BUCKHANNON – A Bridgeport-based film company requested money from the Upshur County Commission to help them film in the county annually.

President of JC Films Studios Jason Campbell attended the April 27 Upshur County Commission meeting to ask for $10,000 to $20,000 to partially fund a feature film that would be produced in Upshur County.

“We’ve been making faith and family films for a very long time, but we’ve made about 70 films,” Campbell said. “We do a lot of films in West Virginia. We already do a lot of films here in Upshur County; we’re making three films back-to-back right now in Upshur. County. We love shooting in Buckhannon and Upshur County, and we want to continue to do it.”

The studio produced a movie that was set in Upshur County last year called “Hank’s Christmas Wish,” and he hopes to make a sequel this fall.

“What I think is going to happen when we come out in November, and we do the premiere and Dean [Cain] will be here, it’ll be very popular,” Campbell said. “We made a Christmas movie here in Upshur. County and Buckhannon, it’s going to be a hit, but what if we said, ‘let’s do “Hanks Christmas Wish Two,” and “Hank’s Christmas Wish Three”’ and every year annually, just like you guys do the Strawberry Festival and other things you do annually.”

Campbell said the timing would be ideal because the cast would be together again for the premiere of the first “Hank’s Christmas Wish.”

“We want to make this an annual event here in Upshur County so that basically every November, people know to come to Upshur County to be involved in films. As you guys are aware, when we make the film, we get up to 100 – sometimes 200 volunteers — and not just local people. We had a group come in from Alabama yesterday, so it’s bringing people to the area,” Campbell said. “That creates revenue for the area – for hotels, meals, all those types of things happen, plus people get to fall in love with this community, which so many people have already done while they visited here to be a part of our films.”

Campbell said if the commission decides to grant the money, it would be spent this fall, and the studio would enter pre-production in November.

Upshur County Commissioner Doug Bush was out of town and unable to attend the meeting in person, so Upshur County Commissioner Sam Nolte said they would wait until he returned to decide.