Schoolhouse Near Pasco Is Site For Indie Movie

PASCO - A Spokane film company is weaving a story about basketball, opera and tolerance in an old schoolhouse along the Pasco-Kahlotus highway.

"The Basket" stars Peter Coyote, who appeared in "E.T." and "Sphere," and Karen Allen, who appeared in "Animal House" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark." A 9-year-old Richland girl is the only Tri-Citian among the actors.

"It's nice to be able to do a script my children can watch," Coyote said, dressed in a 1918-era gray suit at the film site about 15 miles east of Pasco. "It's not saccharine, and it's not stupid. It's a well-written script, or else I wouldn't be here."

The $4 million independent film is written, directed and produced by North by Northwest Entertainment of Spokane. It is to be released in May to film festivals and possibly movie theaters.

The fictional story is set right after World War I in the small farming town of Waterville, Douglas County. Several story lines mingle: the return of a son from war with one leg amputated and dying of tuberculosis, the arrival of a teacher from the East with unconventional methods and a new game called basketball, and the anxiety of German refugees in an unwelcoming America.

Most of the scenes were shot in the Spokane area, but the producers couldn't resist the authentic schoolhouse on the Neff family's farmland.

Director Rich Cowan's father drove Eastern Washington back roads looking for the perfect site. He sighted the white, wooden storage shed, which the Neff family agreed to clean out. The shed originally was a schoolhouse, and the interior wood trim still looks good.

"We saw probably 10 other schoolhouses we could have walked into, but none has the character this one has," said Vincent DeFelice, North By Northwest art director.

He left the exterior paint alone but added a porch, replaced the tin roof with wood shingles and painted part of the interior. Family, friends and historical societies provided the schoolhouse props - except for the portrait of Woodrow Wilson, president from 1913-21, which was found in the building.

Coyote plays teacher Martin Conlon, who tells the students an opera story about a stranger with a magic basket, then teaches them to play basketball.

Allen plays Bessie Emery, the mother whose dying son returns from war. Other recognizable names in the film are John Travolta's siblings, Ellen and Joey.

The cast and crew recently stayed in the Tri-Cities, with a base camp about a mile from the schoolhouse. Fifty to 70 people were on set for 11 hours every day. Some were from Los Angeles, but most were from Washington and Idaho.

"I'm impressed," Coyote said of the Tri-Cities.

He lives in Northern California, away from the Los Angeles rat race.

"I'm surprised the Tri-Cities has not been found by the film community yet. This could be Hollywood Northwest. It's a natural, especially as Hanford is closing. But you need the infrastructure, you need an office to facilitate."

The Tri-Cities Visitor & Convention Bureau is the area's liaison with the state film office and is trying to attract more productions like "The Basket," said tourism director Tana Bader Inglima. She dropped in at the set throughout the week to make sure everything was going smoothly.

And it was. Even the weather cooperated.

"The nice thing about shooting down here is there are only 9 inches of rain a year and lots of sun," Cowan said.

Among those watching the schoolhouse scenes one recent afternoon was Bernadine Nelson of Richland. Her daughter, Heidi, plays a schoolgirl in the film. Another was Holly Ady of Ady Talent & Consulting Group in the Tri-Cities and Heidi's agent.

Heidi, a fourth-grader at Sacajawea Elementary School, didn't get a vacation: A teacher is on site to help child actors do lessons assigned by their home schools.

The costumes are reminiscent of "Little House on the Prairie." The boys' trousers are held up by suspenders. The girls wear calico blouses and skirts with pinafores.

"The shoes aren't comfortable, and the tights aren't comfortable," said Heidi, her blond hair in pigtails and tied with red bows, a splash of freckles on her cheeks and nose accentuating her blue eyes.

The production followed standard industry pay of $40 per day with no lines and $466 per day with lines. Heidi said she planned to put her paycheck in the bank.

She worked three days as "background" before making her big-screen speaking debut.

"Mr. Conlon, Ma says you got mail," Heidi repeated, explaining it was special to get a letter in 1918. She had to say it only five times before they considered it a wrap.

The large camera mounted on wheels didn't scare her. "I was just imagining it wasn't there. I think the job is fun."

This is the ninth film produced by North By Northwest and the company's second as executive producer. The business also does corporate videos and TV commercials.

The screenplay for "The Basket" was written by Cowan, Frank Swoboda, Tessa Swoboda and Don Caron, who also wrote the opera score.

"One of the problems is, it's hard to get (good) scripts," Frank Swoboda said. The script being filmed is almost the same as the writers' final version, a consistency that doesn't happen in Hollywood.