‘A Week Away’ is the first faith-based musical of its kind. Will Hawkins (Kevin Quinn) is in trouble. Again. It’s what he does best. A foster kid since he was ten, he’s been in and out of more homes and schools than his case worker can count. After his final run-in with the law he has a choice to make – go to juvie or a Christian summer camp.
Both sounding equally awful he chooses the one where he can at least bring his guitar, one of the last items given to him by his deceased father. A stark fish-out-of-water compared to the other camp residents, he lies about his background to try and fit in, especially with his newfound crush on camp regular Avery (Bailee Madison). But can he keep this up? Does he want to? Will he ever be able to replace the family he lost? With catchy musical numbers and songs by prominent Christian Contemporary Artists and the creative team from High School Musical and Camp Rock, A Week Away comes to life as the first faith-based film of its kind.
The Netflix film also stars Jahbril Cook, Kat Conner Sterling, Iain Tucker with David Koechner and Sherri Shepherd.
We had the opportunity to catch up with Bailee Madison, Kevin Quinn, Jahbril Cook, and Kat Conner Sterling about their upcoming film. They spoke on the comparisons to ‘Camp Rock’ and ‘High School Musical’. The stars also spoke on their favorite songs from the film and their favorite activities they got to do on set. Bailee Madison and Kat Conner Sterling revealed what other Netflix show and movie they would like to star in as well. The cast also talked about a possible sequel.
‘A Week Away’ cast interviews:
The film was shot on location at YMCA Camp Widjiwagan just outside Nashville, Tennessee, in 2019. Unlike other productions where different elements are spread out about the country or done virtually, A Week Away had rehearsals, filming, and music recordings all in one location. Both the producers and the cast agreed that creating all the elements at one location at a real, functioning summer camp added an air of authenticity to the production.
Director Roman White grew up in Nashville and the camp at which they shot A Week Away is only 20 minutes from his home. He was even a summer camp counselor in college. Roman has directed films, commercials and close to 400 music videos to date!
‘A Week Away’ was a 21 day shoot that featured more than 100 extra campers for the bigger musical numbers.
Producer and a writer on the original story, Gabriel Vasquez, talked about how important it was to the team to create a film that both parents and kids could enjoy together. He knew that a key audience for the film likely attended summer camps like the one in the film and would no doubt recognize many of the songs in the film from their own childhood.
It was important to filmmakers to make a film that was authentic to the world of Christian summer camps and that was populated with characters who could openly and believably talk about their faith, while still making space for diverse perspectives and affirming the goodness in all people. “We didn’t set out to make a Christian film,” says producer Steve Barnett. “We wanted to make a film that had Christian elements that have universal appeal.”
Cue the bugle. If anyone deserves the “Busiest Camper” award it would be Alan Powell. He is a writer of both the original story, the screenplay, producer; and contributed to many of the film’s original songs.
Even though he has sold 50 million albums worldwide and been on the Top 5 Billboard 200 for eight years in a row the A Week Away soundtrack was a first of its kind for Executive Music Producer Adam Watts, “It was a super-unique experience having Alan Powell, one of the film’s producers and one of the writers of the screenplay actually IN the studio. That was a first for me! He’s a musician himself, and his vision was incredibly clear and strong. We had great chemistry. I think there’s a palpable energy to these tracks that I think comes from us just having a blast in the studio.”
In addition to re-imaging the classic Christian hits, Adam Watts wrote the original songs in A Week Away. Because this was such a special project authenticity for him was key, “From day one my goal as the producer and songwriter was to try to infuse the music with a sense of timelessness. I didn’t want to just use pre-existing samples, so I went around the camp set and recorded stomps and claps in the environment the film was being shot in. These subtle things add up.”
If the musical inspires you to have a spontaneous dance party, that’s because it kind of was! Adam Watts laughs, “We set up a recording studio in one of the buildings at the camp. The cast would be rehearsing the scenes and learning all for the choreography in one building, and in-between they’d run over to our makeshift-studio for hours at a time to record their vocals.” Choreographer Melena Rouse took it from there, “Each number only had between 2 -4 rehearsals before shooting. We had to work fast and give it our all each time. Something really magical happens once you get all your dancers in the space and give them room to put themselves and their personalities into the project. Something bigger than the steps happens – and that’s what makes A Week Away so exciting!”
‘A Week Away‘ hits Netflix on March 26th.
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