By LANDON WOODROOF
When he was a kid growing up in Prattville, Alabama, a suburb of Montgomery, Erik Parks was so smitten with films that he decided to make his own. He had no movie camera, but he did not let that little fact stop him.
He and his siblings would take still photos of themselves dressed in various costumes and then arrange those photos on notebook paper with little synopses beneath each. Together, those photos and synopses constituted a story.
It was enough to get Parks by until he scored an actual video camera when he was 13 or 14. Then he could start working with actual moving images.
“We made a lot of movies, choreographed a lot of fight scenes,” Parks said. “We’ve done ninja movies. We’ve done shoot ’em up movies, everything you could imagine.”
Cut forward a couple of decades and Parks is now on the verge of making his first feature film, “Why We Breathe.”
The faith-based film follows a single mom who works as a waitress but dreams of being a singer-songwriter. She and her daughter courageously escape an abusive situation involving the mom’s boyfriend and end up in Nolensville.
“This movie will truly be a love letter to the town of Nolensville,” Parks said.
Parks is hoping to get the film started this spring, but there are still some steps that have to be taken for that to happen.
The biggest issue is funding. While Parks and his producer, Charity Spencer, have raised some money from investors, they are still $25,000 away from their goal.
In order to reach that goal, they have started an online Indiegogo campaign where members of the public can donate to make the film a reality. That campaign is set to end on February 14.
“We can’t make this movie without help from the community,” Parks said. “There are only a few days left on the crowdfunding campaign. Several local businesses have donated items to our campaign. So check out the rewards, show your support, and help us reach our goal.”
Parks lives with his wife and two kids in La Vergne. He moved to the area in 2004 after graduating from Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee. Since that time Parks has worked for VCE Productions, a company that makes commercials, web videos and more.
He wrote the first draft of “Why We Breathe” in 2013. It has taken this long to revise the script and get the project off the ground.
“At different points over the last several years the Lord has opened doors and then he’s closed doors in His timing, but now the doors seem to be wide open so we’re excited to move forward with the movie,” Parks said.
When it came time to decide where a majority of the film would be shot, Parks thought of a town he and his family had grown to love over the years: Nolensville.
It was perfect for the small, warm and welcoming community to which the protagonist relocates with her daughter.
“That was the initial draw,” Parks said. “This cute, nice little southern town with some good, genuine people.”
Parks and Spencer have already cast the film’s five main roles. For other parts, though, they have turned their attention to the Nolensville community.
Just this past Sunday, they held auditions for prospective cast members at Nolensville Town Hall. Parks said the response was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, more people showed up than they had time to audition. As a result, Parks said another audition would be held at some point in the future.
For now, though, the primary focus is on funding. Donors have a variety of different giving levels to choose from. Each comes with its own particular perks, from digital copies of the film, to gift cards at Nolensville businesses, to an associate producer credit on the film.
No matter the amount, all donors will be helping to make a film that Parks describes as “about community, family, redemption, and grace.”
To learn more about “Why We Breathe,” you can visit the following websites: