TEXAS — In a production like no other, Aaron Brown of Onion Creek Productions is calling for action with his upcoming film “Home Free,” a feature-length comedy set in the 90s that’s based on the real life experience of Brown and his college roommates when they took in one of their unhoused neighbors.
Brown tells us “Home Free” is a passion project he’s taking to the big screen to address the homeless crisis in Texas.
“We ended up meeting a gentleman who was living down the streets at the park at the end of the block and everyone called him the professor. We became very friendly with him and one day after the rainstorm we saw him and we said hey professor if you ever need a place to crash to get out of the weather, feel free to crash here whenever you want,” said Brown.
The unhoused individual known as the Professor, moved in with Brown and his roommates that semester at the University of Texas at Austin.
It was a special experience that turned into a lifelong lesson on people and humanity.
“It changed our perspective on who people are and why they end up where they end up," recalled Brown.
Brown says he believes the film will give audiences a firsthand look at what it’s like to be homeless.
As officials in the Capitol City begin to enforce the city-wide camping ban, Brown hopes to bring into focus the bigger issues surrounding housing and supportive resources.
“Twenty years ago when we invited the professor to live on our porch it was a camping ban then. Twenty years later here comes the next camping ban and we’re doing something hopefully to help by supporting the organization I see doing the right thing,” said Brown.
Max Moscoe works with The Other Ones Foundation, a local nonprofit group assisting homeless individuals with job opportunities and transitional housing at Camp Esperanza, a state-sanctioned encampment in the city. Moscoe hopes the film will help humanize the unhoused community by showing them in a different light.
“People want to talk the taxes and the trash and the expensive medical bills. They want to talk about everything except for the people. It’s not a political issue it’s a humanitarian crisis,” said Moscoe.
This is why Brown plans to donate proceeds of the film directly to the Other Ones Foundation to aid individuals impacted the most by the crisis.
"If this movie generates awareness but at the same time gives resources financially to an organization that can put people into tiny homes in a community and has support, we win,” said Brown.
The feature-length comedy is set to begin production in mid August in the Austin area.