Brandon Matthew Layne and Debra Harrison-Lowe star in “Life Prescribed.”
The director and writer of a new Michigan-made short film say their personal battles with addiction provided perspective in creating “Life Prescribed.”
The two award-winning Detroit-area filmmakers each experienced personal struggles with drug addiction before filming their short based on the story of a Waterford Township man whose life spiraled out of control because of prescription drug abuse.
The red-carpet, public premiere of “Life Prescribed” will be on Thursday, Oct. 20, at the Landmark Main Art Theatre, 118 N. Main St., Royal Oak. The event, with viewings at 7 and 9 p.m., is a fundraiser for Grace Centers of Hope, the homeless rehabilitation and recovery organization that helped the filmmakers and the man whose life story inspired the film.
Tickets are $30 and include hors d’oeuvres, live music and a panel discussion with the cast and crew after each screening.
Prescribed,” funded by an anonymous donor of Pontiac-based Grace Centers, is directed by Kyle Couch of Pontiac from a script by Matthew Santia of Fraser.
It portrays the struggles of Joseph Atwell against opioid addiction, bizarre methods he used to obtain narcotics and his search for redemption.
Couch, Santia and Atwell met and got sober at Grace Centers.
“We hope this film brings the skeletons of substance abuse out of family closets,” Couch said. “It is a very dark world and ‘Life Prescribed’ doesn’t gloss it over. Our hope is that lives will be impacted after watching our film. … For the three of us, it was about recognizing the need for God in our lives. We have all said to each other that we were meant to make these kind of films.”
Couch and Santia were working as a filmmaking team for By Grace Productions, supported by Grace Centers of Hope, when they hit on the idea.
Couch, 28, now five years sober and married, dreamed of being a filmmaker after seeing “Jurassic Park” when he was 6. After high school, though, he turned to heroin to escape personal problems. Soon, the drug became more important than anything or anyone in his life, he said.
Homeless and going downhill fast, Couch found Grace Centers of Hope and entered an intensive treatment program. Completing a One-Year Life Skills Program, he quit drugs and learned coping skills. “God intervened,” he said, when Grace Centers CEO Pastor Kent Clark asked for help to start a film production company.
“Life Prescribed” was an emotional project, Couch said.
“Anyone who knows an addict — which is probably most everyone in the country — will be able to relate to this movie,” he said.
Santia is 33 and has been sober for 18 months.
He relocated from metro Detroit to Los Angeles as a teenager to pursue a film career, graduating with a film degree from the University of Southern California and a master’s in screenwriting from Full Sail University in Florida. He also developed an addiction to prescription painkillers that he hid from family for years.
“No one sets out to become a drug addict,” Santia said. “My prescriptions were supposed to last a month, but would be gone in eight days. The drug addiction turned me into a monster. …
“I would do really weird things and go to great lengths to get drugs. At one point, I was driving back and forth from Mexico smuggling drugs, which was dangerous and definitely the lowest time of my life. It got to the point where I was even nodding out at the family dinner table. My parents finally told me that I had to go live on the streets or get help — and that’s when my dad introduced me to Grace Centers of Hope.”
He didn’t like Atwell when they first met there.
“I thought he was arrogant, but later I realized that it was my own defensiveness against addicts,” Santia said. “I didn’t really want to be considered one of them. Today, he’s one of my best friends and he inspires me. The film helps to humanize the issue of drug addiction while reminding viewers about the need for help and support. We all feel this film is part of our life’s calling.”
To purchase tickets for “Life Prescribed,” visit landmarktheatres.com/detroit/main-art-theatre. For more information Grace Centers of Hope, call 855-HELP-GCH or visit gracecentersofhope.org.
TOCCALife.com (Ticker Symbol: TLIF), CEO Tyler Cornell stated, “That story is a breath of fresh air. Everyone should do this. With technology today, it doesn’t have to be a feature film, so don’t hesitate. Grab your laptop and send out your message via video. Doing so might just save a few lives.”
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