VALDOSTA – Valdosta makes its return to the spotlight as a South Georgia film group starts shooting scenes for an upcoming independent film Dec. 17 and 18.

Southern Joy Media, Shadow Fox Design and Fusion Creative Marketing saw 51 auditions and several submitted reels in mid November for their new project, tentatively titled “The Journey,” and are in the stages of final selection for talent.

After a round of location scouting following auditions, the team plans on moving forward with casting for six teens, three male and three female; a female adult, 36 to 55; as well as a sheriff, a school teacher and extras for a school room and a roller rink scene.

Roger Whitehouse, owner of Southern Joy Media and the film’s writer, said this production is a collaborative effort with Steven Heddon, creative director of Fusion Marketing, to bring out the “truly untapped potential” of South Georgia as a filming hub.

“We think we can do that with his company and my company merging together to do this film. and that’s what we want to bring out. It’s not just because we have a film but it’s because the southern end of Georgia has been neglected, as far as filming goes, for a long time and we want to see some of that revenue and some of the film industry come down here,” he said.

Valdosta is no stranger to film production, most notably seen in the 2009 zombie-comedy picture “Zombieland,” which saw Wild Adventures Theme Park get its close-up for the film’s climax.

Heddon, who will also be sitting in the director’s chair for this production, said the film chronicles the titular journey of redemption and hope through the lens of a broken family marred by alcoholism.

The game plan after shooting initial scenes will be to move forward with storyboarding, rehearsals and a full filming schedule, with production slated for early 2023.

“What I want to do, I’m building a page for this movie,” he said. “That’s to help us shop it and that’s going to have, of course, the crew on it, headshots, more of a synopsis of the story. We’ll have this trailer or proof of concept initially, a two-and-a-half to five-minute piece done, then we can put it on that page, but it’ll also have a lot more information about the production and can really move forward.

“We’re still in the development stages after all. A lot of behind-the-scenes work goes into even smaller scale productions like this, more than people realize.”

For more information, contact Heddon at sheddon@fusioncreativemarketing.com.