By David Haerle
The Daily World
With just about everybody seeking something “new or different” to watch on television these dreary days, if you have access to Amazon Prime, you can take in a film with some local flavor.
After a recent festival run and theatrical release in the summer of 2019, the feature-length film “Aberdeen” — which had its premier at the D&R Theatre back in 2019 — is now on the streaming service. Part of the movie was filmed around Aberdeen in 2018.
The story deals with a young journalist with the local newspaper who uncovers a scandal within the high school football program. She must choose between exposing the truth about her hometown team and protecting the people who might be harmed if her findings are published.
When Colton Van Til and his crew came to Aberdeen to film in spring 2018, they were limited to a single day to get all the exterior shots they were looking for to capture the essence of the area. He said he would have liked to spend more time in Aberdeen, but was limited by budget and time constraints.
So the football scenes were not shot at Stewart Field, and in the fictional version, the Aberdeen Bobcats don red uniforms instead of the blue and gold.
Van Til, who recently earned his degree from Loyola in film and TV production with a minor in screenwriting, said he’s delighted to have his work come to fruition.
“I think it’s exceeding expectations, so far,” he said of its first month on Amazon Prime. “I haven’t seen any numbers, yet” adding that he was expecting to see the first sales report at end of January.
Van Til, who grew up near Seattle and graduated from Woodenville High School in 2017, said some of the revenue from Amazon Prime viewership does filter its way down to him, but not a lot.
“We’re getting it, but sharing with a few different partners,” he said. “Some of it makes it’s way down to us,” but that will be “invested in future work,” he said.
Van Til said he will begin filming his second feature-length movie — a “horror film” which he also co-wrote — in June on location in Louisiana.
