The highly decorated Bellmore-Merrick Broadcasting program completed production on its most ambitious student film project to date on May 18, marking the culmination of months of work by the program’s graduating seniors.
Known as the Senior Movie Project, the highly anticipated production brought together 17 seniors from the broadcasting magnet program in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District to create a short narrative film from the ground up.
Students began their work in early October and spent the school year managing every stage of filmmaking, including scriptwriting, directing, scheduling, budgeting and even catering for cast and crew members during filming days.
The project was developed over several years by faculty members Matt Russell, Lisa Kalish and Stu Stein, who wanted to expand the program’s offerings beyond traditional broadcasting and journalism into narrative filmmaking.
“The three of us have all had great experiences working on movie sets, and we really wanted to be able to give our students a taste of that world,” Russell recalled.
The film stars Bellmore-Merrick Broadcasting freshman Elizabeth O’Toole and senior Oliver Mattes. According to the program, the story follows a young girl navigating the challenges of starting out at a new school.
All three of the program’s faculty members also make cameo appearances in the movie.
The Bellmore-Merrick Broadcasting program, housed at Wellington C. Mepham High School, was founded in 2016 and has grown into one of the state’s premier scholastic broadcasting programs. In addition to broadcast journalism, students study digital storytelling, sports broadcasting, live production and graphic design through hands-on experiences that mirror professional media environments.
For the Senior Movie Project, students operated much like a professional film crew.
Seniors Claire Arnoff and Nicole Saraceni developed and pitched the concept for the movie before writing the screenplay after the idea was approved. Emma Santiago served as director, leading a production crew made up of fellow seniors and several underclassmen from the program.
Jake Maxwell took on the role of casting director, recruiting actors from Mepham’s Skull and Bones Drama Club, while Hallie Gillison worked as the project’s location scout, identifying filming sites throughout Bellmore that fit the film’s vision and tone.
Senior Allison Redican, who had previously worked on a smaller sophomore film project, served as producer and coordinated the many moving parts involved in production.
“The teachers created a scenario where we were responsible for every aspect of getting this movie across the finish line,” Redican said. “Between band trips and AP exams and part-time jobs, it was just a challenge getting all of us in one place and never mind trying to make a movie.”
The film is scheduled to premiere during the annual BMB Awards ceremony on May 29 at Mepham High School before being released publicly on the program’s YouTube channel.
Santiago said the experience helped lay the groundwork for future productions within the program.
“I know we learned a lot, and a lot of the lessons are going to make next year’s SMP even bigger and better,” she said about the Senior Movie Project. “I can’t wait to see what they create.”
