OC film "5:01" receives recognition at Lake Charles Film Festival

The Lake Charles Film Festival was held Friday and Saturday in Lake Charles, La. at the Windham Hotel. At the awards ceremony held at McFarland's Celtic Pub Saturday night, writer/director of the short film "5:01," Seth Sonnier of Orange County was presented a 3rd place trophy by Hollywood actress Rebecca Staab. Staab and her actor husband, William DeVry were the special guests for the weekend.

Sonnier wrote "5:01" about two and a half years ago. It was shot under the Fresh Productions banner, produced by Doug Underwood in March 2022. Originally the title of the screenplay was "Finch," but then a Tom Hanks movie came out with the same title, so it was renamed "5:01."

As a sign of the times, when Sonnier was asked for a quote he said, "Oh goodness. Let me break out chat gpt." In reality Sonnier only uses Chat GPT for sarcastic texts and spam text messages. He replied with this synopsis of the plot.

"5:01 is an anachronistic fever dream, office comedy that follows someone whose bad day just keeps getting worse. Think, Napoleon Dynamite meets Office Space but with a little more P.P."

"5:01" is added to the list of winning Orange County films with a Fresh Productions connection. Both "Shhh" and "Death by King Cake" are multi-award-winning films that Underwood has helped produce.

"From personally starting with one- and two-person film projects to over seventy-five Individuals working on "5:01," it is yet another example of how the extremely talented and motivated network of SETX film makers are taking on bigger and more ambitious projects," said Underwood.

Sonnier's take on the win, "Winning 3rd place at The Lake Charles Film festival in the Short film narrative category is a lot like winning 1st place at Sundance, but instead of 1st, it's 3rd, and instead of Sundance, it's Lake Charles. In some ways it's worse, in some ways it's better." He elaborated, "Sundance has a lot of highbrow Hollywood executives shaking their head at the fact that you didn't come in first. However, Lake Charles has a bunch of homegrown filmmakers, passing out high fives fully stoked that you placed. The networking, the new friendships and community make every place feel like first place."

One of those connections made over the weekend was with Emily Moss Wilson, a director that has filmed 10 Hallmark Christmas movies and may be filming one in Sulphur in the future. She was at the festival with a non-Christmas independent film "Inheritance" that she is currently seeking distribution for. It won the coveted "Scallywag," a pirate head 1st place trophy.

Filmmakers have also been invited to join the Acadiana Film Association. The new organization is building a database of filmmakers and actors and invited the Texas contingent in Southeast Texas to be a part of it.

"5:01" has had four screenings in the last few months, including Tyler Film Festival, just a couple of weeks ago. It picked up 2nd place in the Texas Proud category at the Boomtown Film and Music Festival back in February.

The film was shot in two days in Silsbee and in Old Town Beaumont. Though the film was not shot in Orange County, several of the crew and cast members either live in Orange County or were raised here.

Jade Hollier of Orange played the part of Lisa. Hollier has been a member of Orange Community Players since she was a youngster, but this is her first film role.

Trini Gonzales, an Orange County native that graduated from LCM, worked diligently in the background of the film. Trini started acting just a couple of years ago and has exploded on Beaumont Stages. He was one of the two actors in the "Tuna Christmas," cast in Beaumont. That production required him to assume 11 or 12 distinct roles.

"'5:01' was the first movie I ever worked on," said Gonzales. "The concept was hilarious and the cast and crew was amazing to work with."

Gonzales was also a main character in last year's Lamar summer project film, "11:31" that was shot in Vidor. What are the odds that he has been in two films whose title is a time?

Travis Myers, the director of photography (DP) and owner of Bronco Media lives in Orange across the street from Mayor Larry Spears. Myers shoots most of the films made in Orange County and is in heavy demand. He and his wife Kaylee recently welcomed a new addition to their family on Sept. 5, a son they named Owen. Kaylee is a photographer and when Travis is not making films, he is frequently shooting wedding videos, while Kaylee captures the still images.

Dakota Parker was on the crew as grip. A grip is a technician in the film and television industry who sets up, operates and maintains equipment for cameras and lighting. Parker also lives in Orange.

"5:01" had several local classic vehicles in the production, including the police car owned by Bridge City resident Michael Murray. His vehicle is a replica of the car driven by "Roscoe P. Coltrain" in "Dukes of Hazzard." The vehicle has autographs of members of the cast of the popular TV show. He has loaned out the vehicle for multiple films locally including the recent proof of concept, "Chasing Faith."

Sonnier also said Tuesday, "I couldn't be happier. Our whole team made this possible, film is a collaborative art and the Lake Charles film festival embodies that to a tee!"

"It's exciting to be a part of the growth," said Underwood.