Local place, local people, local stories: these are the goals of a local film studio trying to capture the human experience in East Tennessee.

30 Daze Productions will premier their latest short film “Driving Shame” next month at the Bonnie Kate Theater in downtown Elizabethton.

Angela Caito, a producer in the company, said the short film is the culmination of several months of work.

“The film is about a young woman who is living a hard life,” Caito said. “She takes a road trip with a companion for healing.”

She said they worked hard to film and cast as locally as possible, bringing in children from T.A. Dugger Jr. High and filming all across East Tennessee, including Watauga Lake Front, East Tennessee State University and more.

She said this focus on local talent and scenery is important for more than just convenience for the Elizabethton-based studio.

“We want to show what this area is like. […] We want to show what this area has to offer for film production.”

She said Erwin, a town about 30 minutes southwest of Elizabethton, boasts its own professional studio, a fact she said people often do not realize.

She said this short film was also a chance to test her ability to co-write a script with her partner, Erik Kitchens.

“We wanted to see how well we worked together as a writing team,” she said. “We wanted to showcase our level of quality.”

During the premiere, Caito said they will also discuss their in-development documentary “Subculture,” which will showcase a different angle on the opioid epidemic affecting millions of Americans annually.

“It still has another year to go,” she said. “We need to sit with politicians to discuss their viewpoints, pro or con. We are also trying to reach out to physicians.”

She said the documentary is not meant to lean in either direction on the issue. Rather, Caito said the documentary’s purpose is to shine a light on a common addiction treatment medication, Suboxone, and the positive and negative effects it can have.

With these and other projects the studio has worked on, Caito said the overall goal is to be as real as possible.

“We want to write the human experience,” she said.

For more information on the short film premiere, those interested can contact Caito at 423-213-8591. Their studio is located at 106 Broad St. in Elizabethton.