In what was initially a highly anticipated weekend in film for Tom Jalana and his team at Flying-J Studios, a lack of creativity infected the team, causing the immediate shut-down of their production for the 48 Hour Film Competition.

Overall, only two members of the 22-person crew escaped without being infected by the virus. Actress Jesse Moorsey and Executive Producer Tom Jalana managed to collect all of their belonging Saturday morning, moments before the CDC and Fema came to quarantine the building.

“We were all here to make a film, and suddenly, 18 hours into the 48-hour film, people were like zombies – their brains weren’t functioning,” said Jalana.

Fortunately for Flying-J Studios, Jalana and Moorsey fled as far as possible from the infected studio, to Palos Heights where they regrouped and schemed, determined to do what they set out to do: make an award-winning movie.

Said Moorsey, “After all the driving, the wasted time from Friday to Saturday, and the fact that 20 people from our crew were hit with the noncreativity virus and quit, we were just happy to pull something off other than my clothes.”

In the early morning hours prior to the virus hitting the team, stuntman Jimmy Klatt and Special Assistant to the Director Joe Kessen were outside with Moorsey shooting promotional images for the movie’s posters. When Moorsey emerged from her trailer and disrobed for her final shot with the studio’s 2007 BMW, Kessen remembered something not feeling quite right.

“It was as if whatever the virus was, it descended on everyone right at the end of the photoshoot,” he said. “We all started feeling funny.”

Although the team continued to work diligently throughout the night and morning, finally settling on three steamy poster designs, work began to quickly come to a halt when veteran staff writer Nate Winter started experiencing cramps in his writing hand, which rapidly developed into a full-blown case of writer’s block.

As Kessen finished uploading the free, downloadable posters to the web, Winter had collapsed on the ground, moments after calling it quits.

Chaos ensued as crew members frantically panicked about the office, searching for the nearest exit.

“Jesse and I were coming upstairs from the set, and all we could see was people running about the office with looks of despair and desparation on their faces,” said Jalana. “We just knew something was wrong – and that’s when we heard the sirens.”

Seven unmarked, black GMC Tahoes poured into the parking lot, followed by 3 white conversion vans. According to Jalana, at least three dozen men, dressed in quarantine uniforms ran into the building from the front entrance, the final person in locking the door to the studio.

“It was a pandemic, an outbreak the likes of which we haven’t seen in this lifetime,” said Moorsey. “The creativity was just sucked right out of the entire crew, and they just couldn’t fight it anymore and they gave in. It was just so sad to see.”

Fortunately for Moorsey and Jalana, they were able to flee out the back door before the CDC closed off all exits.

“We got out of there as fast as we could. We were determined to make this movie for our fallen companions,” Jalana said.

So to the southside the pair headed, eventually settling at Palos Heights, IL.

“Tom had a few connections with the townfolk and he thought we could get something done out there with the short amount of time we had left,” said Moorsey.

With 26 hours remaining on the clock, the tandem went through the available wardrobe for Moorsey that they managed to swipe from the set. The one wardrobe box Jalana managed to grab happened to have just returned from the recent Brittany Spears World Concert Tour. “I guess I wasn’t looking at what I grabbed,” he said with a wink.

With the stage set for Moorsey to play a new mother with a husband deployed in Afghanistan, Jalana quickly went to work on filling in the holes to the story. “Ideas were coming fast and furious, and we just had to shoot and go, shoot and go,” he said.

Finally, the two came up with the perfect scenario to showcase the prop (an apple) that needed to be featured in the film.

“Tom asked what we can do to really draw attention to the apple, and I thought to myself, ‘what if I eat it?’” said Moorsey. “The scene really worked out well. I don’t think an apple has ever looked that good in hi-definition.”

“Moorsey was right. How about them apples?” said Director of Photography Taras Zharov, from his hospital room where he was recovering with the rest of the members from the crew. “It was a great shot, as I’m sure all of you will agree.”

Zharov went on to says that he was proud that both Jalana and Moorsey managed to do what they said they would do despite the lack of the film crew, additional actors/actress, writers, sound and audio engineering. “I’m particularly proud of Tom for sticking it out and representing Flying –J Studios as well as he did, despite only having 24 hours left to pull something off,” he said.

Moorsey pulled a few things off as well, the most major being her first film in which she starred. “It was such a rewarding experience, despite the fact I didn’t get paid,” she said. “Perhaps I should have stayed in character and kept all the money Katelyn earned during the movie,” Moorsey said with a laugh.

After meeting with editor Augie Augenstein and producing the final cut, Jalana raced to Capitol Bar and Grill on Chicago’s North Side, getting the final paperwork and movie in just two minutes before the 7:30pm cut-off on Sunday.

“It just doesn’t get any tighter than that,” he said. “There were some flaws in the picture, which we would have liked to have corrected, but all-in-all, we were proud of the story we were able to tell, despite this being a last-resort effort.”

“Last Resort” will be premiering Sunday, August 2nd at 5:30pm at Portage Theatre (4050 N. Milwaukee, Chicago, IL 60641). Tickets are $10 at the door, with a post-movie awards celebration at Capitol Bar and Grill.

Movie posters and wallpapers, including the three planned sequels to “Last Resort” are no longer available for download.

Tagged with: 48 Hour Film, Flying-J Studios, Jesse Moorsey, Last Resort, Palos Heights, Portage Theatre, Taras Zharov, Tom Jalana

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