Get ready to say, hello, to your home on the big screen. West Chester, the Movie is coming to a theater near you. Well, hopefully, a theater. West Chester University student and budding movie producer Casey Costigan is still in negotiations with Uptown, but if not a theater definitely a history center.

The project, officially titled, “Webelo – the West Chester Movie,” tells the story of two fictional historians trying to save the Farmers & Mechanics Building from being turned into a convenience mart (cough) Wawa (cough). The project is a partnership between WCU University and the West Chester Borough’s Park & Rec Department and will serve as the last hurrah in West Chester’s 225th Anniversary Celebration.

A new approach to city promotion

While city-as-star films are nothing new, the approach here represents a recent departure. Instead of relying on been-there, done-that interviews with dignitaries and residents, filmmakers are turning to the power of storytelling to help bring the locale to life.

“I’ve been doing movies since 2017. I wanted this movie to be something different,” said Casey.

In 2021, Upper Darby released its version titled, “Last Call,” a story about growing up in the Philadelphia suburb starring Jeremy Piven. Delaware County also has a production in the works. “Delco: The Movie” is targeting a January release. These movies provide towns with a chance to show off their assets, their people, and stand out in a crowded tourism film market.

“The benefit is just being able to showcase the town through landmarks and there is just a lot of history in West Chester that is interesting,” said Casey.  

Making of West Chester, the Movie

Generally, budgets for these movies are small, as is the case here. There will be no big-name actors in the West Chester movie. Casey and his friends, who are working with a $2300 budget, will star, direct, write, produce, edit, and promote. However, they did manage to score WCU alumni Vernon Odem of Action News 6 fame for the movie’s intro on a payment of a free lunch. It’s good they got him when they did too because the lunch money has run out.

“It’s not cheap to make a movie,” says Casey.

I imagine it’s not, and I can’t believe you could make one for much less. So as shooting winds down, Casey is donning one more hat – fundraiser. He has started a fundraising site and will be making the rounds at local events. If you can contribute a few bucks, well, he’d appreciate it.

“$1000 more would be amazing,” he tells me.

Webelo, the West Chester Movie is scheduled to premiere in December at the Chester County History Center. We can expect more details as the premiere gets closer but for now, we’ll just bask in the glow of being stars.

“This is probably my favorite movie so far,” says Casey. “I’m getting really hyped up for this to come out.”  

You can watch the trailer here.

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Originally published on Aug. 30, 2024

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