On a Thursday afternoon, filmmakers Tara Rule and Laura LaFrate are meeting virtually with one of their actors who will play the serial killer in their next film, a two-week production that will be shot in North Carolina over the coming weeks.

The two have been making films and acting for years. It’s something for which they both have a huge passion. But it was only recently that Rule, a Scotia native, and LaFrate paired up to make a film together for the first time. It’s called "Cato," and just watching the trailer brings out their emotions.

When Rule was 22, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It made her severely sick and caused her to spend a lot of time in intensive care. Treatments allowed her to still be here today, but Rule is living with a chronic illness.

“Just for me, it brings back a lot of the memories of seeing Tara when she was not doing her best, and I was sitting there watching my best friend deteriorate,” said LaFrate, who graduated from Scotia-Glenville High School with Rule.

“For a while, it was hard to watch because it was like, ‘Oh, wow, that’s where I’ve been,’ and after this last winter, where I got sick again, it’s like sometimes I’m still there,” Rule said.

Cato depicts the challenges Rule faced during those years — battling cancer, becoming disabled and having to rely on a wheelchair.

LaFrate plays Rule in the film. It’s told from the perspective of Cato, her cat.

“It felt like he needed me, and I know my family and friends needed me, too, but that day, when I was like, 'I can’t do this anymore,' he just hopped up on me,” Rule said. “I don’t know what it was. He’s kind of been this pillar for me.”

The 50-minute film was shot in Round Lake, where Rule lives today. They wrote the script in about a day and took another four days to film it. She says working on it was emotional at times.

“OK, this is going to be a part of my life, but I don’t have to identity with it so much,” Rule said. “I kind of want to let go of that kind of identity I had.”

Cato will premiere June 12 at the Madison Theater in Albany. It’ll be the first time her family and friends will watch it.

Proceeds from the showing will be donated to the Children's Hospital at Albany Medical Center.

“There’s a lot of missing pieces in my mind, and I think it helped me kind of see a point in my life that I wasn’t really present for,” Rule said.

Today, she says she’s feeling better. But Rule is still living with a rare and severe autoimmune condition. However, she’s hopeful as doctors continue to learn more information about this disease.

“It’s slow; it’s up and down. Some days are better than others,” Rule said. “But for the most part every day, I have more good hours than bad hours.”