Local filmmaker to begin shooting 7-episode drama series set at Union Hotel in De Pere in September

GREEN BAY – Filmmaker Freddy Moyano is on a mission to showcase the area’s history, and that means the cameras never stop rolling for long.

“Room 108: The Clearing,” his feature-length historical thriller inspired by the urban legend of a double murder at Green Bay’s former Vic Theatre in 1900, will premiere Sunday to a sold-out audience at The Tarlton Theatre during the multi-day MLC Awards gala recognizing independent film, TV and video projects.

Next month, he’ll begin shooting the first scenes of a seven-part drama/mystery series titled “Union House Hotel” at the Union Hotel & Restaurant in De Pere. He said he fell in love with the historic supper club that dates back to 1883 while shooting scenes there in March for “Room 108.”

The title is a nod to the original name of the Union Hotel, but the story is fiction, with each episode devoted to one of the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger and sloth.

While Moyano may have drawn some inspiration for the sins part from "Seven," the 1995 crime thriller starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, he said "Union House Hotel" will not be nearly as violent and, unlike “Room 108,” there is no science fiction or teleporting.

His main influence was the soap operas of his childhood in Spain.

“When I grew up in the ’80s, my grandma took over the TV," he said. "If we wanted to watch something, it would be those Venezuelan-Mexican soap operas, so I sat through quite a few of those. It was either take a nap, a siesta, or sit down and watch those after lunch.”

His series is set in 1913 in the fictional city of Les Meres, instead of De Pere, and will have no shortage of dysfunctional characters or betrayal. It will feature the Cortez family, who is running the hotel, and a rival family in town trying to take it over.

In addition to filming inside the Union Hotel, Moyano is eager to get shots of its exterior vintage neon sign at night. He expects to film at the location once or twice a month from September through May.

“We will keep things really interesting and hopefully put the restaurant and the hotel even more on the map than it is already — and De Pere,” Moyano said. “A lot of people know Green Bay but they don’t know as much about De Pere.”

Series will also film at locations in Green Bay, Wayside and Brussels

Filming will not be limited to De Pere. Moyano also expects to shoot at Captain’s Walk Winery and Fox Harbor Pub and Grill, both in downtown Green Bay. Other locations include a 1902 house in Wayside, Hearthstone Historic House Museum in Appleton and the Belgian Heritage Center in Brussels, which will be used for a scene with nuns at a convent.

The first 25-minute episode will be released on Feb. 3 on the series’ IMDb.com page, with a new one to follow each month until June. The season finale, a 50-minute episode, will premiere at next year’s MLC Awards in August.

The idea is to get viewers hooked with each episode and build word-of-mouth buzz, he said. He would like the PG-13 series, which will feature as many as 100 area actors, to run four or five seasons, with hopes of eventually getting it on a streaming platform like Amazon Prime or Apple TV+.

As with “Room 108,” he’s counting on the collaboration of the community, local businesses and investors to help with the low-budget project. He’s looking for private Victorian homes in De Pere or Green Bay for filming and will have a future casting call for children ages 9 to 12 for a classroom scene.

Those with an interest in working with the project can best make contact at room108themovie.com, as unionhousehotel.com is still in development.

'Room 108' expected to be available by Christmas; part 2 in the works

“Room 108” is currently in the film festival circuit, and Moyano is waiting to hear from several fests, including a key one in Los Angeles in December, before the movie can be released to the public. He expects it to be available by Christmas on IMDb.com for people to watch for free.

What started as a 5-minute teaser trailer for “Room 108’s” follow-up, “Room 108: Redemption,” quickly turned into a 20-minute proof of concept for the project that’s next on Moyano’s list after the first season of “Union House Hotel.” It features a 1970s scene shot at The Automobile Gallery and a 1942 scene at the National Railroad Museum. Audiences will get their first look at it after Sunday’s showing of the original “Room 108” at the MLC Awards.

Moyano hopes it will spur more investors and local businesses to get involved.

“We’re on a roll,” he said. “There’s always something going on just to keep the filming in the area — the arts, the history. It’s just a beautiful collaboration that we get week in and week out.”

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Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert. 

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Union Hotel in De Pere is setting for local filmmaker's drama series