull up and surround your set. It's definitely a scary situation, but a good way to learn about permits.
JULIEN: We have written about that, so. Yeah.
ALLIE: What's next for "FreeLance"?
JULIEN: I think next we want to do a pop-up screening in Columbus, so hopefully we can bring it home and share it with the community.
ALLIE: Looking forward to it. I should mention that another Ohio movie hit the screen at Sundance. The feature film "Union County" follows a man on a tenuous journey toward recovery amid the opioid epidemic in rural Ohio. That movie stars Will Poulter and was also filmed in central Ohio with some local crew members right out of Columbus.
