(lively music) - Making movies in Central Illinois.

We're talking to one man who is showcasing our area on film and we're gonna tell you how Central Illinois could be a hot production area in the future.

We are joined now by Brian Yarbrough.

Good to see you.

- Good to see you.

- Lifelong Peorian.

You probably know Brian, or have seen him, 'cause you've got your hands in what seems like everything.

- A little bit of everything, yes.

A healthy amount.

(chuckling) - Tell us about growing up here, and kinda how you've progressed in media and all kinds of other ventures.

- Well, yeah, from here, bounced around a lot of different schools, from way out to Pleasant Valley in Brimfield, to Monroe, to Kings Park.

I used to live there at one point.

All kinds of different schools.

Graduated from Central High School, so that's a cool thing, going back there.

We just actually shot some footage for the... You said I do a lotta things, so we did a theme song for "The District".

- Which is great, by the way.

- Oh, I appreciate it.

Some of that, we shot there with the new principal, and he got to get involved in the video.

So it was just kind of fun, seeing all the new additions and everything.

I'm like, "Where's the Tightest Wing gonna be?"

He was like, "Let me know, let me know."

So we may be doing something in the near future.

But yeah, born and raised here.

Did a little bit of ICC, then I just started managing a lot of different businesses around here.

Interesting enough, it's no longer here, so I can say it, first job was at Long John Silver's.

So I was 15 on a work permit.

The second week, a rat ran through the kitchen and I freaked out and I jumped, and I was like, "Did you see that?"

And they were like, "It's not gonna bother you.

Just get back to work."

So I walked out the back and then I walked all the way home, and that was the last of that first job.

And then from there... Obviously, I quit.

I was terrified, like, "Ugh!"

Like, "Good Lord."

So then there was a place called Mr. Steak by the mall back in the day.

Worked there, worked at a couple of other places managing, and then ended up, on accident, getting into music.

And that led me to getting signed to So So Def Records with Jermaine Dupri.

So that's where everything kinda took off, but it was all an accident, it was never supposed to be that.

So it's really crazy how everything works out.

- So you go from Long John Silver's to a music career.

You've also done movies, which we're gonna focus on here in a little bit.

What is it about media in general that got you hooked?

Because, you know, we're talking TV, movies, music.

- Well, it's a...

If that's what you love to do, you kind of soak up everything around it.

So, like, at your job, you learn where all these cameras are, even in the dark.

You know where this person is, you know where that person is.

You know if you talk on this, they're gonna hear you at a certain level.

So you get very skillful at what you do, to the point where you could run the station.

And then you're in a new job, in a new position, and you still know these other positions so you can step into 'em.

So that's sort of the same with the entertainment industry.

So I was signed early on as a hip hop rapper.

Put out a album called "Reverse Discrimination".

My plight is, you know, white rapper trying to get in the door.

And I had a bunch of heavy hitters on there.

We did a remake, I don't know if I can say this here, but it was a song by 2 Live Crew.

It was called "Me So..." - [Mark] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- "Me So..." beep.

We did a remake of that for the "Awesome Power" soundtrack.

It was on the album.

And then I had E-40, Al Capone.

R Kelly at the time had a group called Public Announcement.

Put the album out, sold hundreds of thousands of records, and that got me out into seeing all the other lanes.

So once I saw what these other lanes were doing, I'm like, "Hmm, you know, I can do this too," so I started writing for other artists.

And then, all of a sudden, I'm writing TV shows and then I'm writing movies, and then the first movie I write is "Space Jam 2" for Warner Brothers.

So that's with Kobe Bryant.

You know, he passed away, unfortunately.

I had a couple of other things going on with him.

The Social Butterfly, we were gonna launch, a network, together through his charity.

So just that avenue was about to be something else.

Just, it's insane how it all works.

So at some point, I was able to buy myself out of my arrangement with So So Def and to just go forward on my own.

So from there, I just toured everywhere, from Germany to...

I went to Bermuda.

And I was there to get Artist of the Year, and I didn't even know I was on the radio station.

On the way, I thought I was going there to perform.

I didn't know I was getting an award.

So things were kind of crazy like that.

So at some point after I started writing these videos, movies, I started doing jingles.

So I've done like Alka-Seltzer commercials, I've done things for Budweiser.

If you go to a Lakers game right now in Los Angeles, at halftime, you hear the thunder from the crowd, they're stomping up on the ground.

As soon as you hear that, that's me, so just so you know.

So, hello.

So that's still in play right now in licensing.

So I'm kind of all over the place, but I've settled into entertainment.

So I started managing some talent, like Keith Campion from "Empire", "Shameless", "Chicago PD", he's been in everything.

Another artist is Danny Bellini, who is just one of the most amazing writers you're ever gonna come across.

We developed a show called "The Lot".

And if you don't know who Paul Epstein is, he's one of the biggest showrunners in the history of known television.

Because of him, you got "Narcos".

Because of him, you got "Godfather of Harlem".

So he actually took this project on as his new showrunner, and he had a couple of complications and died a few weeks later.

So this was his last project that we're actually pushing through the finish line now called "The Lot".

So just exactly from Long John Silver's to this, that and the other, it is kinda crazy how it's all over the board.

- Yeah, it looks like you got your foot in the door, and, you know, that gets your foot in another door, and another door, and you've built on that.

But how do you do that, I think people are wondering, how do you do that from Peoria?

Or did at one point you actually move out West, or anything like that?

- I toured for a long time, and that's how I met my wife, doing tours and recording music.

That's probably very interesting, 'cause she's from Philadelphia.

She was an "American Idol" winner from that area.

And I was supposed to record with a Rock Nation artist called Freeway.

And something had happened to the arrangement, I think there was some legalities at the airport, we weren't able to do that.

So I asked to bring in a female singer, and they brought her in and we hit it off, like, instantly.

And we ended up getting married.

Like, I'm from Peoria, she's from Philly.

So even these chance, just, the weirdest things happened to put me in the greatest positions.

So I feel like I'm like super blessed, but I feel like there's so many more things out there that I'm gonna come across.

It's just every day is kind of entertaining.

- But did you say early on to yourself, "I'm gonna stay in Peoria no matter what."

Was that a goal of yours or- - No.

It never was, until I started the... Man, there's more to life than just me traveling out here.

Like, I'm looking for a family.

You know, I'm looking to be, you know, a father, these things too, as I started to get older.

And once I found that, it kind of changed, and that's where I wanted to come back here.

And so I did.

So here is where I planted the roots at, and then from here, I've been able to do everything else from here.

So I travel for whatever I need to.

Lots of zooms, lots of things right here at home on my computer.

Whatever I need to do, I'm able to do it from here, or to travel.

So I've made the world kind of bend around to what matters the most, is my family.

So I'm just in a very unique and fortunate situation.

- I was gonna say very unique, because I don't know too many other people who have jobs where they can do all the cool stuff all over the world, but stay here in Central Illinois.

- Yeah.

Yep.

And then, like I said, my wife has her business, A Sharp Effect Salon.

And that's in the Campus Town.

Or not the Campus Town, that was the old one, the Grand Prairie area.

So she stays pretty busy with that, but she's also stylist to the stars.

So when the stars come to town, a lotta times I'm kind of the hand behind that, 'cause I get the better rates, so people reach out to me for these artists.

She ends up, you know, doing like hair and makeup.

So she just got back from New York Fashion Week, so it was me and the kids like for like five days straight, and it was crazy, so.

But we had a lot of fun.

So, anyway.

- There you go.

So for, I mean, there's people out there I'm sure who are watching this, saying, "Man, I'd like to do that.

I'd like to do what he does."

But obviously not everyone can do that.

What is it about you, you think, that makes you successful in these endeavors?

- Well, I think the main thing is is that I treat people with respect, whether they've earned it or not.

I treat people with dignity through all the moves that I make.

So you won't find me in another room, saying something different about a person that I'd just said something about, you know, previously.

I think that is what keeps me in the rooms that I go to.

And I'm so exploratory that one thing always leads to another.

So when I get a call and someone's like, "Can you get this artist for us?

We're having a hard time tracking 'em down."

So I find the artists, I talk with them, I have history, usually, with all our artists, and I get a lower deal, a lower rate, and I give that to somebody.

So, all of a sudden, I'm helping their business.

And then they reach out and they want me to do something else with their business.

And I'm in another lane and I'm helping.

The phone rings randomly with the weirdest things, the weirdest requests.

People know I do a lotta things for charities, so that also is like off the chain.

Like, the phone rings all the time for it, different events and stuff.

So, for me, it's just, I've been fortunate enough to chain everything to something else, and it always leads to something else, and I've been able to stay on that path.

So a lot of people with failures, because you have plenty of those, a lotta times, failure destroys a person, it destroys 'em financially, they can't recover from it.

So snap back, you know, they're into the real world with the time clock.

And that's for, you know, most everybody I know.

But there's, you know, another side to it.

Some people may not be built for it, or they just couldn't get through the struggles, but I've been able to somehow.

I've just been blessed in that.

So I'm just thankful to God and my family.

- When I was doing some research on you, I was surprised that... You know, people say, "Hey, I'm a filmmaker.

I make movies and I'm gonna shoot in Central Illinois."

But you've done a lot more than that, because we've seen big productions kinda in and around the area, maybe shooting one or two scenes.

But your goal, if I understand it correctly, is you wanna do the whole shebang right here.

- Yeah.

Yep.

So here in the outside areas, to East Peoria, Creve Coeur.

I mean, from here to Champaign to... Just anything in this area.

We had to go a few times to Chicago.

We needed a skunk for a movie.

We started off wanting a sloth, but that thing was freaking out on the set, so we switched to a skunk.

And the skunk was supposed to be de-scented.

It was not, and that thing sprayed and it was just horrendous.

So it was like craziness.

So Chicago, mm.

But sometimes we have to go to other areas, or we get footage from other areas, but the goal for NorthEnd Empire is to build it here, bring people here.

So, and like we talked about "Scarebusters", that's kind of my jewel, like, my getting them here.

Like, the thought was how to make something that no one's ever done.

And I tried to do it thinking about filming, and how can I pull that off?

Everything's been done, you know, special effects, this, that and the other.

And then something hit me after I dwelled on it, and I was like, "Holy crap, can I do this idea for an entire movie?"

So I looked it up to see what was out there and I found other movies that had elements of it, but nothing like what I was thinking in my head.

And I was like, "I can do this."

So I got a huge cast together, people everyone knows throughout the city, from Ronnie Hudson to Brett Brooks.

I mean just a whole fun cast.

We shot at Soderstrom Castle and built this movie around a new genre of filming.

So that's also part of the plan to bring everything here, but I'll let you pull that out of me.

- Thank you.

I'm gonna pull it out of you.

Tell us more about the plot of that movie and this new genre you're talking about.

- Well, this is a story of eight friends who were in high school, and they picked up a camera one Halloween and they decided they were gonna do, for instance, like the Bloody Mary thing.

You know, you say the name three times, spin around, she's supposed to be there.

They go to do it.

Newsflash, she wasn't there.

So they're like, "You know, we debunked this.

We're the scarebusters out here."

So that picks up, social media happens in the real time.

And this is 13 years later, and now they're huge social media stars.

They got a following everywhere.

They've got their own ghost camera.

Every year, they do bigger, better mysteries, you know, and things that are really intriguing.

So millions of people filming, or, you know, tune in to watch.

So this is gonna be their last year.

They come across this mystery about a tombstone, where, if you find this in the middle of wherever it's supposed to be and you read the name off of it, somehow you say something different.

And if you do that, the ground's supposed to suck you in.

So this is the idea of the movie.

So we've seen horror movies, we've seen scary movies.

This is in the found footage realm.

But at the end of this movie, like, we'll do the unveiling.

And this will be the first time anyone's gonna hear this out loud like this.

So it's gonna be you because you're special.

- Exclusive.

- But this is something I invented, and I call it live scripting.

So there is no script whatsoever for this movie, nothing.

The actors just know the character I want them to be, what I expect from each scene.

There have been a couple of movies in history that have maybe had, I think the longest was four minutes, of an element of that throughout a film.

And it's just called improv when you just do something.

You know, this might not be scripted.

That's an improv moment.

My entire movie is that.

So at the end, the actors will take a bow and a, "Does anybody notice anything?"

You know, "No, we didn't need to."

"Well, this is the first movie ever done with no script."

Now we've created a new genre, a live scripting lane.

So now we're gonna see people actually put out movies that are quality with absolutely no script, and I cannot wait for it.

I'll tell you why and the reasoning.

Sorry, this water is pretty good.

I think they put some sugar in there or something for me.

- It public television, water.

It's the best.

- Yes.

There we go.

So the beauty of this is if I write something down that's foreign to you, if I tell you, "I want you to look over there and say, 'So you see, that's not the way you're supposed to go,'" and you try to do that, it's gonna come across stiff and un-organic.

But if I tell you to just tell them, "'That's not the way to go,' do it how you wanna do as a character," you're gonna lean over and be like, "Hey, don't go that way."

That's gonna come across as brilliant acting.

The viewer's not gonna understand that you're being yourself.

They're gonna think you read that from a script and you were able to body that like that.

But that's who you are as a person, that's how you talk.

That comes through on film.

So that's what this lane creates, some of the most dynamic dialogue you're gonna come across.

And it's all organic.

- But, you know, if you look at a TV show like "Curb Your Enthusiasm", a lot of that's improv.

Not all of it.

You know, they know where to start, what's in the middle and what they want the end to be.

What happens with a project like yours if you get to the end and you're like, "Oh, that's not that great."

- Well, I have the end already up here.

All I need them to do is follow me on each scene.

And I explain their character, what their character's going through.

Sometimes they'll sprinkle a little of themself in there, and that's when we get some different kinda magic.

But the film is what it is in my head, just no script for it.

Now, I like to write scripts and whatnot.

This wasn't an attempt to do something lazy, by any means.

This was very well designed.

But like I said, I wanted to create something new, and I brought out in these actors just something amazing.

Like, every single line, like, these people look like they've done it for the last hundred years, and some of these people have never acted in a production before.

So we were able to incorporate the Soderstrom Castle, inside and out.

I don't think anyone's ever been able to do that yet, which is another cool thing for Peoria, to finally see what's in that castle.

I know there's a dungeon somewhere.

There's gotta be a dragon down there with a pot of gold.

There's no dragon.

And the pool was cold.

So, very, very cold.

The heater was out.

So other cool locations and whatnot as well.

- Tell me about some of your other movie projects that you've been working on.

- Well, we talked about "Scarebusters".

And the one that's out now is called "Irresponsibull".

So that's a family-friendly comedy, and it's intentionally corny.

So we played with elements of, even on the film, like doing a grainy wash through and kinda were like, "Ah, you know, we want to go a different way with this."

So we've got some scenes where we got like voices dubbed in and out.

We tried to kinda create it.

We were in a rush though, towards the end, so at the end, some of the things we wanted to be in there just weren't in there to tie things in.

At the end of the day, we end up leading in that category on the network.

So there's 80 million viewers over there and we've had over 300,000 full plays where you have to sit through those just horrendous commercials.

- You're talking about Tubi?

- [Brian] Yeah.

- Okay.

- Okay, I didn't know if that was a buzzword here.

I was like, "Let me not say it."

So, yes, so on Tubi.

So the next one is "Scarebusters".

If everything finishes according to plan, that should be a release on Netflix towards the end of October, followed by "LAF Kids".

And "LAF Kids" is just hilarious.

That was tough to shoot.

We ended up with... Todd knows a lot of the people.

We ended up with sound crews that have been on so many projects that they're hardened vets, and even they were, like, on the floor laughing.

Like, they couldn't get through the scenes, so it was difficult to to shoot a lot.

Often, we were on take 18, take 19, and they just keep laughing.

At one point, I'm like, "Guys, I can't keep doing this.

I cannot keep doing this.

Like, it's gonna start going the other way, and now we gotta get it in."

- Running out of time.

- So, yeah, a lot of fun doing the projects.

- Now, when you do these projects, I know you wanna to get local actors.

Do we have enough local production people here in the area?

- Yeah.

Yep, we definitely do.

This is bringing people out of the woodworks and it's creating a new lane out here that didn't exist prior.

So we've had people that shoot short, you know, short films and whatnot for film festivals and everything.

But we've never had anything that's been shot here movie-wise that's made it anywhere near a major platform.

It's just simply not not been done here.

- But you were talking about having your stuff on Netflix.

That's a big deal.

- Yeah.

- I mean, not everyone's heard of- - 250 million viewers.

- Not everyone's heard of Tubi, but everyone's heard of Netflix.

How do you get from Peoria, your finished product, to Netflix?

- A lot of time in the game.

A lot of meeting people, a lot of doing right by people, a lot of integrity being left in the room when you walk away, that's what picks up the energy.

So for me, when I deal with a person, they want to deal with me again.

They end up talking to me about the other lanes and they're like, "I have this going on.

I have that going on."

Before you know it, I'm in those other lanes with the different people.

So that, you know, just accumulates until... God only knows which way I go, you know?

I could be doing, hosting a circus tomorrow, for all I know.

I have no idea.

So they could call me.

Somebody said something, Sunday, they need me to do something Sunday.

I still don't know what it is.

It might be a comedy show.

I don't know.

So.

- So when you're doing all this in Peoria.

From the time you decide, "Okay, I wanna make a movie," you get the crew, you get the cast, how long does it take to shoot, edit and then get your final project, typically?

- It depends on what we're shooting.

So we can run through these things fast.

So we get everything pre-planned in advance.

We get our cast together.

The hardest part about shooting any movie is getting your cast together.

The bigger the cast, the harder the problem.

Everybody has, you know, schedules with other projects and whatnot.

So once we get that together, we have our locations already pieced together, we go out there and we film.

We bring out Black Magic AK cameras, we bring out the train tracks, we bring out the rollers, the four and eight-K drones, everything that we have.

We shoot solid the entire day, come back the next day, the third day.

The longest we've had to take is maybe about a month of shooting.

And we were shooting Thursday, Friday, Saturdays and Sundays, and we did that for about a month straight to get all the footage.

So we end up with a hundred hours for, you know, an hour-and-45-minute movie.

- Yep, same here.

We always shoot more than we can use, unfortunately.

But what's your end game?

What would you like to see?

You know, this is like an interview.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

So where do you see this whole process in five years?

What would you like it to be?

- Well, I guess the goal here is gonna be to bring this type of energy here to Peoria.

So I would like to see... With "Scarebusters" and the new lane of movies, that's afforded me to get these invites to film festivals.

So I'm getting these things coming to me for a movie that no one's even seen yet.

They just know that it's a new genre and they're interested, like, now.

We wanna pull that to Peoria.

So we want to do that on our riverfront, we want to do that on our IMAX and in involve like Arts Partners, Big Picture Peoria, you know, these places that are actually embedded here, doing these things hardcore all year long.

So we'd like to do everything here festival-wise.

And I think if we do that the right way, we'll draw enough people here that the spotlight will be on and it's not gonna dim.

We got other places like Art Inc that are getting into the movies right now, and they're gonna be able to produce several.

There's other groups that are starting to do it now.

They see that it can be done, and I think that's the main thing.

My wife and me, we tussled around with something, I'm sure you have too, where you've got the guy that takes the selfie with the homeless guy while he gives him some change.

And people are like, you know, "They're just glorifying themself."

But my wife told me, she said, "It doesn't matter what he was doing, because that person got the money they needed to do it, and that may inspire somebody."

So she's like, you know, "Start broadcasting what you do, because it may inspire others."

So just an interesting little thing there with my wife.

- Well, you can't be humble in this business.

You gotta get yourself out there for people to see.

And it's exciting what you have planned.

It'd be nice for Peoria.

You know, we're known for Caterpillar and this and that, but it would be, it'd be nice to have that option to be known as maybe the Hollywood of the Midwest.

- And it's doable, because we're doing it right now.

And if everything works out, like I say, we'll have a Mecca built here.

People will be coming in here and we'll have like a Peoria film festival that reaches like a national scale where people will come.

And, for always, this brand new genre of film will always be Peoria's.

It's theirs.

I'll make sure Peoria owns this, whether I'm here or not, or whether I'm gone or not.

So this will be their catalyst to do whatever they want.

Like, "No, we started this.

You have to bring this film festival here."

Hopefully, it works that way and more people step up to the plate.

But helping them is also a thing that I'm more than willing to do.

- We've running outta time, but for people out there who are aspiring actors or actresses, or camera people or editors, how do they get in touch with you?

How do they learn more about your project?

- Well, NorthEnd Empire Films is based here in Central Illinois.

I've got a partner, Nate Morris, who is just fantastic.

He has been a fantastic script writer and whatnot.

To contact us, you would reach out to NorthEnd Empire Films, or you could reach out to me directly, and that's tightest23@gmail.com.

I leave that for everybody over social media.

- [Mark] Tightest?

- T-I-G-H-T-E-S-T23@gmail.com.

And I get back to everybody eventually, so.

- Well, best of luck to you.

It'll be interesting over the next few years to see how this grows.

- Yeah, I can... We need him in a movie too.

So do we have a firm commitment right now?

- I...

Yes.

- Okay.

It's done.

- It'll be done.

- He's going to play my stepbrother in the next movie.

- (chuckling) We'll see what happens.

(lively music) Thank you for joining us.

Hope you enjoyed the program.

"You Gotta See This" is next.

Have a good night.

(lively music continuing) (lively music continuing)