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School campus may be used for part of “Bigfoot Woods”
For the second time in two years, part of a movie may be filmed on the Ely school campus.
School board members heard Monday from Megan Huber, producer of a movie named “Bigfoot Woods.”
If all goes as planned, anywhere from three-to-five actors, about 15-20 extras and 25 crew members will be on campus Oct. 19-20 to film several scenes.
Board members took no action Monday and informally authorized superintendent Anne Oelke to handle details related to the request.
Huber and her staff pledged to work outside of school hours, and the days identified for production are the Saturday and Sunday of the annual “MEA” four-day break from school.
Huber said the movie would be shot in Ely starting Sept. 25, “in and around town and mostly at a house location outside of town.”
“We do have two days of filming at a high school so I would like to ask permission to film here,” said Huber.
Huber said she understood some of the difficulties encountered by school officials last year when portions of the film “Boundary Waters” were shot during or at the end of school days in Ely. She promised that her project would not be as disruptive “The screen write is a math teacher and though I’m not an educator I come from a family of teachers,” said Huber. “We want to make sure we lay out our plan and stick to that and know what we’ll need from staff in advance.”
The film is set in a small fictional logging town of Steamer, Minnesota and is about a family - comprising a science teacher and social worker - living a quite life in a remote log home with their 15-year-old child.
Their peaceful routine is disrupted when they film an episode of their under-the-radar mushroom hunting show and accidentally capture footage of Sasquatch swinging through the trees.
Huber told the board she’s familiar with shooting scenes in a school setting and added that “The script was changed to have scenes filmed after school.”
“We don’t need a lot of people around it’s not like we are shooting a big pep rally scene,” she said.
Some “tech scouts” will need to be on campus prior to shooting the scenes and Huber said that too can be done outside of school hours.
“Boundary Waters,” which had scenes at the school as well as a Harvey Street home, has not been released.
