FSU grads coming back to campus to shoot feature film about football

By Scott Atwell

FSU Communications Group

FSU will be the setting for a full-fledged feature film production this fall when Florida State graduate Randy Ser directs "Family Portrait," a coming-of-age story played against the backdrop of a college football season.

And the movie may be the occasion for alumnus Burt Reynolds to spend some time again on the campus where he was a football star in the 1950s. He said he would play the role of Sheriff Grant Cottrell in the movie if his schedule permits.

Ser, who earned a bachelor of arts in acting in 1975 and master of fine arts in directing in 1979, both at FSU, said he has dreamed of coming back to make a movie.

"Without the foundation they gave me," he said, "none of this would have been possible."

Ser's 15-year film career includes production design credits in films such as The Mighty Ducks and Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. He now works for Sneak Preview Productions, the California company producing Family Portrait. Steven J. Wolfe, chairman and CEO of the company, will be lead producer for the film.

Family Portrait is based on a 1988 novel of the same name, written by Sam Hensley Jr., who played football at Duke University in 1979 and 1980. It's the story of Jeff Waters, a college football quarterback who lives with his alcoholic uncle, Forrest. The family of the sheriff befriends the young athlete as he struggles between family loyalty and the search for individuality.

Most of the shooting will take place on campus, including game-day action at Doak Campbell Stadium, but there will be some scenes in other parts of Tallahassee. Sneak Preview Productions has agreed to use FSU film and theatre students in the film.

FSU has the largest studio in the world devoted exclusively to undergraduate film education.

"The film business in Florida could be a $1-billion industry by the turn of the century," said Ray Fielding, dean of the School of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts.

Fielding, who taught Francis Ford Coppola at the film school of the University of California at Los Angeles, said his job at FSU is to produce the professional work force necessary to accommodate such growth in the industry.

"Having a production like this on our campus will make a great learning laboratory," he said.