Feature Film Proposal Would Showcase Lawrenceburg, Tigers Football Team

Illusion Islands is seeking a $400,000 investment from the City to create a movie entitled "Lawrenceburg Glory."

Photo by Travis Thayer, Eagle Country 99.3.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - Filmmakers have pitched a 90-minute feature film that would be set in and feature Lawrenceburg. 

Jack Cook and Elliot Hebeler, of Illusion Islands, were at the Lawrenceburg Work Session this week to pitch their idea for a movie entitled "Lawrenceburg Glory". 

The movie is a present-day sports drama with elements of faith, where "a man grapples with his faith during ultimate loss and must find his way back while rebuilding a small football team in Lawrenceburg, Indiana." 

"Our goal here is to showcase Lawrenceburg. The architecture, the community, but also while keeping our professional standard and quality. More specifically, we'd like to have an open-door policy and invite the community to be involved in this project in any way shape or form. We would like people to be background actors in front of the camera or spectators behind the camera, utilize local businesses for lunches on daily sets to location scouting, of course the football team and the football field, wrap parties, and premiers." 

Illusion Islands says they intend to use the main strip, businesses, churches, the high school football field and the high school football team for the film.

"With your permission, we want to use the uniforms, we want to use the Lawrenceburg Tigers as the team. We want to film the whole town and show off how beautiful your town is." 

The budget for the film is $400,000. A large portion of the budget ($300,000) would go towards development, pre-production, production and post-production. Another $100,000 is for marketing and distribution. 

Illusion Islands is seeking a $400,000 investment from the City of Lawrenceburg. As for return on investment, a majority of all the percentage would go to Lawrenceburg as the investor, before anybody else gets paid. The only other payment would be through a distributor that will make a percentage in the range of 25 to 30 percent. In the case that a star actor demands five percent of the gross, that would be paid to said actor after the City recoups their investment. 

The movie would take 10 to 14 months to complete. The plan is to start production in May of 2026. 

"Lawrenceburg Glory" is intended for U.S. and International distribution through cinema and digital platforms such as Netflix, Apple, Hulu and Hallmark. 

"We really think it is a great option for any of these platforms," said the representatives from Illusion Islands. 

"This is just another way to get Lawrenceburg on the map. Hey, I watched this movie, we are going to be in that area, let's go visit that place. It is just another marketing tool that we haven't thought about. I have always wanted to get a movie in Lawrenceburg. This is another way to get Lawrenceburg out in front of people," said Mayor Mollaun. 

Moving forward the item will be on the next city council meeting agenda.