by Mike Schnitzel
"Hit to Right," a film penned by Valley Stream attorney Alan Schneier, revolves around a widowed village attorney who coaches his daughter's softball team. The main character, Sam Lewis, played by Schneier, is a very cautious and careful man (hence the title, which is the name of a conservative baseball hitting strategy). That is until he meets the woman who changes his life - his daughter's teacher, Laura Petersen who, according to Schneier, teaches him to enjoy life and be spontaneous. Although baseball plays a big part in the movie, it is not the main theme.
"This film is kind of a jigsaw puzzle of emotions, which are all integral in leading up to the end," said Dave Coleman, director of the film. "Rather than following the main character, the movie happens to him."
Sam, who has always had an interest in politics, gets an opportunity, through his connections, to run for the United States Senate against a three-term incumbent. "No one thinks he has a shot, but people end up being surprised by what a heated race it ends up becoming," said Schneier.
In addition to the excessive heat, which increased the difficulty of shooting the outdoor scenes, a limited budget was a challenge that the filmmakers had to overcome. "When you have a small budget it's constraining, and when you have a lot of characters and locations it strains it that much more," said Coleman. "When you have a low budget you want to have few characters and few locations, and we broke both of those rules."
Schneier hopes to have the film completed within the next eight months to a year. "It's a tough call," said Schneier. "You've got about 17 or 18 hours of film to go through in your first edit. After that you have to make the music and do a second edit."
Once the film is completed, Schneier and Coleman plan to look for distributors who have an interest in the film, and possibly enter it in some film festivals. "Festivals will probably be our first [marketing] round, and then we'll see where it goes from there," said Coleman.
Several village officials were involved in the movie, including Mayor Edward Cahill and his wife Maryann Cahill, and Village Clerk Vincent Ang. "I had a couple of lines at the ballfield," said Cahill, whose character is named Duke, "and I also played an extra in a crowd scene."
Ang played a defense attorney named Mr. Collins in a courtroom scene. "It was a lot of fun," said Ang. "A lot of village people and people from the community got to be in it."
Ang said that people in the vicinity of filming were asked to be extras in various scenes.
"I have to thank the village for their cooperation in helping us get locations to shoot," said Schneier. "They've been wonderful."
