Heather Grehan '10 visited the Creative filmmaking classes and Real World filmmaking classes on November 25 to talk about the film, LOST ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE. She worked as a producer on the film which came out on November 1st on 500+ screens nationwide and will be streaming globally at a later date. 

Heather gave students a comprehensive look at the filmmaking process including pre-production, production, and post-production. Heather played a leadership role in the scouting of the locations. She shared that they filmed in the Catskills rather than in Maine due to the difficulty of accessing Mount Katahdin. Heather talked about some of the challenges of filming with a crew of 150 people and navigating the small streets and mountainous areas in the Catskills. 

She walked the students through the timeline of the years it took to make this film. The actual shooting of the movie was made within 20 filming days. 

"I liked learning about the behind the scenes aspect of making this film. In particular, it was interesting to see how much time, work, and effort goes into an actual movie production," said Olivia Morris '27.

The movie is rated PG and is a very family friendly and faith forward movie. It’s the true story of a 12-year-old kid who got lost on Mt. Katahdin in Maine and survived for nine days alone because of his faith and love of family. 

Since this film was a period piece taking place in 1939, there had to be a lot of attention given to the production design. Luckily, Heather said that many houses in upstate New York already have the look they were searching for, since many of them have been passed down for several generations and haven't been renovated in years. She said the production team had to re-wallpaper some rooms, and also took out every single piece of furniture in the house and brought in their own. 

Another aspect that Heather spoke about was about the challenge of filming on water. Since this film is based on a true story, they wanted to stay as true to the story as possible, which involved filming characters in a canoe. This meant filming in the water with the camera on a big barge, where they had to reset every shot which would take “20 minutes of tugging, putting everything back into place, which was certainly a process,” Heather said. This speaks to the dedication and perseverance of the directors and cast and crew to ensure that the story and cinematography was accurate and executed with precision. 

Ms. Ellyn Stewart, Director of Media Studies, Design & Innovation, said, "It is very rewarding to see how our Sacred Heart Greenwich alumnae make a difference in the world through their media skills. Heather's presentation was especially inspiring to our students to see her path from being an active member of the Sacred Heart broadcast program to attending USC for film school to becoming a Vice President at Balboa Productions. Students are able to imagine their own potential career paths when meeting alumnae. We are grateful to Heather for her generosity in sharing her expertise with our students."

Real World filmmaking students were also treated to a visit by Mrs. Trish Ellingwood who is a family friend of Donn Fendler, the 12-year-old boy upon whom the story is based. Donn grew up in Rye, New York. Mrs. Ellingwood shared news articles and archival materials with the students about the real life story.