It was a long process bring the film Stratosphere from a dream to an actual product. One of the steps along the way, according to producer and co-writer Victor Young, was moving the bulk of the production to Sarasota County for the good of the movie.

"We ended up shooting 85 percent of the film in Sarasota," Young said. "A lot of that was that the Sarasota County film commission was very proactive." The film started production in Tampa, but found work in Hillsborough County could be burdensome for a film crew. Officials were constantly directing filmmakers to other offices for various permits and permissions.

The process proved more streamlined in Sarasota, where the Sarasota County Film and Entertainment Office provides a more centralized area for handling the needs of filmmakers, Young said. "The response was what you would expect when filming in New York or Los Angeles."

Stratosphere has now finished up its major production and hosted a wrap party on Sept. 13 at Maggiano's in Tampa, where a trailer for the film was released. The movie, directed by Erica Sutherlin, is now being screened with industry professionals to fine-tune the final edit. Filmmakers are in talks with a couple distribution companies and will definitely bring the film to theaters.

"We're just starting to realize this vision," Sutherlin said. "It's coming together and I'm excited."

The movie follows the story of Reid Crawford, a federal contractor who creates a database to capture information on every person in America but then becomes the target of a crime boss himself. 

Young, CEO of Media and Management Global, may be better known in Sarasota as the co-owner of Lamborghini Sarasota and BMW of Sarasota. The savvy businessman has plans to make sure this film venture is a financial success as well, and has hopes in the DVD and video-on-demand markets, and even believes there is potential for episodic development of the Stratosphere concept.

To learn more and to see the trailer for Stratosphere, read SRQ Backlot.