All hands on set: professor shoots a film with help from a student
When Joe Bookman, professor and department chair of media studies, traveled to Los Angeles to shoot a short film in January last year, Allison Overcamp ’25 was among the crew.
Credit: Roman Galasun
The process of making the film started a couple years earlier when Joe Bookman reunited with an old friend and creative partner from his undergraduate years who stopped in Wisconsin on a cross-country road trip. “We were hanging out for a couple days and came up with the germ of the idea,’” says Bookman. “As we continued, we started to get more ambitious and take the process more seriously.” Writing the script took about a year and a half.
The film, “Who’s Afraid of the Harrowing Void?,” depicts a young couple confronting the uncertainty of their relationship during a bizarre theater rehearsal. This is the first narrative film Bookman has directed since arriving at Beloit in 2017. The project was also a first for Allison Overcamp ’25. When she came to Beloit, she knew she wanted to study film, and though Bookman was on sabbatical, he met with her virtually to help plan her next four years.
Making time for creative projects while fulfilling his duties at the college has been a challenge for Bookman. Narrative film projects require collaborators, time, and resources, which aren’t always available. “In certain moments I haven’t had any of those things, but I’m making time because I’m passionate about it,” says Bookman. “[I’m in a] pretty creatively active moment.”
When Bookman mentioned his short film project, Overcamp knew she wanted to be involved. Although he worried he wouldn’t be able to effectively mentor her given his other duties on set, she was determined. “Allison jumped right in and started making friends with the crew and pitching in,” he says.
Time was a serious constraint during the production process. “I wish we’d had more time together as a cast and crew to be creative on set,” says Bookman. “Every day is a significant cost. With a short film, you’re not going to make any money. You’re just doing it for the love of it, so you have to be as efficient as possible. The fact that we were able to get the footage … is an accomplishment in its own right.”
Credit: Roman GalasunBookman described the on-set experience as “a mix of exhaustion, anxiety, excitement, and joy.” On the final day of production, one of the actors got sick, causing panic on set. It was the last day that the crew could film in the theater they were renting. “We’d spent all this money, we’d been working on this for 72 hours and if we couldn’t shoot that day, we didn’t have a film,” says Bookman. “Ultimately, [the actor] was able to do it. He wore a mask and took it off for the takes. We were white-knuckling it to the finish line, but we got it.”
The film is currently in post-production, which comes with its own set of hurdles. “I can see now that maybe we were trying to do too much … you have to figure things out in editing,” Bookman says. “I’ve learned a lot. No regrets — it was a really great challenge.”
Once the post-production process is completed, “Who’s Afraid of the Harrowing Void?” will be sent to film festivals. “It’s possible I’ll screen it on campus at some point, or we may put it online,” Bookman says. He is also in the process of developing a feature film which he hopes to shoot in Beloit.
Overcamp describes the experience as “just magical,” and she is applying to graduate school for cinematography or directing. “My experience [at Beloit] and my experience in L.A. really cemented [my desire] to be on a film set,” she says.
