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Portsmouth’s flourishing art scene is rich with creative minds in all fields. From poetry to music, art, theater and film, there is more to explore than might meet the eye in this historic city. Walking through the streets of the Boneyfiddle District or driving down the highway, one might spot a group with a film camera hanging out of car windows, standing on top of buildings and doing whatever it takes to get the shot. The people behind the camera are probably part of Subject To Change Entertainment.
Subject To Change Entertainment (STC) comprises brothers Vincent and Travis Herman and Chelsea Watkins. The trio act as equal partners, and their roles are often, aptly, subject to change.
“Subject To Change is exactly what it’s called: subject to change entertainment,” Vincent Herman said.
STC’s film catalog encompasses a variety of different tastes, such as dark comedy, sketch comedy, drama, “indie art-house type things” and more, all through their unique lens. The creators of STC didn’t want to be “pigeonholed” in a genre when they had so many ideas, and thus Subject To Change Entertainment was born. However, it didn’t all start here.
“It all started with Jackass videos,” Vincent Herman said. “[Borrowing] a VHS camera from the library and just doing Jackass stunts and skits.”
This series of Jackass-style videos was originally called Things That Should Not Happen circa 2003, which soon evolved into Subject To Change Without Warning (STCWW). The more Herman made films with his brother and Watkins, the more he got the taste for filmmaking. What started as Jackass skits quickly became sketch comedy videos, and STC was brought back better than ever last year with the release of Sweded Die Hard, a parody of the first Die Hard film, filmed in Portsmouth.
In 2022, the Herman brothers and Watkins picked up where they left off with STC in 2009. Their first project was an ambitious parody of Die Hard which spun the movie to be “sweded,” a reference to Be Kind Rewind starring Jack Black, a film in which characters used the term to describe amateurs remaking popular films. Vincent Herman said they did anything to get the shot for Sweded Die Hard, including calling in a lot of favors and breaking a window, and it was all worth it.
Sweded Die Hard premiered in a theater rented out by Vincent Herman at Wheelersburg Cinema. The Southern Ohio Film Association also provided resources, like a backdrop for photos, for the premiere of STC’s first film, and Herman said their presence made the whole thing “more official.” Community members and friends also came together to raise money, and one person even provided a red carpet. This film premiere was a triumph for STC after a long hiatus, and Herman said he and his partners learned a lot from the experience of making the film.
Learning to communicate and coordinate schedules around unpaid, working actors was a big learning curve for STC, according to Vincent Herman. The STC trio has also been venturing into one another’s fields of interest, further diversifying their knowledge and filmmaking capabilities.
Now that they’re in the swing of things, they’ve been able to produce more small-scale sketch comedy videos and begin work on bigger projects, like their upcoming movie The Indiscriminate Weight of Mondays, a horror parody of Garfield the cat.
“We have put out a couple of sketch comedy videos on YouTube,” Vincent Herman said, referencing “Real Movie” and “Telling Jokes” on STC’s YouTube channel.
Herman also mentioned STC’s upcoming release of The Magic Pen, a story about an artist who finds a pen that’s a bit more than he bargained for, and the showings occurring around town. All showings will cost $6 or $5* at entry. The film will be screened at the following places:
The Landing In Portsmouth, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.
Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m.*
Portsmouth Little Theatre, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.
Retro Chill Zone Nov. 25 at 9 p.m.
Filming for The Magic Pen was a lot different than filming for Sweded Die Hard and other projects. For STC, “[the filming process is] different every time,” as is the nature of their production company. Vincent Herman said that filming for The Indiscriminate Weight of Mondays was a new experience since he and his team got to take a step behind the camera, bring in new actors and work more on the side of filmmaking. This film will premiere on YouTube in three separate parts, the first on Oct. 30, and parts two and three coming in late November and late December respectively. Screenings for the complete film of The Indiscriminate Wait of Mondays will start in January, and the final film will include content that cannot be seen on YouTube.
Although Herman said his experience filming Sweded Die Hard was “unmatched” because of the unique guerilla-style filmmaking STC adopted, he recognizes that their filming practices were perhaps not the safest, even if it created some of his favorite memories.
“I don’t know how to recreate that, and it’s probably best I don’t try,” he said while laughing.
The roots that Subject To Change Entertainment have planted in Portsmouth are undeniable. As Portsmouth locals, STC is connected to the community, and brings life to the spaces that need it with showings of their films. Right now, Watkins and the Herman brothers are tending to a garden that the citizens of Portsmouth get to watch grow, all on camera.
If movie-enjoyers are interested in supporting this local film production company, consider visiting Subject To Change Entertainment at any of the following places:
Patreon: Patreon.com/subjecttochangeent
YouTube: YouTube.com/@subjecttochangeent
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SubjectToChangeEnt?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Instagram: https://instagram.com/subjecttochangeent?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Twitter/X: https://x.com/stc_entertain?s=21&t=FD8kO665PV_5-DhWk7c1pg
Amy Mcclurg • Nov 2, 2023 at 5:32 pm
Great article!!