CONTRIBUTED GRAPHIC — The minds behind CLD Films — Cole Scafferi, Lucas Halverson and Dillon Jacobson — are seeking extras to shoot the final scene of their full-length feature debut “On Our Way” on Sunday at the American Legion in Conrad.

CONRAD — Longtime friends and BCLUW graduates Cole Scafferi, Lucas Halverson and Dillon Jacobson — the trio behind CLD Films — have been making movies together for years now, but they’re taking a big step forward as they prepare to wrap up their first full-length feature, the Christmas drama “On Our Way.”

The final scene, which has musical and dance elements, will be shot at the Conrad American Legion Hall on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the producers are looking for extras to participate even if they’re coming into it with no prior experience. During a recent interview with the T-R, Halverson and Scafferi, who still reside in the area, and Jacobson, who is now based in Coralville, discussed the process of making “On Our Way,” their enduring partnership and what the extras can expect when they arrive on Sunday.

Halverson said he had been pushing his friends to pursue a Christmas movie for the last few years — originally intending it to be a short film, as their past projects have been — but as they took the time to dive into the story, they decided it warranted a feature-length script and production.

“After many communications with Dillon, we eventually decided ‘Let’s do this thing its justice, let’s take our time, we’ll have a year to really put some work into it,’ and we made it a feature length film,” Halverson said.

The basic premise is that five hometown friends — all of them have entered the workforce, and some have moved elsewhere — prepare to reunite for their annual Christmas party when a warning of a winter storm threatens to change their plans and bring simmering tensions to a boil in the process. Halverson said some of the details were drawn from real-life experiences in friend groups they’ve been a part of, while others were exaggerated slightly to “movieify” the story.

“(The friends) start to realize that they are very different people from when they used to be in high school, and there’s some people that are aware of it and accept it. And there are other people that are bothered by it, and there are other people that sort of have tendencies that they had back in high school,” Jacobson said. “Basically, the change and the lack of change in some (people) and other people start to collide with each other.”

Along with Halverson as an everyman named Leo and Scafferi as a dedicated small town volunteer named Owen, Cheyenne Goode, who has appeared in other locally shot films like “Little Johnny Jewel,” “Dream Time” and “Mania,” appears in a starring role as Emma, Amy Van Holland plays successful businesswoman Nicole and Cam Everett, who hails from the Dike area, plays blue collar worker Noah. Rounding out the main cast is Halverson’s father Jeff, who fittingly plays a character named Jeff.

As Halverson explained, the six primary actors are stuck together in duos due to the winter storm — Leo with Emma, Noah with Nicole and Owen with Jeff. Production on the film actually started last winter, and the CLD team is proud to say that it’s been made locally in an area not necessarily known as a hotbed for movies.

“We really want to highlight the fact that it’s central Iowa actors, central Iowa crew, central Iowa location. We’ve talked about getting some b-roll, some Christmas/snow footage of Gladbrook (or) Marshalltown, wherever there’s a real Christmasy, cool setting, but the primary photography will happen in Conrad,” Halverson said.

Teaming up with Tony Bohnenkamp and Jon Locker at the Sonic Factory Studios in Des Moines, they’ve created original music to be used in the film, and the entire primary cast recorded and performed a song Bohnenkamp wrote. It’s part of the finale that they’ll be filming Sunday.

“It’s that stereotypical ‘Where are these drums coming from?’ type of music video,” Scafferi said.

To be clear, the movie as a whole isn’t a musical, but music does tie into the story in an important way. Halverson said they’ll take anybody who’s interested in being part of the film for the shoot Sunday, and no line memorization will be required. A free meal will also be served, and the extras don’t necessarily need to be available for the entire four hour window.

“You just have to come, wear some Christmas/winter attire, bring a good attitude and Christmas spirit and be part of a movie,” Halverson said.

Although they’ve joked about how foolish they felt making a Christmas film as their first feature and having a snowstorm as a major plot point considering last winter’s relatively dry conditions, the CLD trio was able to get some b roll and use “movie magic” to cheat a bit. Currently, they plan to debut “On Our Way” at a few local theaters like Grundy Center and Gladbrook in December before gathering some extra footage and eventually submitting it to various festivals with the intention of a larger premiere around Christmas of 2025.

Jacobson, who has a degree in cinema from the University of Iowa and serves as writer/director of “On Our Way,” said finally making a full-length film was definitely harder than the shorts they’ve done in the past, but it’s also a more gratifying experience in the long run.

“After every single shoot day that we’ve done so far, I’ve been excited to look at the footage and see what we did, and, I mean, we’re definitely producing this in a way that really only works for us and we can’t replicate it again. But still, it’s so fun to see that we’re really making our first concentrated professional endeavor in filmmaking,” he said. “We’ve had the 48-hour films and everything, but besides just little festivals every now and again, they premiere at the 48-Hour Film Project, probably win some awards and then they go straight to YouTube. And with this, we’re hoping to have something that we’re gonna be able to do more with (and) have more people see not only a film that we hope they enjoy, but something that showcases what CLD Films can do.”

Halverson, who has a story credit on the project in addition to acting in it, said the idea behind “On Our Way” was to capture the spirit of a classic Hallmark Christmas film while also poking fun at some of the recurring tropes.

“It’s a very unique film and it’s got a lot of unique sequences and it’s very much its own thing, but it really tries to invoke that warm, comfortable Christmasy feeling that a classic Hallmark film will try to portray,” he said. “I don’t even know what genre you stick this film in because there’s elements of comedy and some real dramatic moments.”

Scafferi added that he felt the acting in “On Our Way” is better than anything they’ve done together in the past, with certain scenes inducing tears among the crewmembers. They’ve relished the chance to take their time and create a finished product they can be proud of, and viewers can expect more to come from the group in the future.

To keep up with CLD Films, visit their Facebook and YouTube pages. Anyone interested in participating Sunday is encouraged to call Halverson at (641) 751-8889 or email cldfilms100@gmail.com. They also plan to launch an Indiegogo fundraising campaign for the film, which should be posted to the Facebook page soon.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.