The sun had not risen yet, but senior film student Richard Brandon Tamayo had already put in 10 hours of work at a Belmont Shore movie set.
Tamayo worked as an intern during the 10-day shoot last July on the residence-turned-movie-set in Belmont Shore for the romantic comedy “Halloween Party.”
“We worked from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., the second, third and fourth days were the hardest,” Tamayo said. “But then we got used to it, around 4 a.m. things got a little weird.”
Tamayo was one of eight film students who were given the opportunity to work on the film, according to Sandy Robinson, one of the producers and CSULB alumna.
Tamayo, an aspiring cinematographer, said he was excited for the opportunity to work on a professional movie set.
“I got a lot of great experience that I could not get from classes,” Tamayo said. “I learned a lot and I met some professionals who offered me some other work.”
Robinson said she got the idea to contact students from her alma mater because it was a “win-win” scenario.
“The students got to work on a professional movie set and get real life experience, network with professionals and, well, we got some awesome help for free,” Robinson said. “Everyone had a lot of fun and worked really hard.”
Robinson said that one of the producer’s homes was used as the movie set and the neighbor’s house was used as the dressing room and green room.
Many of the cast and crewmembers were Long Beach locals.
“The movie script began with a conversation between two friends,” Robinson said. “I had worked with Linda Palmer [producer] before and we wanted to create something together, we had an amazing team of people come together for this.”
As a tribute to their community, producers will begin their philanthropic effort here in their home city.
They will host a red carpet pre-screening Saturday at the Art Theater.
The proceeds from the screening will be donated to the National Coalition of the Homeless, as well as a local homeless shelter.
The screening begins at 9 p.m.