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Filmmaker Dreams Big on a Low Budget
Poague, in his editing studio at his home in Manassas, still holds a dream of an area studio.
(Tetona Dunlap)
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He has persuaded aspiring actors like Anna Bridgforth, 20, to wait until filming is complete to get paid.
"Actors will work for anything," said Bridgforth, a Vienna native who will star in "Big Foot" and also starred in "The Wickeds." "We're sort of banking on the fact that it will make a whole bunch of money and we can cash in on that."
As Bridgforth and other actors gathered in Poague's home last week, they brought their own clothes and selected their wardrobe for the movie. Some plan to bring props such as childhood pictures of themselves to decorate their fictional, on-screen bedrooms.
Plans are to film in the Shenandoah Valley, where fledgling actors will stay in Poague's camper, or in a friend's cabin, where scenes will be shot. Some of the crew members will camp. And Poague plans to feed his cast and crew -- some of whom are college students earning more experience than money -- by buying groceries and cooking out.
"They'll work for dramatically less because they need gas money and food," said Summers, who now works for the National Wildlife Federation.
In the past few years, Summers has witnessed Poague find free locations for filming by offering parts and on-screen credits to strangers.
"First thing he starts up with is: "Do you want to be in a movie?" Summers said, laughing. "It's an instant icebreaker."
For his latest movie, Poague said he has persuaded a bed-and-breakfast in the Shenandoah area to cut rates so more established actors have a place to stay.
"That's low-budget filmmaking," Summers said. "You beg, borrow and steal."
Now Poague is taking on a hairy, 6-foot-tall character in the woods.
He's not out to prove that Bigfoot is real, although, "I believe there could be a Bigfoot just like there could be UFOs," said Poague, as he sat surrounded by his young cast, who giggled as they read some of their lines.
And he wants to portray a different Bigfoot from the warm and fuzzy sasquatch seen in some movies.
"I'm tired of seeing the 'Harry and the Hendersons' Bigfoot," Poague said, referring to a 1987 film.
"If you run into my Bigfoot, you're not going to survive it."
