Production Wraps on the UP Premiere Movie ‘Welcome Home’

Production wrapped over the weekend in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on the UP Premiere Movie Welcome Home, starring and executive produced by Luke Perry, who plays a successful writer who returns from vacation to find that a homeless mother and her two children have been squatting in his house, with nowhere to go.  Directed by James Head (“R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour,” “The Dead Zone”), Welcome Home, will air exclusively on UP in 2015.

Executive produced by Perry, Ira Pincus, John Morayniss and John Ritchie,  and produced by Entertainment One Television, the film’s ensemble cast includes Camille Sullivan (The Butterfly Effect, “Shattered”), Will Verchere-Gopaulsingh (“When Calls the Heart,” “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce”), Kayden Magnuson (“The Whispers”), Erica Cerra (“The 100,” “Eureka”) and Susan Hogan (CAT. 8, The Christmas Secret).   The script was written by Jonathan Zeichner, executive director of L.A.’s A Place Called Home (APCH), a dynamic, non-profit youth center.

Erica Cerra stars as Cynthia the Literary Agent; Photo Courtesy of AllHD Images.

After a hugely successful debut novel, Stewart Paylor (Luke Perry) is supposed to be delivering chapters of his new book. Unbeknownst to everyone around him, including Cynthia (Erica Cerra) his literary agent/girlfriend, Stewart has writer’s block and has not written a word.  His life goes even further astray when he returns home from a vacation to find a homeless mother, Cassandra (Camille Sullivan), and her two children, 12-year old Jake (Will Verchere-Gopaulsingh) and 9-year old Vera (Kayden Magnuson) have been squatting in his house, with nowhere to go.

“The UP Premiere Movie Welcome Home is a very relevant and touching story about a normal middle class family that ends up homeless,” said Barbara Fisher, svp, original programming, UP.  “Starring and executive produced by Luke Perry, the film captures the spirit of the old adage ‘charity begins at home,’ as one man unexpectedly comes face-to-face with a family in crisis, reeling from crushing medical debt and home foreclosure.”

Screenwriter Zeichner has worked for more than two decades to improve and expand the lives of underserved, homeless and mentally ill youth, families, veterans, incarcerated young men and victims of violence.  At APCH, Zeichner heads up a dedicated staff providing programs and services in education, college and vocational support, music, dance, visual, performing and digital arts instruction, fitness, nutrition, gardening, counseling and a comprehensive array of additional programs to support inner-city youth 8-21 years old and their families.

Luke Perry stars as Stewart Paylor; Photo Courtesy of NBC.

Prior to his leadership at APCH, Zeichner co-founded and helmed the nationally acclaimed Inside Out Community Arts, a nonprofit serving youth throughout Los Angeles via arts-based after school programming; was artistic director of the Imagination Workshop at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute; and wrote, directed and acted for film, television and the theater.  In 2009, Zeichner received the Southern California Center for Nonprofit Management’s Award for Excellence in Leadership and Innovation.

UP presents Welcome Home, an Entertainment One Television production. Starring Luke Perry, Camille Sullivan, Will Verchere-Gopaulsingh, Kayden Magnuson, Erica Cerra and Susan Hogan.  Executive Produced by Luke Perry, Ira Pincus, John Morayniss and John Ritchie.  Produced by Jonathan Schwartz and Robert Lee.  Directed by James Head.  Casting by Candice Elzinga.  Director of Photography is Ronald Richard.  Edited by Mark Shearer.  Screenplay by Jonathan Zeichner.