There are some similarities between Jessica Michael Davis’ own career and Sam, the character she plays in her new movie Escaping Ohio. Like Sam, she left Akron at the age of 18 to pursue her dreams — and like Sam, she also came to appreciate the beauty of growing up in Northeast Ohio.
Davis drew on her own background in making the fictional movie, which follows two best friends who fall in love, and who have to confront major life decisions after high school.
The movie is set to release on-demand on streaming services like Apple TV on Nov. 8, and it will also screen at the Night Light in Akron at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1.
We caught up with Davis to hear more about the film, her years in Ohio, working in the local film industry and more.
Cleveland Magazine: There was so much of a local influence on this movie. What made you want to make this movie?
Jessica Michael Davis: I love teen rom-coms, but I felt like it was always really focused on the love story and the happily ever after. And as a teenager, growing up, I never related to that. I always wanted a dream, like, my dream, or just kind of learning more about myself. So I wanted a rom-com that still felt heartfelt in the same type of feelings you get, but where the girl’s her own love story, and she chooses herself. From there, I just instantly was like, this has to be in Ohio. And the more I delved into that, the more I just felt how right that felt.
It was actually a short film first, and the short was the same premise of her best friend — the “will they, won't they” relationship. He shows her Ohio and proves that it's worth sticking around for, and she learns to love her small town. Even though she does love it and grows more grateful for it, she still chooses to leave. But that was only over, like, a 24-hour period, so once we made that short, I instantly knew there was so much more I wanted to tell with the story and the characters in Ohio. That's when the feature came about, and that just allowed me to explore even more of my hometown, that same sort of coming of age story as well.
CM: The story seems pretty influenced by your own experiences. What was your childhood in Ohio like?
JD: Growing up in Ohio was the best. Honestly, I think it's really fun as a kid. It's more simple, more small town vibes. I just think it's a good place to grow up. But with that as well, I think you're around a lot of people who have a smaller world view, and I found myself bumping up against that, because I wanted to travel, I wanted to explore and I felt like I was thinking bigger, and sometimes that doesn't always rub right with some people. So I found myself just kind of feeling lonely sometimes.
It was a mix of feelings: I was coming from this really good place, but I still wanted more. And I think that we don't see a lot of movies that use that. I do think a lot of these teen movies, where they end up leaving their small towns, it's because they either come from a really bad home or a bad situation, or they hate their town, and I wanted to show the other way, where it's like, “No, you can actually come from a really good place and have a really great family,” because I did. I had the best support system. I love my family, I had good friends, I had a good job at the time, and, yeah, there was good stuff going for me. I probably could have built a great life, but there was just this itching feeling of wanting more.
It is like a love letter to Ohio. So many of the locations I chose, none of them were random. Swensons [Drive-In] and Handel's [Homemade Ice Cream] — every time I go back to Ohio, I still go. Some of those houses that we use are my grandparents’ houses. We filmed a lot on the streets I grew up on; the parking lot that we hang out in is the first parking lot that I learned how to drive in. There’s a lot of memories and love all throughout that film.
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CM: What was it like to come back for the filming process?
JD: It felt like we were in our own world. A couple of the crew members also grew up in Ohio and had left. We had met in New York, but it turned out they were from Canton, Ohio. So it always felt like we were just kids running around, making this movie. Ohio supported us so much; there were a lot of locations or restaurants that were so welcoming, so it really felt like we were making this with our community. Because it's a smaller indie film, and we didn't have these huge stars, it also kind of felt like no one knew about it.
My family also was a huge part of helping make it. Not only my community and other Akron businesses and people, but even my grandparents, my parents, my cousins.
CM: How did your family get involved?
JD: All the little things. They’d help me paint Sam’s room; I turned my Nana’s attic into Sam’s room — light purple and very 2000s-inspired. We completely revamped it, which she allowed me to do. My mom actually cooked a lot of the meals for all the cast and crew. Anytime I needed something, like on the fly, like, “Can you go get us coffee?” or “Can you run to the store and grab this thing that we need for the next scene?” My dad would be on it. I've used both of my grandparents’ houses. I used my aunt's house. She let us stay there even while we were filming.
CM: The soundtrack also included some Ohio-based musicians and bands. How did that come about?
JD: The first band, that my parents actually found, was Detention, who changed their name now to Off-Leash, but they're from Akron. And my parents were like, “Oh, this band's amazing. You have to listen to them.” I instantly reached out, so they were the first Akron band that we included. I found a bunch of Reddit posts or articles about favorite bands in Ohio, and I would just go through all their albums on Spotify and see what songs, because it is a very specific tone. Just because I want to be able to include something, I want to make sure it still fits right for the film. I found all these amazing bands, even more than were included in the film. I was just really excited to include Ohio, because there's so much featured on screen; I wanted to make sure I included people in the audio as well. We have six different bands. I just feel like it feels more authentic. Having their support as well is really cool, because it feels like we all did this together. I love that feeling of community, all of us making this one thing together.
CM: Backing up, could you share more about your film career?
JD: I started acting when I moved to New York. I was also a dancer, but I really just felt that bug for performing. Once I went to acting school in New York, we started studying filmmaking and film history, and I just instantly was drawn to it.
When I was nine, I cast my friends and produced this whole Harry Potter scene. I essentially directed it as well, and I cast myself as a lead with Harry Potter. Looking back, I was doing exactly what I'm doing now, producing and directing and getting all my friends together to make this thing, and then I cast myself in it. And then when I was 10 years old, the movie that really got me into film was School of Rock. I wrote the script for School of Rock 2, and I wrote a cover letter casting myself in the film and sent it to the director. Looking back, it's like, “Oh, okay, I really was kind of always meant to do this.” It just took me a little longer to find my way back to it.
CM: Ohio has become a more common place for movies to film, even just here in Downtown Cleveland. From your perspective as a filmmaker, could you speak to that change over time in the state?
JD: Technology makes it so much easier; you don't really have to be in the studio or in LA. So many things are shooting other places. It was also so much cheaper to shoot in Ohio. There are these movies that were filmed in Ohio, but I felt like I never saw that Ohio I knew and grew up with and loved. And a lot of films also fake Ohio; like, I know Spider-Man 3, they shot in Cleveland, but they based it in New York. I really wanted to showcase the beauty and the charm of Ohio.
The community came behind us to help support us and make it. We shot at an airport for free, which is absolutely insane, if you think about it. I do think I got a little help since I was from Ohio. I got so much support from [The Greater Cleveland Film Commission] looking for locations, and I still get support in terms of marketing it and just getting it out there.
White Noise, which was a Netflix film, was filming at the same time as us for a part of our shoot. It was just interesting, the differences. People would hear about the next piece of the Netflix movie shooting, and so they would ask us if this is what that was. Ohio was such a great place to shoot, and I hope to bring other movies as well.
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CM: Do you have any other projects in the works?
JD: There are two that I am currently working on. One, much closer in the future, that is based off of a short film that I just made, and it's actually adapted from a short story by an Ohio author who is one of my favorite authors. We're now working on the beginning stages of that and writing that together. And then in the further future, I can't talk too much about it; I still have to legally get the rights and everything. But there was a true story that happened in Ohio in the ‘90s, and I'm really surprised not a lot of people know about it. And I think it just deals with a lot of complexities. I'm excited to make it. It's a dark comedy. They're both very different than Escaping Ohio, getting into a more mature genre as well. At least one of those, I definitely want to come back to Ohio, if not both.
CM: It sounds like they both have pretty local subject matter — which is cool to see continuing in your work.
JD: I do think, and this is also with the bands and the people around me — I like to uplift the people around me. For example, Issa Rae has this quote where it's like, “Don't network up, network across.” I like to do that same thing where instead of trying to reach out and get the biggest bands or something, why not look for the people who are up and rising and give them a platform?
Find more details about Escaping Ohio, including streaming details, at the movie's website, escapingohio.com.
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