There will be a screening of ‘Night Zero’ Friday, November 17 at the Greene County Courthouse. The screening, which is free to the public, will open at 6:30 p.m. with the movie starting at 7 p.m. Following the movie, various members of the production team and cast, including Director and Writer Mark Cantu and Producer and Weapons Producer Tredd Barton will be in attendance.

The movie is a sci-fi film that was partially shot in Waynesburg this summer, and Barton’s production company, Tredd Productions, helped in financing the movie. Barton said the movie is as much about human nature as it is about science fiction.

“I describe it as a couple who are having varied problems, that come together at the end of times,” said Barton. “They are having a tough time, but they get pulled together because that’s what people do. People fall in love, and then every day in life they fall out of love, but then something happens dramatically in their life—whether it be somebody died or an accident.”

Waynesburg is featured in the film, with High St. and the Greene County Courthouse visibly recognizable in one scene.

“We actually shut down High St. and filled the whole town with smoke and had the main character running down the street through all the smoke,” Barton said. “And there was cop cars, ambulances, and fire trucks with the light flashing. It was an incredible scene.”

Barton said that shooting in Waynesburg was easy because of the accessibility and cooperation from the borough.

“It’s nice that a small independent film with a low budget can have that much production value,” Barton said. “When you shut down High St., fill it with smoke and have a courthouse in the background, that’s really expensive production value. That’s what’s great about southwest Pennsylvania: if you did that in Hollywood it would cost you a couple hundred thousand dollars to shut down a street and film beside a courthouse, and Waynesburg charges three hundred dollars. It was really cheap.”

In addition to ‘Night Zero,’ Barton also filmed in Waynesburg a few weeks ago on a project called ‘A Jury of His Peers.’ Barton said Waynesburg is an ideal place to film.

“I’ve filmed two movies down there now, and we are planning on filming a third one down there in June or July of next year,” said Barton. “That’s what I like about small towns, just the fact that they are really willing to do a lot for you.”

Barton stated that he prefers small production movies over big budget films, based on his own experience in the industry.

“I’ve done $100,000,000 projects like the Batman movie,” said Barton, “There’s a Netflix series ‘Mindhunter’ and then I’ve been on $500,000 movie productions where the entire movie cost less than five thousand dollars. I enjoy the small productions better.”

For Barton, getting involved in the industry was just a matter of putting himself out there.

“People always talk about wanting to be into movies,” Barton said. “If you want to be in the movie business, be in the movie business. Anybody can do it, you just have to be able to work for free initially, and it’s very easy.”