NEWBERRY — “The Farmhand” is now on the list of movies that have been filmed in Newberry. This film was not only shot in Newberry County, on the Shealy Farm, but also features Russell Shealy, a Newberry native, as the lead.
“Almost all of it (was filmed in Newberry), there is one other scene that was filmed in Southport, North Carolina, the location where they did Scream,” Shealy said.
The film is set during Prohibition, and is set specifically in 1927. According to Shealy “The Farmhand” is about a guy named Grayson Livingston, who has come back from the war and he’s basically looking for employment.
“Times are rough, his skill set pushes him toward a life that is a little bit less than admirable in the public eye. He’s a tough guy, a survivalist, so he finds work where there is work,” he said. “He ends up working for a bootlegger, running whisky, that sort of thing.”
In the film there is a rival gang, and they paid off the sheriff. The sheriff in turn allows the other gang to push their goods, and stopping the group Livingston is working for.
“They look to Grayson to take the sheriff out,” Shealy said. “He gets a contract on this sheriff and he goes to take him out, and things don’t go well.”
All the filming that took place in Newberry was done so on Shealy’s family farm. Shealy said they used different parts of the farm, so different barns, different fields, etc. The family farm is located on U.S. 76, just outside of the City of Newberry.
“Steps taken to film in Newberry was really get the crew together. I’m the writer and my daughter is co-directing with me, and she is the cinematographer and director of photography,” said Shari Harding, writer and co-director. “We had to take all of our equipment, gather everything up and go there, it is about a three and a half hour drive (from Myrtle Beach).”
Harding added that they prepared for this for quite a while, and it was just a process of coordinating everyone’s time and getting a lot of equipment together.
“The farm was the perfect setting, especially for the time it takes place, looks right,” she said.
When it comes to the farm, Harding said some of the farms and farm houses looked liked they were right out of the 1920s.
“Looked exactly the way I imagined when I wrote it,” she said. “This was the perfect place to do it, we were lucky to have that opportunity. Just a lovely location.”
Shealy, who lives in Chapin now, but works a lot on the farm with his family, said it was an interesting experience to be able to work on the farm.
“Typically, I drive three plus hours for any acting gig I have, because of where the supply is. This was nice in the regard as far as location, especially on late night shoots and things like that,” he said.
Shealy was also able to assist with preparation for the farm, because it is a working farm. For example, making sure cows are not in the shot.
Throughout the filming, Shealy and Harding could not say enough about the support the Shealy family gave.
“My family was supportive of the whole thing, they aren’t typically going to say, ‘yea come and film here.’ It was great they were supportive of me and the project. They read the script and said they really liked this,” Shealy said. “The idea that they were so supportive and willing to allow us to do everything that we did, was really awesome.”
Harding added that if it wasn’t for the support of the Shealy family that the film would never have been made.
“The Farmhand” was produced by MESH Films, and the trailer debuts today.
To see the trailer, and follow the film’s progress, check them out on social media. Facebook: facebook.com/thefarmhandshortfilm, Instagram: instagram.com/thefarmhandshortfilm, Twitter: twitter.com/thefarmhandfilm.
The film will be under 30 minutes, and the hope is for it to premiere by the end of the year. Harding was not sure where they would premiere the film, and said it may be down in the Myrtle Beach area, but said having a premiere in Newberry was not out of the question.
