EPCHS Student Gains Film Experience While Working On Movie Set

EVERGREEN PARK, IL - An Evergreen Park Community High School student and aspiring film director was able to get her foot in the door of the movie industry several months before graduation.

Anaya Jackson said it was “a whole lot of fun” working on the movie set of "The Final Say," a Christian faith-based film set to be released in theaters next year, when it filmed on location in Frankfort a few weeks ago. Jackson said her main role as a production assistant was as a “crafty,” someone who provides food and drinks to the actors and actresses on the set.

“It was a pretty long day. Probably from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.,” Jackson said. “All I had to do was follow directions and it worked out well. They all told me they wished I was around a lot more.”

During times of the day when she wasn’t needed as a crafty, Jackson worked as a part of the film crew's second team, which meant a lot of work with “lighting, tape, and showing the actors where to go.”

A friend of Jackson’s mother is one of the film’s production assistants and needed a fill in for the day. Jackson said she may get another chance to work as a crafty when the movie begins filming other scenes in downtown Chicago.

“The Final Say” has a cast packed with experienced actresses and actors including Timon Kyle Durrett, who was most recently cast in the Disney original movie “Cheaper by the Dozen.’

The on-set experience is one Jackson may look back on as her first big break. The senior student who is involved in theater, choir and band at EPCHS has a goal to become a film director one day. She’s all set to enroll at DePaul University next year as a film major.

“I’ve wanted to go into film for quite awhile,” Jackson said. “It was a hobby of mine for awhile, and I always had ideas. I’d share those ideas with my brother and he thought they were really good. So I thought why not make movies myself?”