Mary Tutwiler

Werewolves of Lafayette

by Mary Tutwiler

Who knows what lurks on Jefferson Street in the dark of night. Could it be werewolves? Could it be vampires? You’ll have to show up on Monday, June 30 to find out, when Bullet Films takes over Lafayette’s downtown to shoot a scene for their current production, Wolvesbayne. Jefferson will be closed from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for a stunt driving sequence. Filming begins tomorrow in the area and will continue for about a month.

Bullet Films, a Louisiana production company of California-based Active Entertainment, took up residence in Lafayette in January. The company, which mostly makes films that go direct to TV, has already wrapped up two films, a horror movie with the working title The Darkest Evil staring Griff Furst, Dean Stockwell and Jeffrey Combs and a disaster movie currently dubbed Judgment Day. Wolvesbayne with Christy Carlson Romano , Mark Dacascos , Yancy Butler and Jeremy London pits a colony of evil vampires against a pack of do-good werewolves. Next in the pipeline is an action movie about a great white shark in the bayou called --what else? -- Jaws of the Mississippi.

Bullet president Ken Badish brought his company to Louisiana because of the state’s film tax credits, but says he chose Lafayette over New Orleans or Shreveport because he liked the feel of Acadiana best. “Lafayette is a good home for our people,” he says. “We like the environment, the food and especially the welcome we get from locals,” which includes Mayor Joey Durel and entertainment initiative director Marcus Brown. Bullet is forging ties with LITE , and Badish says he plans to give Lafayette’s supercomputer center all the computer-generated imagery work it can handle.

The company has also been partnering with the South Louisiana Community College, helping to create a curriculum for students who want to work in the film industry. To date Bullet has hired 20 locals, “a mixed bag of bright young people,” Badish says, who work in everything from assistant directing to accounting. “They’re learning in a business environment and a high tech enviroment,” he says. Bullet expects to produce up to 10 movies this year.

Photo: a scene from Judgment Day, being shot at LITE. Image courtesy of Bullet Films.