BEHIND THE SCENES
The journey to making a film begins with a single frame
As of writing, Awaken has been a ten year journey. As with most films, it all started with a story. In this case it was a story about loss and finding your answer in all the grief that follows. It first came to life in February 2016 and was completed in April 2016, all while Kyle Parish was experiencing the loss of his grandfather. He took the feelings he was experiencing, along with his other experiences with death and Awaken was born. The film would undergo rewrites, then be set on the shelve, then brought out again while Kyle waited til he felt confident that he could bring the story to life. In 2024, Kyle brought Bree Dey onboard as a creative editor to help freshen the dialog and be a second set of eyes on the script. The script was production ready in December 2025.
While the script was undergoing it's freshening up, casting was well underway. The characters of the film have remained the same since day one, so even with the script having some adjustments, production was able to move ahead. Many people would return from previous Parish Productions films, but there would also be a large number of new bodies. Keira Wolfe would return as assistant director and DP. Adam Vivian returned, being in charge of audio capture, along with Domonique Landry returning for makeup and Alison Mae retuning for set photography and the poster.
Abby Wolfe was the film first casting as Eve, a role that was discussed shortly after filming wrapped on Fallen Star in 2024. Joseph Laxton would return to play Eve's father, Doug, and Andrew Bacon would return in the small role as Steve, Eve's rival at work. A large casting call was put out to fill the additional roles. The whole casting process went from February 2025 til August 2025 and was quiet competitive, with Mackenzie Hall and Kaden Klodt being scene stealing standouts, landing the roles of Jess and Rick, Clare Mackay showing strength landing the role of Ann, Sara Beck showing wonderful heart leading the role of Miranda and Tim Fort being the perfect professor landing the role of Professor Gilbert. Behind the scenes, the production crew was the largest yet for a Parish Productions film, with a strong mandate from the team that they wanted the director to not have to worry about anything but the actors performances.
The script called for several different filming locations, from homes, to a cottage, an observatory, classroom and office settings and a diner, it was a fairly complicated location scout but with everything locked in, cameras began to roll on May 1st, 2026. Rather then film in order of the script, filming is broken up into locations, with filming beginning at the cottage location. Filming was designed with simple shots for the first day to ease everyone into filming before cranking it up on the second and third days. The script for Awaken did not have many easy days or light emotional moments, however the crew worked hard and stayed on pace. Days started early, but if everything went smooth and we then had to wait for time to change from day to night for scenes, the crew would get nice breaks mid day, something that made previous film crews jealous.
As with previous films, makeup played an important part in the story. While this film did not call for the fantastical alien looks from Fallen Star, it introduced something just as if not more challenging. To know what it was, you have to watch the film, but the results were crazy and gave us a glimpse at a look that could come true in real life. This look was the last scene filmed at the cottage and as we have always tried on past films, we wanted to keep the crew surprised so, only the most required cast and crew were on set to witness this. The rest will see it the same time the whole world does.
After 3 days of filming at the cottage, production moved to our university setting. Here we setup office sets, a classroom, and various hallway scenes to create the Wagner Institute of Science and Technology. The location got it's name from Rick Wagner, who kindly provided his observatory for film. It was here that some of the longest scenes were shot, from group discussions, down to intense meetings and life changing discoveries. To fit the location, the offices were filled with astronomy papers related to the science in the film. Pictures of what the comet in the film would look like, if it was real, were created. Even the astronomy software was setup to show the comet observations as if it was really happening. Of all the settings in the film, these required the most attention to detail and while most people wouldn't know the difference between if it is real or not, it's all real.
Day 6 saw us leaving the university settings and moving on to Stoodlys diner and a home that plays the part of Eve and Ricks home. One of the great joys working on this film was seeing the local community support for the story. It really did help keep us going and drove home the fact that this story will touch a lot of peoples lives.
The scenes taking place and Eve and Ricks home once again saw our actors pushing themselves to the limits. It's an emotional rollercoaster ride but one where everyone behind the scenes was blown away but what this cast was doing. From date night dinners, to heart to heart break downs, the invention of "Maple Water" and even a very intense argument that goes through the whole house, this was a location we won't forget.
With such emotionally challenging scenes having been completed, and knowing that we had some even more challenging ones to come, it's important to keep everyone's spirits refreshed. After a long day of shooting and marking the midway point of filming, the cast and crew took a trip to The Horse Effect, and spent some times with some lovely therapy horses. This was certainly a very unique way to help boost spirits and one that director Kyle Parish as used for himself many times in the past. Never underestimate the ability for animals to see inside your spirit and help you when you need it.
One of the parts in the script that everyone always asked about was the telescope. Through most of the film Eve has access to a telescope through the university but in most cases, the telescopes universities use aren't remotely close to the university. They are on mountain tops or even in space if they are lucky enough to get time using Hubble or The James Webb. But at one point in the film we see that beyond the university telescope, Eve has her own telescope. Most people pictured this as a telescope you might normally see, but that doesn't fit Eve's character. So we just so happened to get access to a personal observatory, with a large telescope, that fit the script perfectly. This was a filming day that was circled on peoples calendars to get a chance to film with such a special piece of technology.
Now we arrived at the hardest day of filming hands down. A day that was in many ways dreaded because of how emotionally tough it was going to be, both for the actors and for the crew watching. It was a true team effort being able to capture these moments and everyone's support got each of us through it. By the end of the day we were all exhausted and emotionally drained but it was maybe the day we were all the most proud of.
A few days later we finally wrapped! It was an emotional last day. Here is a film that took ten years to go from it's first draft to wrapping filming. This was a film that was born out of heartbreak and loss, let it created something special. This was a film that brought together an unbelievably talented cast and crew, pushed them to their emotional limits, and came out of the experience stronger then before. The real hope with this film is that it will connect with people on a very human level, that they will see themselves in these characters, in the situations, and maybe it will help them deal with their own grief. This team has brought something special to life and we can't wait to share it with you all!
