Cameron Grimm

He is the fillmmaker of The Man Who Loved Flowers Dollar Baby film.

SKSM: Could you start with telling me a little bit about yourself? Who are you and what do you do?

Cameron Grimm: Sure, I am Cameron Grimm. I am the CEO/President of 5 after 5 Studios (formerly 5 After 5 Productions when we filmed “The Man Who Loved Flowers”. I am also the president of our other companies SteelBridge Entertainment and Spook House Entertainment for our Horror/Sci Fi side of house.

I have been in the business for 6 years and “The Man Who Loved Flowers” was our first film back in 2017. I am currently expanding my film making by attending Full Sail University in Digital Cinematography. I do everything from Writing and Directing to Cinematographer. I do all in house post production from editing, color grading, sound design and special effects.

SKSM: When did you know you wanted to become a filmmaker?

Cameron Grimm: This has always been the dream. Since I was little enough to watch live action film I knew it was a love for me. In 8th grade (we won’t talk about how long ago that was lol) I had a english teacher that really pushed my creative writing. He saw something in me. When “Scream” came out in 1996 it opened up my eyes. I wanted to create and write film like it.

The filmmaker side dream came little after. I use to watch all the behind the scenes on DVDs to asborb everything. Then when I finished my first script it 2000 it was all about how do I make it. 2001 I graduated high school and the world trade center happend in New York City. I enlisted in the US Navy and my film making dream was on hold until I got out in 2006.

SKSM: When did you make The man who loved flowers? Can you tell me a little about the production? How much did it cost? How long did it take to film it?

Cameron Grimm: So, “The Man Who Loved Flowers’ was filmed in 2017. It was filmed over two weekends in September. Plus an added weekend for B Roll. The production was amazing. We had a great cast and crew that all came to me when they heard I was making it. It didn’t cost a whole lot maybe 500 dollars between some props and food and drink. A lot of companies in Greenfield, IN donated or helped. We got flowers from the flower shop donated. The pizza place offered to feed our cast. The businesses let us film inside what we needed.

We had people sitting on the 3rd story window sills of downtown buildings. There were people that booked patio seats to eat dinner and watch us film. We felt like the biggest thing happening in a long time there.

Now it only took a few weekends to film but what felt like a lifetime to edit it. Why? Because we had to redo it 4 times. Something I learned in film with this. It was a great story but edited in the order of events in the story. It didn’t make sense on film. We redid it 3 times to figure out on the 4th we needed to reshape the timeline of events and edit it in a way to retell the story. I think that is what threw me off on other versions of this story filmed. It doesn’t work in its natural form no matter how good it was written. We changed that. We filmed in September 2017 and finished edit in May of 2018.

SKSM: How come you picked The man who loved flowers to develop into a movie? What is it in the story that you like so much?

Cameron Grimm: Honestly it wasn’t my first choice. My first choice was “Graduation Afternoon” I loved that story for the normal day that turned into catastophy in NYC. Yet, I didn’t have the special effect knowledge for the destruction of NYC.

2nd choice was “Uncle Otto’s Truck”. I loved that story and setting but we didn’t have access to a truck that I felt was perfect for the story.

“The Man Who Loved Flowers” was number three. I guess they said third time is a charm. I loved the simplicity of the setting but we had to modernize it because it was set in the 70s. I loved the Doctor Jeckyll Mr Hyde character. He is happy and in love and they he is terrifying in the end. A back in forth inside the character.

SKSM: How did you find out that King sold the movie rights to some of his stories for just $1? Was it just a wild guess or did you know it before you sent him the check?

Cameron Grimm: I have a good friend who is a avid King fan. He has a full bookshelf of just King books all signed. So in different editions. He told me about the rights to his story. I emailed him my love for his work, the story and how we wanted to film it. That we were a company built on volunteers who film for the love and the dream. Week later we had our contract in hand.

SKSM: Was there any funny or special moment when you made the movie that you would like to tell me about?

Cameron Grimm: Yeah, So we had to find some sidewalk with appeal. Was for the little girl jump roping and for the journey of the young man. We were in front of these houses. I was affraid the owner would come out and yell at us for being near their property.

So the owner comes out and talks to my Executive Producer. He then stands and watches for a bit. I went up to my Executive Producer and was like “Is he mad?

“Nope, he knew what we were doing. He is so excited we chose his house to be in the movie.” Sigh relieved.

There was one other. In the story they play stick ball. They don’t do that here anymore. So we changed it to baseball and used city baseball fields at the park. When my cinematographer and sound arrived they were floored. They thought I would have like 5 kids playing baseball.

No we two full bleachers of extras for fans. We had 2 full teams on the field. We had extra kids warming up outside the diamond and in other diamonds. They couldnt believed we pulled that many people.

Funny thing is we pulled that off mostly in one day, getting that many there.

SKSM: How does it feel that all the King fans out there can’t see your movie? Do you think that will change in the future? Maybe a internet/dvd release would be possible?

Cameron Grimm: It’s hard. I understand that things need protected. Yet, if it was good enough for King or his team. Then I don’t see why couldn’t be allowed in some function. No matter how hard it is. The experience, the lessons learned, and the jump start are all well worth it. It jumped started my career. I just left my day job to run my film companies full time now.

SKSM: What “good or bad” reviews have you received on your film?

Cameron Grimm: We showed it at one festival a small one in Indianapolis to some good feedback.

SKSM: Do you plan to screen the movie at a particular festival?

Cameron Grimm: We only shown it at the one festival in Indianapolis years ago. Now that its 3 to 4 years old. It’s hard to get in anything now.

SKSM: Are you a Stephen King fan? If so, which are your favorite works and adaptations?

Cameron Grimm: I am of some of his work. My first book of his as a kid was Nightmares and Dreamscapes. My favorite ones of his. I love Rose Red, The Shining (both versions), Under the Dome.

SKSM: Did you have any personal contact with King during the making of the movie? Has he seen it (and if so, what did he think about it)?

Cameron Grimm: I hadn’t had any contact with him. That would be awesome though. I really wish I could get his feedback on ours. Just because we had to change the order up to tell the story the best we could. Since it was different, I would love to know if hated it or liked it.

SKSM: Do you have any plans for making more movies based on Stephen King’s stories? If you could pick -at least- one story to shoot, which one would it be and why?

Cameron Grimm: Children of the corn, defintely. There is many reasons. One it’s older and the special effects wasn’t out back then that could be today. Two, I think I have a style that could really tell that story well. Three, there is so much corn here in Indiana. And finally my wife said “No one can make that film good” Challange Accepted lol

SKSM: What are you working on nowadays?

Cameron Grimm: Oh geez a lot. Especially since we own 3 companies in film now.

We are finishing up post production on our first full feature “I Only Want You” It is a christian film but its very dark and tragic.

We have one more weekend of filming our 30 minute short “The Doorman”. A horror suspense which features Lynn Lowry from the 1970s “The Crazies”

Then we are in development of a Christmas Film we want on Hallmark. That we were asked if we would be interested in doing a Christmas film. I said Why not lol.

I am also in development of Alien takeover film, a few shorts. We also have been talking to an author that moved her from NYC about developing some books of his. We’re still in discussions on.

SKSM: What one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

Cameron Grimm: I spoke earlier about how I went in the Navy. Well I am an 80% disabled veteran and diabetic. Film sometimes is hard for me to move. If I do to much I might tighten up for the next day of film. My love of film doesn’t stop me. I keep moving and fighting through no matter the pain and problems.

Couple weeks ago we did the 48 Hour Film Project. I messed the nerve up in my leg. It was asleep for 12 hours and yet I still hobbled and got what was needed for the film. We made a great film for all the issues.

SKSM: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Is there anything you want to say to the fans that read this interview?

Cameron Grimm: I love what I do. Passion can drive so many things. Things you never knew would be possible. I thought the King film would be the only thing I would do  when I filmed it. Now its all I do is film and spend time with my family. My wife and 4 kids. I find the balance between both.

SKSM: Would you like to add anything else?

Cameron Grimm: Well, film is hard to reach people. Why we appreciate formats like yours. With rebranding we lost our old pages and began new. We really would love the people do subscribe to our YouTube so we can show all the new content we are soon to put out. Indie Film always needs support from so many people and places.

We’re on most social media sites if you want to find us. Without all the lovers of film out there. We wouldnt be able to do what we do. We do it for all of you.