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After taking what they say was an extended hiatus from filmmaking, Westhampton Beach High School graduate Paul Schuyler and his wife, Jade Schuyler, are breaking back into the movie business with “Runner,” an action-packed thriller about a suspenseful run through the woods in Cape Cod.
The couple co-produced the short film, which was written by Mr. Schuyler and stars Ms. Schuyler, and now plan to screen “Runner” at 11:45 a.m. on Sunday, May 20, at the Hampton Arts Cinema in Westhampton Beach.
Tickets for the screening will be “pay-what-you-can” and all proceeds will be donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, an idea that was conceptualized by Mr. Schuyler’s longtime friend, Michael George, and his wife, Elizabeth McCourt, residents of Westhampton Beach.
“I don’t know how many movies I saw at Hampton Arts as a kid and thought, ‘Oh, maybe one day I’ll come back here and show my movie.’ So it’s a long time coming,” said Mr. Schuyler, who grew up in East Moriches. “It still feels like coming home.”
Now, the Schuylers live on Cape Cod, in Ms. Schuyler’s hometown, with their two teenage sons, Quinn, 13, and Shaw, 14. They took a break from filmmaking about 10 years ago when they decided to buy a restaurant in South Chatham on Cape Cod.
The couple, who moved to Cape Cod from Los Angles in 2005, sold their movie-themed eatery in 2015 and now spend their days managing Chatham Pottery, one of Cape Cod’s long-running family businesses, and creating films for their production company, Wytshark Media.
The production of “Runner,” their first film since producing their short “Bomb” in 2007, was something Mr. and Ms. Schuyler said they were “itching” to do for a while.
In “Runner,” which was first screened to sold-out audiences in March 2017 at the Chatham Orpheum Theater, Ms. Schuyler takes on the role of Margot, a single mother, who is forced to fight for her life after encountering a murder on her run through the North Harwich woods.
Filmed in, and inspired by, the running trails in their own backyard, Mr. Schuyler said he hopes viewers enjoy watching the film just as much as he and his wife enjoyed making it.
“I just want people to have fun. It’s a thriller. There’s a lot of places for people to jump and to sink in their seats and to laugh, so I just want people to enjoy it. That’s really my main goal,” said Mr. Schuyler, who graduated from Westhampton Beach High School in 1985.
Mr. Schuyler describes the 21-minute film as a “calling-card,” and said it took on a new role during filming, as it was initially only intended to be on their demo reel for their production of a future feature-length film project.
“It was a great project to work on. I love that genre of thriller, suspense and action,” said Ms. Schuyler, who is currently producing the play “The Tuna Goddess” at the Cape Rep Theater. “The whole project in itself took on a life of its own with all kinds of excitement around it from local talent and local theaters. And, it was a great excuse to get into very good shape.”
Now, the couple has three feature films in the works, including a psychological thriller, a 1980s-style horror film and project based on Ms. Schuyler’s play.
on May 11, 2018