Director Brings Horror Film Shoot to Lilburn

Horror has come to Lilburn.

Actors and a film crew are filming parts of "Prosper," a Lawrenceville film and video producer's directorial debut, at a house at Lake Lucerne.

Deronte Smith has written and is directing the movie, which he calls "Scream" meets "The Exorcist."

Originally from Campbellsville, KY, he's been producing films and working on smaller projects such as music videos, commercials and public service announcements for 12 years.

"I've been looking for the right project for my directorial debut," Smith said. "I decided over the summer, it seemed that the horror genre seemed to be the best platform to break in as a new director."

The movie is being filmed in Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Decatur and Alpharetta.

Smith said a multi-pronged distribution strategy is in place. He's working on securing a distribution deal with Relativity Media and another major distributor, with a DVD deal as a fallback.

"Prosper" is classed as an ultra-low budget film by SAG standards, which means it costs less than $250,000 to produce. How much below that is being kept private.

You may not recognize it as being in Lilburn, but in one scene filmed at a house on Lake Lucerne, a character named Coleman is "disturbed in the middle of the night by what she thinks to be an intruder," says publicist Anastasia Pekhtereva. In fact, it's "the Dark Shadow creeping up on her. She picks up her Bible, saying a prayer to spare her life." I won't spoil how that scene ends.

Before the film's principal shooting even started, Smith and his team were aggressively building a promotional campaign online, using help from the actors. He's trying to replicate the success patterns for "Blair Witch" and "Paranormal Activity."

"We've already developed a following on our Facebook page," Smith said two weeks after the Facebook page launched. The insights showed then that they had reached more than 45,000 people already, he said

Smith wants a premier at the Fox Theater.

The film has become a bit of a family affair for the property owners of the former horse farm where part of the film is being shot in Alpharetta. Mike and Shari Staines first got involved when their son, Blake, auditioned for a role. He got a part in the film, and his mother emailed Smith that the family had always talked about their plantation style home being creepy, being so far back into the woods. Smith brought his location scout with him to their home, which is between Birmingham and Hopewell roads.

But not only is Blake and the home part of the film. Another son is serving as a snake wrangler. Smith saw the dozen snakes he had as pets, and that added another element to the film. When one of "Prosper's" lead actors turned out to be squeamish around snakes, he even got picked to be a body double.

Their daughter takes her turn as an extra, as an apparition in an exterior ghost scene.

The family's flock of Jacobs sheep, a primitive, multi-horned breed, have become part of the movie.

Want to become part of "Prosper?" The producers are seeking contributions through crowd sourcing, suggesting donations from $5 to $2,500. (I'm sure they'll take bigger contributions.) Make a top tier donation and you'll be in a major scene in the film. Or you can work for a day on set as an assistant. Even $5 will get you a downloadable copy of the film when it goes to DVD.

We've come to the end of the story, so you know what's next: the credits!

Cast: April Hollingsworth, Davien Harlis, Nicholas Wolfe, Shayla Love, Anastasia Pekhtereva, Walnette Santiago, Renier Cortes , Samme William, Diva Tyler, Garrick Parks, Susan D'Angelo, Addy Miller, Blake Cooper, Jade Nicolette

Producers: Deronte Smith, William Bearyman, Renonda Anderson, Chris Miller