IN SEARCHING
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About IN SEARCHING

Our team has reached a critical point. After nine years of filmmaking, we are embarking on our first feature-length endeavor. Right now, as we commit our best efforts to IN SEARCHING, we face our most challenging project yet. When tasks ahead of us sap our spirit, we look at the steady path we took to get Heart- Beat where we are now…

 

Heart-Beat has its roots in Park City, Utah – where independent cinema is impossible to ignore. Jake Topkis started planning short films in high school, and banded together a crew of friends (many of whom are still members). We garnered early success at film festivals, and started to take steps to improve our craft with each film. The opportunity to share stories with you is a privilege we hold dear. One of the highlights of our early years was a superhero comedy we premiered at an educational charity event. The film and subsequent animated series did well enough to lead to our first job offer. The National Weather Service approached us to create a film we called LIGHTNING SAFETY WITH LIGHTNING LAD, which ended up being shown in schools across the nation. At this point, our high school hobby became a profession.

 

When high school was over, the crew headed in all directions, yet the collective passion for cinema remained. As college plans threatened to split Heart-Beat up, Jake drafted a four-year development strategy that would bring the team toward our goal of becoming skilled enough to craft a feature film.

 

Topkis attended Emerson College in Boston, where he met Russell Bartlett and many of the other talented filmmakers and technicians who are now a part of our team today. Jake and Russell later worked together in LA at Double Feature Films, learning the ins-and-outs of film development under notable Producer, Michael Shamberg.

 

Our productions demonstrated marked improvements, as we developed our portfolio year-after-year. We put all of our effort into two short films: TIES and NIGHT WORE ON. Each of these short subjects was designed to promote feature film storylines we had planned. The films reached a level of success unlike any we had known before, with screenings and awards coming in from across the country. Heart-Beat was stronger than ever. That’s why you’re reading this today.

 

IN SEARCHING will be shot in August of 2013. The path we have taken has prepared us to make this feature-length film for you. We want to showcase our beautiful mountain town, and tell a meaningful story. We are hungry for it. We are locked into a project harder than any we have known…and we could not be happier.