Roll camera, roll Columbus: Buckeyes are putting Ohio on the filmmaking map

By Margaret Farnham
Fisher College of Business

A crew of creatives with Ohio State connections came together in Columbus to produce a television comedy. 

What happened next is the stuff dreams are made of.

Under the direction of Justen Turner (BSBA ’24) and his brother Julien, co-founders of Dreadhead Films, the team of young actors, producers, videographers and production assistants — many of them alumni or current students — created the TV pilot “FreeLance.” Now they’re headed to Park City, Utah, for its premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

“We have always looked at Sundance as one of the highest achievements in this industry,” said Justen. “To be among the ranks of some of our favorite filmmakers, and to be given that same platform, is a blessing.”

Their pilot, one of seven selected by Sundance from nearly 500 submissions, follows a young filmmaker, Lance, who documents his journey toward his first movie. Lance’s roommates include a group of ambitious artists trying to support one another’s dreams in an oversaturated market. Along the way, they take on unorthodox jobs to build their brand and pay the rent. 

Sound familiar?

While “FreeLance” isn’t autobiographical, the Turners borrowed from their own freelance experiences to create the pilot. They had a running joke that whenever anything crazy happened on one of their freelance jobs it would one day end up in “FreeLance.”

“A lot of our mentors over the years have said to write what you know,” said Justen. “Having been in this space for the better part of the past decade, there are a lot of stories and anecdotes that my brother and I have come across that we say would be funny to dramatize and tell as part of a larger story.”

Julien gathered those scenarios and wrote the script in two weeks.

“Normally, I would have a lot of notes, but I said, ‘Let’s film this’,” said Justen. “We wanted to reflect and create a universe where everyone — at least our friends — could see themselves in these characters.”

Many of their friends are freelance artists who Justen met in high school or in Ohio State circles. Some have worked together on brand and commercial projects in Columbus.

Enrique Cabotage (BA ’25), a production assistant on the pilot and a full-time creative video producer for Ohio State men’s and women’s basketball attended Pickerington High School North with Justen. So did Logan St. Hilaire, a fourth-year student in the moving-image production program. He remembers being in Pickerington’s orchestra with Justen.

“My first year at Ohio State, we met again through a friend and collaborated on some projects,” said Logan. “Ohio State has been a place for us to cultivate these relationships and foster ideas.”

Friends and collaborators say Justen and Julien build community wherever they go. 

“Those themes of connecting and community also translate into their work,” said Tobias Zuniga-Shaw, a fourth-year Morrill scholar in moving-image production and the second assistant camera on the pilot. “It is one of their skills and why they are so loved in the Columbus community.” 

Those connections eventually included Lauren Todd (BA ’17), whom the brothers met two weeks before filming began. She had experience hiring talent for branded content and commercial work for companies like Meta, The North Face and Oakley and had worked with Screen Actors Guild (SAG) projects. As a producer on “FreeLance,” she helped create shooting schedules and shot lists, organizing shoot logistics and overseeing a small union crew and talent of 40-plus people.

A former English major, Lauren ultimately turned to film and photography to tell stories. While she realizes it might be easier to do that in her hometown of Los Angeles, she chooses to remain in Columbus.

“People think you have to leave Columbus to succeed, but there are a lot of good things that can happen here,” she said. 

Columbus: Where dreams are made

Columbus is the backdrop for Lance and his friends’ adventures in “FreeLance,” and viewers can’t miss the references.

Drone footage captures the city’s skyline, the streets of Pickerington and the cornfields east of town. They even filmed the “Hell is Real” billboard on Interstate 71 between Columbus and Cincinnati.

“We ended up not including it, but eventually we want to feature it in one of our films,” said Justen. “Columbus is very flexible; you can make it look like a city or the middle of nowhere.”

Los Angeles may have the infrastructure and resources for the film industry, but Columbus has a talent pool that is passionate about art and less concerned about ladder climbing, said Lauren.

“I think we’re far removed from that culture here,” she said. “People just love the art of filmmaking, and they want to make something beautiful because they love it.”

That appealed to the actors who starred in the pilot, including Spence Moore II, who portrays lead character Lance. Spence appeared in the 2018 film “All American” and in the NBC TV series “A.P. Bio.”

“FreeLance” offered Spence and the other actors an opportunity to have fun with their roles and engage in improv in a way that big-budget Hollywood films might not allow. 

“There is a space for that in Columbus,” Lauren said. “You can’t make the money here — yet, but there is an innocence here that you can’t find in L.A.”

Justen said Columbus has great potential to become a major filmmaking hub.

“There’s a unique mix here that’s hard to find elsewhere: the ability to access urban environments, suburban neighborhoods and rural landscapes all within a short drive, combined with affordability and flexibility that you just don’t get in traditional production centers,” he said. “More importantly, there’s a genuinely energized and supportive film community here.”

Several of those filmmakers worked on “FreeLance,” including Ohio State alum Justin Volley (BA ’25), Logan, Tobias and Enrique.

“They have all been peers and collaborators we deeply respect,” Justen said. 

Columbus-based Loose Films also has been a mentor to the brothers as they established their Dreadhead Films production company. 

“Columbus is a tight knit community in the sense that it feels like everybody knows everybody,” said Justen. “You may work on one commercial project here and a few months later come back and it’s the same crew. It’s like jumping onto the same set and you don’t have to learn how to work with new people. It feels very familial.”

More filmmakers are beginning to see the benefits of working with production companies in places like Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Among the advantages are the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit, a refundable tax credit on production cast and crew wages, and access to seven regional film commissions. In addition, housing costs are typically lower, and permits are easier to obtain.

“Working in Columbus specifically, there is a lot of enthusiasm around this kind of work,” said Justen. “It’s easy to rally people around a project and get things done smart and efficiently. We’re not jumping through the hoops you have in Hollywood.”

The fact that some of the most noted directors come from Ohio is not lost on Justen.

“Knowing that filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, who’s from Cincinnati, and the Russo Brothers, who are from Cleveland, came out of this state has always been motivating,” he said. 

“People here are hungry to collaborate and learn together. That kind of ecosystem is essential for independent filmmaking, and Columbus has the space, both literally and creatively, to support it.”

A lifelong passion for filmmaking

The Turner Brothers have been making films since they were young boys growing up in Champaign, Illinois and Pickerington. They started with a small flip camera and a notebook filled with ideas. Many of their early storylines included them and their friends as superheroes in sci-fi action movies, a genre that still captivates them. 

They continued to experiment with filmmaking through high school and into college. Both ended up with business degrees: Justen from Fisher and Julien from Morehouse College in Atlanta.

“I felt it was a better use of my academic time to work on something I didn’t necessarily have that much experience in, which is business,” said Justen. “Instead of being a client, I learned what it is like being the agency or production company that works with a client. Learning the business side ended up opening a lot of doors.”

The brothers’ day jobs help support their filmmaking endeavors. Justen is an assistant art director for Hollister Co., responsible for producing organic social content. Julien is an editorial art director at Abercrombie & Fitch Co. They often use PTO, holidays and weekends to work on their projects. 

While they serve as co-directors on most projects, they have their areas of expertise.

“Julien is the conceptor and writer; he works from a big picture perspective, and he works closely with the talent translating the script to screen,” said Justen. “I have an editor mindset and decide how things are going to flow and land.”

Their growing list of credits includes two live action short segments for seasons 49 and 50 of “Sesame Street" and a series of commercials featuring some of the most iconic athletes, including pro-basketball star Jimmy Butler in a Cheez-It ad campaign and NBA father-son duo LeBron and Bronny James in a Nike ad. 

Those productions ultimately helped launch them into the next phase of their career — “FreeLance.”

They signed Spence Moore after meeting him during a summer film program at Norfolk State University. The three were mentors for a college cohort. The pilot also features actors Elijah Cooper and London Arrington, comedian Kevin Fredericks and newcomer Lou Young III, whom the brothers worked with in commercials.

Justen and Julien scoured local comedy clubs and the internet to fill out the cast. 

“We would look at who was coming to Columbus and go to their shows and ask them if they wanted to be part of this project,” he said. “They were eager to join after seeing the potential in the characters. They also knew us as the guys who did the LeBron commercial.”

The 41-minute comedy pilot was shot over four consecutive days this past summer. The brothers shopped it to buyers and submitted it to several film festivals, including Sundance. 

“Film festivals are generally for feature and short films, and the challenge was finding the festivals that champion or even have a TV section,” said Justen. “Sundance was the biggest one of those. We didn’t have any direct connections or someone who had an in; it was a shot in the dark.”

Then they got the call.

“It was amazing,” Justen said. “It’s been a sprint ever since.”

The entire crew — friends and collaborators drawn together by their passion for film and community — will be there for the premiere. 

“We’re going to ‘crash’ Sundance; not to cause too much of a ruckus but to let our presence be known,” said Justen lightheartedly. “Hopefully, we’ll use that to leverage a buyer and lead people to come and watch the premiere.”