Anderson is holding his first casting call Thursday for the movie "Last Summer for Boys" at the Ray Lutheran Church where his father, Stephen, is pastor. Anderson said his father moved to Ray about 10 years ago.
"I just wanted to do something in western North Dakota," he said of his opening casting call for his movie.
Anderson grew up in Plaza and attended high school in Minot before going to college in Fargo. His movie is inspired by North Dakota, he said.
"From a script standpoint, the characters are inspired by North Dakotans. It's kind of an amalgam of fictional and nonfictional characters in North Dakota," he said. Anderson started to see himself as a movie writer about five years ago as he wrote the script for the movie when he was 25. He has since started the company NoDak Films.
"I always fancied myself as being the next great american novel writer," he said.
The NoDak Films Web site gives a brief synopsis for "Last Summer for Boys," which some might say is biographical in nature.
"Nick West, the son of a pastor, and BeauDrey Treeland, the son of a farmer, were childhood best friends in the same rural North Dakota town. Nick left for Minot and his connection with BeauDrey left as well.
"Some 10 years later Nick, a year or so from his degree, is a wannabe writer who lives in downtown Fargo. He is on his way back to the same rural North Dakota town to visit family and tell them some important news.
"There he discovers that BeauDrey has moved back home from Minneapolis. Although the details aren’t clear, BeauDrey’s situation is not good and BeauDrey’s mother has decided to take action.
"For BeauDrey, who chose a cubicle over a combine, the burden of leaving the farm never left him and he must navigate through a lifetime of regret, chance encounters and an ending that leaves no questions unanswered."
What Anderson had written was pretty visual in nature, he said, so converting it into a movie project wasn't that difficult.
He's hoping to decide on as many characters as possible from the Ray casting call.
"If I can cast every role, that would be perfect and ideal," Anderson said "If I can't cast for every role, it would be nice to have the main characters cast. They are going to be the focal point of the movie."
He said in casting for the movie, previous acting experience is not a requirement.
"To me, life experience is just as important as acting experience," Anderson said. "You just have to be a North Dakotan. It doesn't mean you can't act for this one particular role in this movie."
Anderson and his family are currently living in California as his wife pursues her doctorate. In developing the movie, he said he couldn't shake the script he had written.
"Everything about it had to do with North Dakota," he said. "A lot of people who sell their script to Hollywood, they sort of lose their vision. That kind of inspired me to keep pushing forward."
Anderson also has written anywhere from 10-30 pages of movie prose involving a couple of other ideas that aren't yet firm in his mind. He said the ideas for the movies just come to him.
"I guess it's a lot like writing. You are always inspired by your environment," he said.
Growing up in North Dakota, he has that experience in his soul.
"It's always within my grasp," he said of his North Dakota upbringing.
The casting call in Ray begins at 10 a.m. and "is basically until the last person shows up," Anderson said.
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