Brandon Twp – Police tape, a crowds of onlookers, cameras, an ambulances, and a night sky flooded with the sound of helicopter blades seemed to support the murmur of a dead body found in Brandon Township.
Coincidentally, the helicopter was real but the rest was the final scenes to the movie, ‘Pay Dirt?, a murder mystery movie produced by 18 year-old Bobby Buxbaum and his partner Eric Ploshehanski, of Brandon Township.
‘My idea is to keep the audience on edge till the end,? said Buxbaum ‘If people are already talking about it that means it’s realistic.?
When Brandon High School history teacher Mr. Moore, challenged his students to do a project they had never done before, Buxbaum jumped at the chance to live out a dream.
Fascinated by video editing, Buxbaum chose to produce ‘Pay Dirt? a story about a local detective and his workaholic ails, struggling to solve the mystery of a local serial killer.
? I wanted to produce a movie because I had previously seen it done by a student, and was very impressed,? said Buxbaum, adding that he has always been interested in film production.
As a patient of cystic fibrosis, Buxbaum was introduced to the technical world of video a year ago, when he was a subject in a commercial about the disease.
During a subsequent two week hospital stay Buxbaum wrote the screen play for ‘Pay Dirt.?
‘I didn’t think it would be hard because I was just using my imagination,? he laughed.
However, making a movie script come to life took more than the imagination.
Soon Buxbaum found his senior life fragmented between Brandon High, OSM Tech, a movie producer, director, editor, casting director, technical director, camera man, student of lighting, location scout, and manager of over 40 crew members.
‘The hardest thing is pulling everybody together,? said Buxbaum.
‘Most people are willing to help, you just have to ask.?
From his parents and cousin to the Groveland Fire Department, the Oakland County Sheriff Department, Bueches, Bullfrogs, MacPhees, Remax Property Center, the Village of Ortonville, star Dawn Lucas, Eric Ploshehanski, the lighting guy from Best Buy, Buxbaum says the project has been much harder than his imagination but plans to bring down the house.
‘It’s been tough but couldn’t have done it without Eric’s help because he gets the permission for everything.?
Funding for the production came through from an affiliation Buxbaum found during his association with the cystic fibrosis commercial.
Millennium Productions and another Southfield video production company donated $2,000. Executive Producer Caroline VonWeyher said she took a special liking to Buxbaum after she met him at an Oscar party for the cystic fibrosis commercial, and has invited Buxbaum to tour the production studio after his graduation.
‘He’s a great kid, when I found out his dream was to make film it was our pleasure to help him,? said VonWeyher who donated $1,000 that Buxbaum used to purchase a video camera to shoot the movie.
‘My goal is to fill the auditorium and shock the audience,? he said demurely.
To witness the shocking ending of the dead body in Brandon Township rumor, attend the premier of ‘Pay Dirt? at 7 p.m., Monday May 24 at the Brandon High School theater.