Pursuing His Own Vision Quest

In some ways, it's remarkable that Hollywood's current obsession with revisiting the 1980s has failed to encompass a remake of Vision Quest, the 1985 coming of age flick starring Matthew Modine and Linda Fiorentino. The absence since that time of a mainstream high school wrestling themed drama is one the main reasons writer-producer Joel Reisig chose to move forward with Win by Fall, an indie production shooting this week at Rockford High School in Rockford, Michigan.


The film features former three-time UFC heavyweight champ Dan "The Beast" Severn and is just one of several current projects being shepherded by the enterprising Reisig. When not supervising a film shoot or edit, Reisig tours the Midwest with his two-day, $395 weekend film school Be Your Own Hollywood.

"I went to every [film production] lecture and seminar that I heard about," Reisig explains on his BYOH bio page. "Some of them were pretty good, a lot of them were awful. They all had two things in common: 1) None of them had any real experience making and distributing low-budget movies... 2) They have absolutely no idea how to raise money outside of the Hollywood system."

For Win by Fall, Reisig worked closely with Rockford HS wrestling coach Brian Richardson, who wound up giving him notes on the screenplay. His other credits include Fraternity House and the forthcoming titles Deadly Karma and Minor League: A Football Story, which stars Dustin Diamond (Saved by the Bell) and Robert Miano (The Fast and the Furious). Reisig's BYOH seminar meanwhile is slated next for Grand Rapids, MI on the weekend of July 31st-August 1st.

[Be Your Own Hollywood]