Beverly Ridge Pictures Keeps Film Production Local

17,000 Movie Reels — Image by neighborhoods.org via Flickr

Beverly Ridge Pictures, a small production company from Chicago’s South Side, is aiming to bring the filming industry home to the Windy City- not just the notoriety, but the process as well.

“When you’re at film school, most professors tell you that in order to succeed in the industry, you have to move to one of the coasts,” said producer John Bosher, who works with partner Chris Charles.

“We decided to remain in Chicago and try to accomplish what no one else was doing – produce an entire feature film, from development to post-production, here in Chicago,” he said.

The company was founded in 2005 and is run by four people. A typical Hollywood crew runs off the work of hundreds of employees, but Beverly Ridge has given a whole new meaning to consolidating sources. They have handled everything from low-budget commercials to multimillion dollar feature films.

The company even won an Emmy in 2009 for their comedic campaign for the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Click It or Ticket initiative. The public service announcement, called “Cops Everywhere,” won the award for outstanding achievement in a public service campaign.

Beverly Ridge personnel are Columbia College graduates- all under 30, making a name for themselves through films like their recent $1 million film Chicago Overcoat, starring The Sopranos’ Frank Vincent and The Dark Knight’s Danny Goldring. The film was released on home video April 19 and premiered at the 45th annual Chicago International Film Festival. It has won numerous awards including “Best of the Fest,” “Best Dramatic Feature” and “Best Cinematography” at film festivals across the country.

The company was originally formed by Kevin Moss, JoAnne Moss, and Bosher for a short film called The Small Assassin, which Charles said was filmed primarily in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood.

Not far away from their filming location, there’s a glacial ridge that marks the highest point in Chicago. Naming the company was seemingly easy, Charles said.

“In addition to two of our co-founders hailing from Beverly, we wanted to honor the area in which we filmed our pioneer production,” Charles said.

Bosher and Charles shared a similar sentiment about working for Beverly Ridge.

“It has taken a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get to where we are today, but if we had to do it all over again, we wouldn’t hesitate for a second,” Bosher said.