Sarasota will soon be the backdrop for a well-known Hollywood actor’s project — but don’t expect to see it in movie theaters or on television.
Justin Long — who has starred in films such as “He’s Just Not That into You,” “Dodgeball,” “Accepted” and “Waiting” — and his producer brother Christian Long are working with Ringling College of Art & Design students to film an eight-episode Web series.
The series will spoof popular travel shows such as those on the Discovery and Travel channels.
A team of 10 students enrolled with the school’s Studio Lab will help produce the series, from selecting locations around town for shoots to creating special effects in post-production.
The Longs said they decided to make the film here after visiting and touring Ringling College in 2013.
“When we were here two years ago, all the students we met, everyone was so incredibly polished and skilled at what they were showing us, it was so impressive,” Christian said. “Any fear one might have about working with students was quickly erased when we met them.”
The brothers’ work with Ringling students is part of a partnership between Semkhor Partners and Ringling’s Digital Filmmaking Studio Lab. Semkhor co-founder David Shapiro said, “The concept was, why don’t we integrate real work productions and talent directly with the education so students will be exposed to the evolution of ongoing filmmaking.
“We get them directly involved, help them network. And on the talent side they get to do their passion projects” without the restraints of agents, executive producers and advertisers to please, he said.
The partnership will soon include a 30,000-square-foot sound stage and post-production facility that will be shared by Semkhor and Ringling.
Ringling students are working on the brainchild project of Dylan McDermott, who stars in Fox’s “American Horror Story” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” and have done work on Forest Whitaker’s nonprofit. About 50 students have worked directly on so-called “talent projects” during the past six years.
Spencer Manning, 25, is among those working on the Longs’ project and said he was eager to get involved when he heard the brothers wanted to partner with Ringling students.
“You jump at the chance to work with and meet someone at their level,” Manning said. “I’ve only done short films and commercial work all within the school, so this will be pretty exciting.”
Justin, left, and Christian Long start a production roundtable planning session with the students involved.
The students who work on these projects spend Mondays and Wednesdays brainstorming ideas for the projects with Tony Stopperan, Studio Lab Program Manager at Ringling. They also met with Justin and Christian Long recently to see how they could make their vision a reality.
“Right now we’re figuring out how do we deliver on what they want,” Stopperan said. “We’re throwing stuff on the wall and seeing what sticks.”
Stopperan added they’re also starting to define the logistics of shooting during this pre-production period. They’re finding caterers and willing property owners to help with shoots. They’re working on a schedule to squeeze as much shooting time as possible into one week. They’re figuring out what equipment needs to go where, and when it needs to be there.
The Longs plan to film the web series during March 2016 and hope it will be out by next summer.
Justin Long said although the Web series’ objective is to make people laugh, he hopes viewers will see and learn about Sarasota.
“We want people to be able to watch it and learn something about the town,” Justin Long said. “We’ve really come to love Sarasota and think it has a lot to offer in terms of attracting more people to come.”
He paused.
“Well, the younger people. There are already plenty of old people.”
