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    CBUS Producer Mark Stewart Has 4 Films in Distribution Queue

    Mark Stewart’s having quite a second act. After more than 30 years in corporate HR, Stewart stepped into independent film, co-writing and producing the award-winning mockumentary Mock and Roll in 2017. 

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    The new career apparently suits him. Working with his United Front Films partners Lana Read and Jessica Dunham, Stewart produced four films in the last two years. Christmas Collision is available now on Prime and other streaming services. A Bachelor’s Valentine is in post-production. The Green Oak Guardian wrapped principal photography in June. And the drama Forbearance is set to be released at the end of August.

    “We all wear a lot of hats,” Stewart says of his fellow producers and himself. “We work together on creative work, everywhere from developing the story, getting the cast and the crew involved—a lot of collaboration, locations, partners, sponsors, investors and so forth.”

    Read, who directs as well as produces, is also credited with casting, while Dunham handles costume and wardrobe along with her producer duties.

    “My focus is really on the business side, but it’s a small trio. We’re able to work together on virtually every aspect of the film,” Stewart says. “But it all starts with a great story.”

    Forbearance is a drama about a sudden terminal cancer diagnosis that a teacher’s husband gets,” he explains. “They have been working to save their marriage from the teetering edge of divorce. Written by a cancer survivor who knows something about cancer himself.”

    Cedric Gegel, with whom Stewart had collaborated on the 2019 film Cadia: The World Within, penned and co-stars in Forbearance

    “That’s what really drew us to this particular project,” Stewart explains. “Cedric is a cancer survivor and such a terrific person. He’s multitalented—everything from director to actor to screenwriter. It was wonderful to have him as both the screenwriter and an actor in the film.”

    When it comes to the story, Stewart’s looking for something great that fits into specific budget limitations. Each of the four movies United Front Films produced came in at under $100,000.

    “It doesn’t matter necessarily the genre,” he says. “It’s really, is it a great story or not? Can you produce that story, get the right talent behind it and the right partners? We work very hard to put high-quality production values in at a very moderate budget. So that’s what I look for. Is the story compelling and can we make it? Then I’m all in.”

    Stewart and team are also passionate about filming in Ohio. Stewart’s a Columbus native.

    “We’re all from here,” he says. “Lana hailed from Cincinnati. Jessica is from Ashville, just south of Columbus.”

    He says they’ve found suitable locations around the state and partners who wanted to work with them in Ohio. In the last two years they’ve filmed in Cincinnati, Felicity, Bethel, New Richmond, Moscow and Carrollton, Ohio, among other spots.

    “A lot of it is just finding the right settings for each of the scenes,” he says.

    According to Stewart, you should be able to see those Ohio settings by the end of August.

    “Freestyle is the distributor that has picked up this film,” he says of Forbearance. Freestyle is a subsidiary of Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios, a global media company run by Byron Allen. The film has an August 30 release date to stream on all major VOD platforms.

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    Hope Madden
    Hope Maddenhttps://columbusunderground.com
    Hope Madden is a freelance contributor on Columbus Underground who covers the independent film scene, writes film reviews and previews film events.
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