BLYN — Filming for the pilot of a new television show, “The Rainforest,” is expected to begin in several North Olympic Peninsula locations this summer.
The show’s creator, lead writer, executive producer and director, Scott A. Capestany, is currently finalizing locations in Port Townsend, Forks, Port Angeles, Sequim and at Lake Quinault.
Specific dates for filming the pilot have not been determined.
Capestany is the founder of Capestany films and has previously produced several TV series, including Harbor Island, Northwest Waters TV and Island Getaways TV.
Capestany Films is based in Seattle and has a satellite office in Beverly Hills, Calif.
After completion, “I am going to present the pilot during pilot season next year to all of the people who are interested,” Capestany said.
A TV pilot is a standalone episode of a series used to sell the show to networks for broadcast.
Capestany met with Jamestown S’Klallam tribal leaders last week at the 7 Cedars Casino to flesh out an agreement in which the tribe will allow filming on reservation land and provide historic advisors to ensure authenticity in the pilot and the potential series to follow.
Authenticity is important to Capestany, who said he has “a desire to weave into my fictional story of ‘The Rainforest’ an authentic Native American component.”
“That component, now, is going to be told the through the eyes of the S’Klallam tribe and their historians. We are working with their team of storytellers. We are just honored to have that partnership,” Capestany said.
Jerry Allen, CEO of the casino, said “I think this is really a compliment to the tribe that Scott wants to do something like this.”
“We are excited to be part of it. There were a lot of choices. When you think about the number of tribes that circle this peninsula and the fact that we were able to put this together, we are very, very flattered.”
Capestany said he will also be working with the Quileute Tribe, the Rain Forest Resort Village at Lake Quinault, Lake Quinault School District and the Lake Quinault Lodge.
He is also in talks with the Forest Service and National Park Service. Quinault Rain Forest is located in Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest.
Capestany began efforts to film a proof of concept or teaser for the show in January 2014. It can be viewed online at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Teaser.
The pilot episode, to be filmed in high definition, follows a core group of characters drawn to the interior of the Quinault Rain Forest in the Olympic Mountains in search of ancient Native American artifacts and lore.
The expedition is inspired when fictitious character Dr. Riley Stone, a professor at the University of Washington specializing in Native American history and archeology, is tipped off by a teenage girl about a potential Native American legend hidden in the forest.
Along with billionaire financier and global explorer Devin Grace, Stone assembles a group of explorers and scientists to investigate an uncharted region of the forest rumored to contain ancient treasures of a lost civilization.
Riley encounters Henry Paxton, a member of the S’Klallam tribe who warns the team they could be meddling with powers not of this world and “will stop at nothing to protect the sacred lands of “The Rainforest” and what may or may not exist,” Capestany said.
As the team sets out on their adventure, bizarre and unexplained events begin to unfold.
A member of the party witnessing these strange happenings is a priest who begins questioning his deeply held convictions
“We have a man whose background is science but now he is a man of faith, and his faith is challenged on this journey,” Capestany said, noting there are several other characters that make the story unique.
The structure of storytelling for the adventure drama will be similar to the popular ABC television series “Lost,” Capestany said.
“We are sending the audience on these wild goose chases, but what you are really going to find is what is important to these characters. What are they finding amongst themselves in “The Rainforest?” That is going to be the real story.”
After meeting with the S’Klallam tribe last week, Capestany traveled to Hollywood where he will spend the next several weeks working with actors.
“We are in the packaging phase right now where we are presenting our creative material along with our entire pilot production and series production to Hollywood actors,” as well as actors living in Washington, Capestany said.
Capestany, a native of Washington, said he is a proponent of bringing major film productions to the state and is actively involved in supporting state Senate Bill 6027 — referred to as “Keep Film In Washington.”
The bill doubles the size of the state’s production-incentive program over the next two years to $7 million and increases the fund incrementally each year until it reaches $10 million in 2019. The sunset date for the program would also be extended to 2022.
“Washington state ranks at the very bottom of the states for film-incentive programs, [which] is why not a lot of large scale film productions are made here,” he said.
“Our mission here at Capestany Films . . . is to hopefully change that and bring projects like this on a larger scale with more budget and bring bigger names.”
Capestany is seeking area businesses interested in sponsoring his show, with the possibility of being featured in the series if it successfully sold to a major network.
Capestany will also need background actors when filming starts.
Information about acting and sponsorship opportunities will be posted online this summer at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-RainforestTV.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
