Tacoma filmmaker’s second feature to be shown at Seattle theater this weekend. He’s 17
A Tacoma teen’s second feature-length film will be shown at a movie theater in Seattle for a limited time this weekend.
“The Get Rich Quick Scheme” is a comedy that resembles those from the ‘80s. It’s about three students who make a bet with their principal that they would be able to create a million-dollar business in 90 days.
Samuel L. Pierce, a 17-year-old director, producer, writer, actor and an incoming senior at Stadium High School, along with a team of other Tacoma high school students put together the film in six months.
The movie was shot in Tacoma as well as in Federal Way using just one Panasonic GH6.
Shooting the movie with one camera proved to be a challenge because they couldn’t shoot scenes from multiple angles at once, and that made for longer shoot days, Pierce said.
“We did all the filming from one direction and broke it down to the second side, or if we filmed all the scenes from one way first because of the lighting, you have to rearrange the lights for every angle,” Pierce said.
Tacoma filming locations included Olympia Coffee, Browns Point Diner and Stadium High School.
Pierce told The News Tribune that it was important for him to keep his shooting locations local. He said wanted to support local brands rather than big franchises, especially because local locations were more likely to help him.
The film premiered in May of this year in a private screening at Tacoma’s Grand Cinema Theatre.
“The Get Rich Quick Scheme” will be shown at The Varsity Theatre in Seattle on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets and show times are available on Fandango.
Pierce began making films when he was in fourth grade, but he didn’t begin writing serious scripts until he was in middle school. He made his first short film when he was in sixth grade, which then turned into a web series and eventually his first feature-length film titled, “The Future Of Us,” which debuted last year.
Turning the “The Future Of Us” into a feature-length film gave him the confidence to attempt creating films from scripts he wrote in seventh grade, like “The Get Rich Quick Scheme”, Pierce said.
“Luckily, I had so many amazing friends at Stadium High School who really had the other connections at the theater department to bring in good actors and I just kind of had all the right people to make it work,” Pierce said.
Along with writing scripts, directing, producing and starring in his own films, Pierce also created his own production company called Electric Shock Productions when he was in seventh grade.
“I was delusional in seventh grade thinking I made the best short film ever, so I’m like, ‘I’m gonna go make a film production company’,” Pierce said.
Pierce is now working on his third feature film which will be a sports drama and is scheduled to begin shooting in August.
