That’s a wrap for “The Pact”

Frederic Cone

Frederic ConeNews Editor

A new bromance comedy film was brought to life using various Brookings locations and SDSU students.

The film, written and directed by SDSU alumnus Aaron Toronto, and Matthew Toronto, his brother, was shot in locations around Brookings, most notably at Jim’s Tap and the Old Fire Hall.

There were several SDSU students who were extras in the film and one SDSU student had a bit part and a behind the scenes role on the film.

“We decided to shoot the film here in Brookings because we came to find out that not many feature films get made in this area, and there is a great interest from those in the industry around here to get involved in doing projects,” said Aaron.

The Pact is a comedy about two brothers who both recently got out of bad relationships and, after a night of heavy drinking, decide to make a pact between them to swear off women for an entire year.

Toward the end of the film, the brothers come to realize the pact they made with each other has less to do with swearing off women and more to do with brotherly love, devotion and loyalty to one another.

The Toronto brothers began working on the project in early April and worked hard over the following months in order to get everything in order to film this summer.

“It took 15 days to shoot with a month of pre-production prior and post production to be finished by mid-November,” Aaron said.

The film will premiere in Brookings sometime in December and a few showings in Sioux Falls. Afterwards, the Toronto brothers plan to hit the film festival circuit to try and find a national distributor for the film.

Jannie Anderson, a fifth-year senior SDSU student with a double major in physics and music education, served as production manager for the film and played a small role in it as well.

“My responsibilities included casting the extras, maintaining the paperwork and financial records for the film and a general problem solver for the film,”Anderson said.

Anderson was contacted by Aaron to be involved with this current project after having been apart of Aaron’s play The Miracle Of Being.

The Toronto brothers started Tarantula Entertainment, their own production company that produced The Pact, three years ago when they produced their first short film entitled Even Felons Fall.

Currently, Tarantula Entertainment is still in the start up phase though the brothers plan to expand over the next several years.

“My brother and I own the company 50/50 and although we plan to be able to hire a full-time production crew in the future, right now we have a project by project based employment plan,” Aaron said.

The aim of Tarantula Entertainment for the near future is all about getting The Pact finished and premiered. Then the brothers will focus on a new project to work on.

“Our next project we are going to work on will be doing a film adaptation of the musical Group that premiered at SDSU in 2008,” Aaron said. “The goal is to be ready for filming sometime in late spring or early summer.”

#1.1573392:611799453.jpg:Behind the scenes on the set of The Pact.:Behind the scenes on the set of The Pact.:PHOTO BY SARA CARLSON