GILROY
– A series of bad dates prompted Grant Richards to document his
experiences.
GILROY – A series of bad dates prompted Grant Richards to document his experiences.
That led to a screenplay, which in turn has resulted in a romantic comedy that will premiere at Gavilan College Saturday.
Richards is a 37-year-old Gavilan film teacher who has lived in Gilroy most of his life. And his movie, “It’ll Happen,” was shot mainly in and around his home town.
Locals will recognize businesses such as J.R. Brewskies, Station 55 and Gilroy Athletic Club, the Bistro in Morgan Hill and The Vault in Hollister. Much of it was shot at Gavilan College.
The cast is local too, with two lead actors, and hundreds of secondary actors and extras, Richards said.
Richards started filming in February last year.
The biggest obstacle, besides money, was working with such a small crew, he said.
“Most feature films will have crews of 10, 20, 30. Big films will have hundreds of people,” Richards said.
Richards and A. J. Juncker made up the crew for “It’ll Happen.” The two of them did everything from directing to cinematography to ordering food to feed the cast.
Richards and Juncker shot 65 hours of film, and have edited it down to an hour and 45 minutes. Richards finished early Monday morning, after a couple of sleepless nights in a row.
The movie is Richards’ first feature-length film.
“The difference between a feature and a short is so unbelievable,” he said. “It’s so much work.”
Richards bought much of the equipment used to shoot the film.
“I spent an enormous amount off money. Film equipment’s not cheap,” he said. “I saved for a couple of years and spent all my savings and got a home equity line of credit on my house.”
After its showing at Gavilan, Richards plans to shop the movie around to film festivals, including one at Stanford and San Jose’s prestigious CineQuest.
