Published: July 16, 2009 10:24 am      

Short film brings professor's personal tragedy to the screen

Three Eastern Kentucky University faculty members began day three of shooting a short film Wednesday at an abandoned gas station on US 25 in Madison County.

Based on a true story, "Girl on Rocky Top" — the movie's working title — is being filmed in Richmond and surrounding areas throughout the next few weeks.

The film tells the story of events that unfolded during writer Scott Coykendall's 1993 road trip move to California from Missouri.

Coykendall's wife, Tabitha, was pregnant with their first child when the couple decided to head west to be closer to her family. Accompanying them on the trip was Coykendall's little brother, Brian, and Coykendall's best friends' wife, Wendy.

Along the way, Brian and Wendy developed a relationship, which led to a bitter feud between Coykendall and his brother. After reaching California, the couple left for Missouri and drowned four days later in a boating accident.

The film is about “dealing with remorse and anger,” Coykendall said.

The main character, based on Coykendall, is "congealed by the narrator part of his character,"� always reminding him of what happened, he said.

"You walk around with the past. It's always with you,"Coykendall said.

He wrote a play based on the events as a graduate student, but it was "terrible,"� he said.

Years later, Brian's best friend, Chad Cogdill, the cinematographer for the film and professor of communication at EKU, "pestered"� Coykendall to turn the play into a screenplay.

"Chad's the person that put this together and got everyone onboard, he's the one who's really kind of kept this thing going,"� Coykendall said.

The two along with Andrew Kramp, director of the film, met January in New York, and Coykendall said things just clicked.

"He (Kramp) really emphasized with the story,"� he said.

Often while filming, Coykendall said he is asked if he is OK emotionally with what is being portrayed.

"I'm a writer, a poet and I wrote it out of myself years ago,"� he said. "I've written this thing so many times it's almost not my story. It now lives on paper."

Throughout the process some changes have been made to the story. In the film, instead of traveling West, the characters travel east to "take advantage of the resources at hand," Coykendall said.

Being able to slightly alter the story has helped "get past some of the bothersome facts,"� he said.

"The truth is always sloppy and difficult. It's easier to simplify,"� he said.

Coykendall is a technical writer by trade and a full-time associate professor of English, teaching journalism and technical communication at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. He is the father of soon-to-be 16-year-old daughter, Brianna Wendy, who is named after her uncle and the family friend he started a relationship with, and 10-year-old Maya.

Throughout the process of preparing for filming, Coykendall's colleagues at PSU donated money, while Cogdill, John Fitch, producer and professor of communication at EKU and Emerson St. John, producer, assistant director, narrator of the film and media and technical supervisor for EKU's Department of Communication, raised money for the event.

EKU President Doug Whitlock has played a huge part, St. John said, providing a big part of the budget, providing dorms and a lift truck for filming.

For more information on the film visit girlonrockytop.blogspot.com.

Brittany Davenport can be reached at 624-6624 or news@richmondregister. com.