A City’s Movie Magic Spokane’s ‘Bountiful Romantic Icons’ Sold The City To Writer-Director Of Upcoming Film ‘Love Always’

Will audiences all over America love “Love Always”?

Writer-director Jude Pauline Eberhard will find the answer to that question on Oct. 10, when this independent romantic road-movie opens in 12 cities, including Spokane. However, during Saturday’s by-invitation-only premiere at the Fox Theatre at 7 p.m., Eberhard will find the answer to one small question, at least: What will Spokanites think about her depiction of their city?

Frankly, she’s not too worried.

“Spokane was a filmmaker’s dream, because I was trying to create romance,” said Eberhard, a San Diego resident. “There’s that beautiful bridge (the Monroe Street Bridge) that overlooks the waterfall, which makes a breathtaking entry into town. And there’s that great library (the downtown Spokane Public Library), which to me, as soon as I saw it, I knew would be the main character’s arrival point.”

She said that she had always visualized the Spokane scenes as the most romantic sections of the film, because that’s the way those scenes were written, both in Eberhard’s screenplay and in the novel on which the film is based, “Finding Signs” by Sharlene Baker.

The movie is about Julia Bradshaw (Marisa Ryan), a young woman who falls in love with Mark Righetti (Michael Reilly Burke) in Spokane. They go their separate ways: Julia to San Diego and Mark to law school in Spokane. Years later, Bradshaw receives a postcard from Mark, which says, “Passed bar exam. Marry me, marry me.”

She decides that he was, indeed, the love of her life. The bulk of the movie is about Julia’s hitchhiking journey to Spokane, which takes her far off the target at times, and then her eventual arrival in the city.

“I visualized Spokane when I was writing the screenplay, and then when I got there to film, it was so much better than I had imagined,” said Eberhard. “There was the Ferris wheel, the Carrousel and the Clock Tower, bountiful romantic icons. I was totally in heaven.”

She said that those scenes, used generously in the final cut, have gotten strong reactions from film festival audiences and screening audiences so far.

“It pays off beautifully,” said Eberhard. “People ooh and ahh when they see that view.”

The film was shot two summers ago in San Diego and Spokane and all points between (“All Points Between” was the original working title of the picture). It has taken two solid years to get proper distribution for this modestly budgeted independent film.

It was shown at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival last November, which resulted in a review in Variety which called the film a “charming, technically accomplished road movie.”

“Making an impressive directorial debut, Eberhard understands that Julia’s journey is far more significant than her quest or ultimate destination,” wrote Variety reviewer Emanuel Levy. “But Eberhard’s greatest achievement is the captivating work she has coaxed out of lead actress Ryan, who’s bound to have a bright future in Hollywood … Among other things, ‘Love Always’ bears the distinction of providing the most authentic answer to an often-asked question in American movies, ‘What do women want?”’

With encouragement like this, Eberhard and Isaac Artenstein, her partner and producer, became even more tenacious in their quest to get the movie distributed. Distribution is the most crucial bottleneck for independently made movies. Finally, Legacy Releasing picked it up, and will open it in 12 cities, including New York, L.A., Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco.

“Legacy has been really good at getting it into multiplexes,” said Eberhard. “This film is really mainstream. Even though it was made independently, it isn’t really dark or edgy. We feel it is very much a date movie, and women will very much relate to it.”

She certainly hopes so. Even though the movie had a small budget (she won’t give exact numbers), it still will need a good theatrical run in order to make a profit.

“You always want to return the investment to investors who believed in you,” said Eberhard, a first-time director. “And of course, you want it to do well economically so you can make more films.”

Among the movie’s early financial supporters was San Diego’s PBS station, KPBS. Because of this, once the movie ends its theatrical run, the movie may show up on PBS. Other help came from a San Diego art gallery owner.

She said she was able to stretch her budget through sheer force of persuasion. She went after the best technical people, and she got them.

“You surround yourself with the best people money cannot buy,” said Eberhard. “They all really liked the script, and they helped me beyond what I could have afforded. It looks like more than what I spent on it.”

Her powers of persuasion also worked on Ray Manzarek, the keyboard player for the Doors. The movie contains a scene in which a wild van driver sings along to the Doors’ hit “Roadhouse Blues.” Manzarek initially turned down Eberhard’s request for the rights to that song. All requests for the rights to the Doors’ hit songs are automatically turned down.

Eberhard, faced with the prospect of deleting a key scene, called Manzarek and told him that the “Roadhouse Blues” scene had come about spontaneously, out of the blue, and was “just magic.”

Manzarek, not totally convinced, told her that magic was the only thing that would make him give her that song. She sent him a tape of the scene and shortly afterward, he granted her the rights.

Now, with all of those crises resolved and the movie teetering on release, Eberhard admits to conflicting emotions.

“It’s the exhilaration of being at the end of the journey,” said Eberhard. “At the same moment, I’m filled with a kind of daunting hope that people will embrace the film.”

The Spokane premiere will be the movie’s true premiere, outside of the film festival showings. The only other advance premiere will be in San Diego, after Spokane’s.

She and Artenstein will be in attendance at this gala event (attire: cocktail) and stars Marisa Ryan and Moon Zappa might also show up. Ryan has been cast as a regular in the Fox series “New York Undercover,” so she is busy shooting in New York.

“But she may pop in, you never know,” said Eberhard. “She’s completely committed to this one.”

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