Scott Olsen, president of Mega Miner Movies, listens as actors audition for "Sky Full of Holes" on 102.5 FM earlier this week. Osen will film a $28,000 trailer for the movie, then shop it to investors.

Scott Olsen calls himself the “ultimate daydreamer.”

Olsen, the president and executive producer of Mega Miner Movies, said that ever since he was young he has dreamed in full color, replete with storylines and awareness, and that he would even spend his waking hours dreaming in a similar fashion.

“Only two kinds of people dream that way; do you know who they are?” Olsen asked. “Geniuses and psychotics. I’ll let you figure out which category I fall into there.”

Olsen said that a lot of his ideas for stories and screenplays come to him in his dreams, but his most recent screenplay — the action-packed psychological thriller “Sky Full of Holes” — he wrote while battling leukemia and skin cancer in Seattle, Wash., six years ago.

Now fully recovered, Olsen is casting the film in Joplin and will soon begin filming a $28,000, five-minute long trailer that he hopes to have completed by December. He will use the trailer to entice investors and hopefully acquire enough capital to get the feature-length version filmed.

Olsen said he will direct the trailer, but hopes to hire a director for the full version.

Casting call

Earlier this week, Olsen held cast auditions live on the Panama Jack morning show on 102.5 FM.

Using just the first few scenes of the script, Olsen offered some meaty portions for actors to sink their teeth into.

One scene dealt with the free-spirited Patty Andrews reacting to her stepfather Daniel Pettigrew’s death while being questioned by renegade Detective Summers.

“He didn’t really talk about his work a lot; he knew it really bored me to death,” a portion of the scene read. “Oh, God! I still can’t believe somebody murdered him! WHY!”

Another scene the actors read from comes shortly after Detective Summers finishes questioning Patty Andrews. Summers’ captain walks up to him and informs him that he finds him incompetent, and that he better solve the case.

Delivering the captain’s lines, the actors let Summers have it with the following tirade:

“This is your only shot with me, bucko; I hope for her sake you can handle it. Now, what have you got that you didn’t tell little miss cupcake?”

The rest of the movie revolves around Summers’ murder investigation and his attempt to uncover what kind of computer-encryption technology Daniel Pettigrew was working on before he was murdered. The detective must also keep tabs on Pettigrew’s wild-child step-daughter, Patty Andrews.

The Andrews character will allow non-actors to get some face time in Olsen’s movie.

The character is a band groupie and is constantly ditching Summers to hang out in bars where live bands are playing. Olsen plans on using all local bands for these scenes and for the film’s soundtrack.
As of Tuesday, Olsen had not cast the role of Patty Andrews, but the other two main parts, Summers and a con man that Andrews runs off with, have been cast for over a month.

The role of Detective Summers will be played by James Matusek, an actor who has been seen on the TV shows “Ally McBeal” and “Roswell.”

The con man will be played by Brett Daniels, an illusionist and magician who performs at the Grand Palace in Branson.

The only other real speaking parts that Olsen said he needs to cast is the head of the Mid-Mountain Militia, which keeps trying to murder Summers and end his investigation, and the main bad guy who is behind everything.
For the part of the bad guy, Olsen said he is hoping to cast a well-known actor.

“I’m trying to recruit one more distinguished elder statesman, someone like a Gene Hackman,” Olsen said.

‘Will film for food’
Olsen said “Sky Full of Holes” is a character-driven, psychological-based movie, but there will be several action sequences to keep the audience excited.

The action scenes are designed to differentiate the movie from smaller, independent films, such as the ones that play at the Sundance Film Festival, that rarely get into theaters.

“I want to get this straight into theaters,” Olsen said.

The trailer was originally going to feature a scene where a car gets blown up in front of the Neosho courthouse.

Due to some roadblocks he encountered in getting permission to do that, he said he may have to settle for spraying a car with bullet holes in front of Joplin’s Memorial Hall.

To film the feature-length version of “Sky Full of Holes,” Olsen estimates it will cost $500,000.

He said he moved to Joplin and started his film business partly because everything is cheaper. He estimated that on the West Coast, “Sky Full of Holes” would cost around $2.5 million to make.
But even with Joplin’s low cost of living, Olsen said he has invested all of his money in making this film.

“If this fails, you’ll find me on (Highway) 43 with a sign that says ‘Will film for food,’” he said.